Are you sensitive as to internet privacy? If so, then the IP Bill will definitely not be your favorite decision. What is this decision and how will it affect people everywhere in the world?
According to the Investigatory Powers Bill, all communications will suffer the lack of privacy online. The Internet Service Providers will need to collect data as to their users. Such data will be available to the authorities upon request. GCHQ and MI5 will also have the freedom to collect information towards protecting national security.
Under such pretense, it will be impossible to remain anonymous on the internet. There will be someone watching you all the time. Even judges will have the power to decide whether or not surveillance is too intrusive.
All these measures have made people worry about the future of online privacy. After the Royal Assent by the Queen, the IP Bill is ready to apply and start wreaking havoc everywhere. Who can be safe? At the beginning of 2017, the new legislation will come into full effect.
Of course, a similar attempt failed in Denmark after many years of no actual benefit. All the intrusive measures have managed to become useful in a sole case. So Denmark stopped this legislation in 2014.
In a practical level, people will have all their data exposed and vulnerable. What will happen if a massive hack takes place? All the information collected by the ISPs and the local authorities will get in the hands of powerful villains online. Does this sound like a threat? Well, it most certainly is! Even if somebody ignores the potential damage by the intrusive government, there is a lot more to fear of.
Under the light of this new IP Bill, a lot of people will turn to Tor and the Dark Web. Even without knowing too much about technology and online security, this might seem like the only way to avoid problems with lack of anonymity.
Tor is free and open source software, able to offer an anonymous path on the internet. At the same time, hardware can help out users remain anonymous online. For instance, Edward Snowden has created a smartphone case that detects any data leak. This will probably hit the market in 2017.
Even if Tor has some limits and cannot help in all cases, it is true that this is a great tool in the hands of desperate people seeking privacy boost. 2017 will definitely be a troubled year when it comes to online privacy. As the limitations grow larger by the day, new solutions will emerge to satisfy the needs of the public.
