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LONDON (Brand Republic) - The controversial regulation of investigatory powers bill has moved a step closer to becoming law, after being passed in the House of Lords yesterday.

The bill, often known as the “snooping” bill, will now go to the House of Commons for approval before becoming law. It is widely thought that the bill will meet with easy endorsement in the Commons.

The bill gives the government authority to intercept email by installing “black boxes” on ISPs’ premises in order to read all email traffic. It can also demand the handing over of any encryption keys.

If the bill is passed, the UK will be the only western country where government access to encryption keys is explicitly written into law. It is passage is being watched keenly by the US government, which is known to covet similar powers.

The bill has attracted widespread criticism from privacy groups and from businesses, some of which have warned of dire consequences. ClaraNet, an ISP that has been outspoken in its criticism, says that it will move some of its services out of the country if the bill is passed.

One of the amendments approved yesterday in the House of Lords was the establishment of a technical advisory board. However, ClaraNet’s systems manager Steve Rawlinson said, “While the advisory board would have to be consulted, it would have no power of veto, so it could just be a cosmetic detail.”

One of the main criticisms has been the cost of installing and maintaining black boxes. The government has said it will allocate £20m to fund the cost of installing the black boxes.

However, according to Rawlinson, the cost of intercepting the data and the amount of work involved is “mind boggling” and is predicted to be well above the government’s £20m contribution.

He also warned that businesses would be very nervous about privacy issues. “The bill talks about encryption keys being required in special circumstances, but this is not defined and could mean virtually anything,” he said.

“It’s very easy for us to move some services, such as email, to our French and German offices. We will be offering our customers this option if the bill goes ahead,” he warned.

Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, said, “It''s zombie legislation. Although clinically dead with macabre wounds, it still lumbers on menacing both individual privacy and commercial confidence.”