Entanet issues stark warning over impending IPA

By Simon Meredith | 17th November 2016

The leading Wholesale communications provider and ISP says that the forthcoming Investigatory Powers Act will impinge on everyone’s privacy and may only be the thin end of the wedge

Telford, 17 November 2016 – Entanet, one of UK’s leading ISPs and providers of wholesale communications, has warned that the new Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which is set to come into force as soon as the government’s Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB) gains Royal Assent, will have implications for the privacy of every UK citizen and could lead to further sweeping powers being assumed by the state.

In the latest article on its opinion website (https://www.enta.net/opinion), the company’s Product Manager, Paul Heritage-Redpath, argues that the passing of the Bill into law could set a dangerous precedent.

“Entanet campaigned hard against the IPB and its previous incarnations. Given the volume of data breaches already this year, as a responsible ISP we consider the collection of every citizen’s browsing history to be a profoundly bad idea; it is inevitable that, at best, there will be scope creep among government departments. At worst, your life will fall into the wrong hands. We will let former Prime Minister David Cameron have the last word: ‘If we want to stop the state controlling us, we must confront this surveillance state.’¹

In a multiple-choice straw poll conducted on its website, 57 percent of respondents said that if the IPB was passed, they would be ‘off to live in the woods so that they wouldn’t have a digital footprint to spy on’, while 24 percent said they were mostly concerned about how their business will manage the cost of required data retention. A further 14 percent had no knowledge of the IPB, while only five percent said they were not bothered as they have nothing to hide.

— ENDS —

Notes to editors

¹Source: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/05/investigatory-powers-bill-would-be-better-suited-dictatorship

About Entanet
Entanet is a leading wholesale voice and data communications provider and operates via a network of wholesale and resale channel partners. It was founded in 1996 and employs over 80 staff at its offices in Telford, Shropshire.

In February 2014, mid-market equity investor Mobeus Equity Partners made an initial £6 million investment to support a £14 million management buyout.

Entanet offers an extensive portfolio of connectivity services, including wholesale and packaged broadband, leased lines, EFM, IP VPNs, hosting and co-location, VoIP and traditional telecoms. The company operates its own fully-resilient nationwide next generation network which enables it and its partners to provide up to 10Gbps capacity to customers right across the UK. In addition, it has further connectivity into Amsterdam and Frankfurt and over 900 peering relationships across Europe.

The quality of Entanet’s services and its commitment to partners has been widely recognised. The company was recently named ‘Wholesale Provider of the Year (Large)’ in the 2015 Comms Business Awards and received the 2015 ISPA award for ‘Best SME Business Broadband’ and CRN Sales and Marketing Award for ‘Best Vendor Account Management Team’. The company has also been listed on a number of occasions in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA and other listings of fast-growing, privately-held UK companies.

For more information contact:
Darren Farnden, Head of Marketing
Entanet International Ltd
Tel: 0333 101 0000

 

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