ABSTRACT
The provisions relating to interception of communications under the 1985 Act are now repealed and replaced by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), which also amends the Police Act 1997 and the Intelligence Services Act 1994. The 2000 Act was prompted by two major concerns. The first was that the 1985 Act regulated intercepts of communications transmitted via mail and by a public telecommunications system, which at the time of the legislation covered most data transmissions. Technological advances since 1985, however, have expanded communications systems – through the internet and email and through telecommunication systems not provided by public telecommunications providers. Also falling outside the 1985 Act was data which was ‘encrypted’ and required a ‘key’ to unlock the data. The second motivation for reform was the influence of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. which, when it came into force in England and Wales in 2000, would make Convention rights enforceable before the domestic courts and tribunals. As discussed in more detail in Chapter 19, cases such as Halford v United Kingdom (1997) and Khan v United Kingdom (2000) (discussed above) had successfully challenged domestic law. In Halford’s case, the interception of the applicant’s telephone by a private communications system was unlawful, given the absence of statutory authority for such intercepts.57
