The Open Rights Group has published an open letter on the Communications Data Bill, accusing ISPs of being “engaged in a conspiracy of silence with the Home Office, the only concern being whether or not you will be able to recover your costs”.

In a letter addressed to Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk, BT, Royal Mail, O2 and Zen Internet, the campaign group wrote:

There has been no public consultation, while on none of your websites is there any reference to these discussions. Meetings have been held behind closed doors as policy has been developed in secret, seemingly the same policy formulated several years ago despite widespread warnings from technical experts.

That your businesses appear willing to be co-opted as an arm of the state to monitor every single one of your customers is a dangerous step, exacerbated by your silence.

Responding to the letter, ISPA UK pointed out the active role of ISPs in criticising the draft Bill.

ISPs have been open in their approach, with a number of ISPs and ISPA giving evidence publicly to the Joint Committee that criticised the draft bill. It is for the government to publish its proposals, and when it does, we will examine the new draft bill closely alongside our members, parliamentarians and other stakeholders as part of the open parliamentary scrutiny the bill will receive. ISPA members recognise the needs of law enforcement, however want to see a bill that is workable and proportionate and takes into account the recommendations of the joint committee.

LINX has also made a very active and public contribution to the debate on the draft Bill, on behalf of its membership. Our written and spoken submissions to the Joint Committee are publicly available. Our evidence was cited eight times in the Joint Committee’s report, with the Joint Committee endorsing all but one of the concerns we raised.

Critics of the Communications Data Bill have stepped up the pressure on the government in the run-up to the Queen’s Speech on 6th May, with national press coverage over the weekend, followed by a front page article in The Times (paywall) on Monday and this letter on Tuesday, with further blogging in the New Statesman and the Spectator.

With such a concerted PR effort in train, the Open Rights Group’s letter might be seen less of the direct attack on ISPs that it appears on its face, and more of an invitation to reply “But we’ve all said there are lots of problems with the Communications Data Bill, why are you criticising us?”, thereby further feeding the headlines with criticism while a final decision is taken on the Queen’s Speech.