It's serious http://pron.in.net/ pron site "It is not a very powerful piece of legislation. There are big holes within Ripa and one of the biggest says that secretary of state can sign what is called a national security certificate that exempts the law from applying to a whole class of communications. The foreign secretary can sign an agreement every few months that says that all communications coming into or going out of Britain are fair game. That allows GCHQ to do mass collection of anything that goes in or comes out under Ripa."