[ALERT] On UK Business

[Be Alert] - A Digital Broadcasters Vendor Advisory

Under the "Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act" the British Police have been given the green light by the Home Office to be able to demand of any business or individual to hand over encryption keys for programs on their computers, according to a report on the CNET News web site.

It seems we have to forget about personal privacy, a good reason why many of us use access codes on our computers.

One example comes to mind. Perhaps you have a bank account with Internet online access. While it is a lengthier and less straight forward for government agencies to ask banks to divulge client details, this new law is an easy alternative - get to the customer directly. In that way banks would not need to be directly notified.

But it has to be said that already the buzz around the City of London is that for international bankers perhaps they too should be considering a move outside the UK.