I guess this might in fact be progress
Probably all this has been going on secretly (and apparently illegally, despite the assurances) for years. The security services have clearly been very keen to keep it secret and I suspect that's because they know that putting it into law makes it easier to attack.
There may be direct legal challenges. There may also (when the public wake up), be political challenges. There may be economic forces arising from the now explicit risk to data security in the UK. There may be pressure from the fact this law makes the UK look like a tin-pot dictatorship and undermines its arguments against others. Now that the law exists, whistle blowers may feel empowered to speak out if the security services go beyond it.
So, small crumbs, but if one accepts that this has always been going on, then perhaps this is a small measure of progress. Obviously there's still quite a bit of work to do, though.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
