[AlexanderHanff]

We are going round in circles here, as I said, RIPA applies to all parties in a communication which includes webmasters. RIPA basically extends ECHR Article 8 into UK criminal law; which -is- the right to privacy of communications, it is not the content that is important, it is the communication that is important and it is that communication which is protected and inalienable for all parties which is why implied consent cannot work and cannot be legal.

But for the sake of stopping the thread turning into a 2 player argument I am not going to repeat it again, I suggest perhaps it would be wise if we just agree to disagree and leave it at that.

Alexander Hanff

[Edit]
Incidentally the Newsagent analogy you used is wholly inappropriate with regards to RIPA. If they were opening your mail to see what magazines you buy, that would be applicable to RIPA; if they take the bag off the paper boy to find out, that would probably also fall under RIPA; going to the shop and asking the shop owner what you buy would fall under DPA not RIPA as there is no interception but they would be asking for personal data which is covered under DPA and would require a court order to force the shop owner to comply. Without the court order the shop owner can and should tell Mr Plod to get back on his bicycle and return from whence he came.