The Draft Investigatory Powers Bill – the Government’s new surveillance law – is currently going through Parliament – and has just received huge criticism from every committee to scrutinise it. The Bill is a once-in-a-generation chance to shape our spying laws for the better. But as it stands, it risks both our freedom and our safety.

The 300-page Draft Investigatory Powers Bill is so filled with technical jargon that the Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee labelled it “confusing”. Here, we break down the language barrier that shields this crucial piece of legislation from much-needed public scrutiny.

Today the ISC – or to give its full name, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament – has released a report condemning much of the Government’s Draft Investigatory Powers Bill. This is noteworthy because the criticism comes not from the mouths of ‘tech nerds’ or rights groups, but from the Government’s own committee for overseeing the affairs of the security services and GCHQ.

Whether you have read the entire copy of the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill or just caught snippets in the news, it doesn’t take much to notice the Government is using a lot of complicated terms to legislate for mass surveillance.

Yesterday, the Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee released its assessment of the Government’s Draft Investigatory Powers Bill. Its conclusion: the legislation is confusing, even to tech experts.

Go back just a few years and it’s doubtful you or your friends expected you were being spied on – persons of interest just because you’re people. Of course, thanks to Snowden and subsequent legal challenges by Liberty and others, we now know all too well that secret surveillance of the entire population has been the status quo for over a decade.