We were expecting it but it doesn't make it any easier. Less than a week after winning the general election, David Cameron announced controversial plans to fast-track new powers to tackle radicalisation that were previously blocked by the Liberal Democrats.
We can now be absolutely certain; the UK government is also going to revive its plans for the Communications Data Bill (or Snoopers' Charter as it is known by most). The bill first proposed in 2013 was also blocked after opposition from within the coalition. Now that opposition's gone, there's nothing to stand in the government's way.
Let's make no mistake about it: the bill is bad, and for two main reasons.
Firstly, it's going to put a huge brake on the UK technology industry (which is pretty ironic given the support business leaders gave the Tories). We've already heard stories about UK start-ups that are supposed to be the engine of UK economic recovery threatening to the leave the country.
Clearly, they're not impressed by the idea of having to build in backdoors for security services that would make their users vulnerable. Indeed, should the bill pass – which it will – why would anyone buy a security or security-reliant products from a UK firm in the future? And then there's the cloud industry, another growth area. What's the first question any customer is going to ask of a facility based on UK soil?
Secondly, there's the not-so-small issue of civil liberties. As Privacy International's legal director Carly Nyst eloquently put it, the move will "sacrifice the civil liberties of Britons everywhere on the altar of national security". I would go even further. Mass surveillance and removing privacy rights are tools normally only used in dictatorships. If the UK is to go down this road, it is setting a poor example to the world and showing it is not above the regimes and belief systems it seeks to oppose.
Put together, the commercial and reputational impact that the UK suffer could be immense. The question is – what's anyone going to do about it?
Don't trust companies to balance this out – they're only in it for themselves, as was made hugely evident by Facebook's decision that its worldwide internet access project, Internet.org, is not going to support encrypted traffic.
Considering one of the main aims of Internet.org is to offer free basic internet services to people who can't afford it, this is a pretty outrageous move. It's essentially stating that if you can't pay for internet services, you don't deserve privacy.