According to a report in the Independent on Sunday, the Home
Office is to change its plans to make ISPs pay the costs for any
e-mail interception carried out by authorities under the
controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill.
The report claims that “Home Office insiders revealed that
ministers are considering giving tax breaks if the Government
insists that they install ‘black boxes’ in their servers to monitor
internet traffic.” It is suggested that this would take the form of
writing off the cost of installing a so-called ‘black box’ against
tax.
The government has already said that it is considering the
provision of grants towards the cost of installation.
However, Simon Moores, Chairman of the ASP Community and an
opponent of the Bill described the tax break as “a sticking
plaster.” He is quoted by Silicon.com as saying: “Show me an ISP
that is making a profit. You can’t use a tax break against a loss.
When the government talks about a tax break they’re talking about
the next financial year. So that means an ISP could wait up to two
years for a potential tax break.”
