internet

News, Policy

Internet Society UK Chapter Joins Coalition Letter Urging Government to Protect VPNs

The Internet Society UK Chapter has added its name to a joint open letter calling on the UK Government to protect the availability of virtual private networks (VPNs), even as it moves ahead with new measures to keep children safer online. The letter, addressed to Rt Hon. Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, was published on 9 July 2026, hosted by the VPN Trust Initiative and the Internet Infrastructure Coalition.

Background

The letter lands amid months of debate over how far the Government should go in restricting VPN use as part of its wider child-safety agenda.… Read more ...

News

Joint Letter on the UK Government’s use of Investigatory Powers Act to attack End-to-End Encryption

On Thursday 13 February 2025, the UK Chapter of the Internet Society joined a group of over 100 civil society organizations, companies, and cybersecurity experts – as part of an effort led by the Global Encryption Coalition (GEC) – submitted a letter to British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calling on the UK Home Office to rescind its demand that Apple create a backdoor into its end-to-end encrypted services.

The letter stated that civil society organizations, companies, and cybersecurity experts, including members of the Global Encryption Coalition, called on the UK Home Office to rescind its demand for Apple to create a backdoor into its end-to-end encrypted services.… Read more ...

News, Policy

Joint cross-sectoral statement: Concerns Regarding the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill

Release Date: 22 March 2024

The UK Chapter of the Internet Society is a co-author and co-signatory of today’s Joint cross-sectoral Statement that saw Civil Society organisations work with academics and TechUK, to express concerns about a Bill that is reaching Report Stage in Parliament on Monday 25 March 2024.

The Statement was picked up on Friday 22 March 2024 by the BBC News article “‘Mass surveillance’ fears over law change plans”.

The Statement can be found here:

In parallel, the UK Chapter has been very active in corresponding with the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR).… Read more ...

News, Policy

Joint statement of scientists and NGOs on the EU’s proposed eIDAS reform

On 2 November 2023, the Internet Society UK Chapter has joined 500 cyber security experts, researchers and NGOs to sign an open letter sounding the alarm about the European Union’s proposed eIDAS reform.

After years of legislative process, the near-final text of the eIDAS regulation has been agreed by trialogue negotiators1 representing EU’s key bodies and will be presented to the public and parliament for a rubber stamp before the end of the year. New legislative articles, introduced in recent closed-door meetings and not yet public, envision that all web browsers distributed in Europe will be required to trust the certificate authorities and cryptographic keys selected by EU governments.… Read more ...

News

Response to Consultation on: Powers in relation to UK-related domain name registries

The Chapter has submitted a response to a DSIT (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) Consultation on: Powers in relation to UK-related domain name registries.

Please find it below:

——– Forwarded Message ——–

Subject:Response from the Internet Society UK Chapter to Consultation on: Powers in relation to UK-related domain name registries
Date:Thu, 31 Aug 2023 14:26:01 +0100
From:Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com>
To:ukdomainnames.consultation@dcms.gov.uk
CC:Olivier Crépin-Leblond <ocl@isoc-e.org>

Dear Sir/Madam,

the UK Chapter of the Internet Society is hereby responding to the Consultation on the drafting of powers under the Digital Economy Act 2010.… Read more ...

Scroll to Top