Speaking of RIPA, I'm researching another SF novel -- near-future, set in Edinburgh about ten years hence, with a high-tech crime theme (for values of "high tech crime" that are still science fictional) -- and as part of my research I've been talking to lawyers and an acquaintance who's the IT manager for a large British police force. (I've still got to go talk to the press officer at Lothian and Borders, but there you go ...)

I asked him: given what mobile bandwidth costs are down to, how long is it going to be until we see constables on the beat streaming live video to servers sealed under rules of evidence back at the shop?

His response was: "we could do it next week, if it wasn't for RIPA."

It turns out that RIPA(2002) was so cunningly drafted that they've shot themselves in the foot as far as adoption of new broadband wireless technologies go; it'd qualify as installing covert surveillance or something, and they'll have to amend the law before they can do that.

So maybe a chunk of New Labour's legislative agenda is really legislative churn, defining a whole taxonomy of new precise offenses to replace old broad ones, and accidentally introducing a shedload of new loopholes that need to be fixed before their shiny new system can be made to work as intended.

I'm not sure what I'm more worried about -- the control-freak tendencies of the current government, or the possibility that by indulging in them they may actually be creating new loopholes and free-fire zones for smart high-tech criminals to exploit.

(Must follow up a possible intro to someone who works for the Procurator-Fiscal's office -- the Scottish equivalent of the Director of Public Prosecutions -- and see if they've got any thoughts on this. Purely for the fictional work in progress, you understand, not with any idea about feeding policy crumbs towards ORG :)