Leading security expert Bruce Schneier was in London this week on a whirlwind lecture tour. ZDNet UK caught up with the ex-NSA man, who is now BT's chief security technology officer, at lectures in parliament and at University College London.

Schneier talked to ZDNet UK about his views on behavioural advertising, the efforts of various governments to tackle unlawful file-sharing, cyber-warfare and vendor lock-in.

"The Government is saying we’re going to have to do something that sounds good," he told PC Pro. "It keeps introducing legislation for PR reasons.

"We can’t be throttling back the speed of people's internet connections, let alone cutting them off. It completely destroys the Government’s objective to cut costs by delivering 100% of its services online in the very near future."

Lord Erroll also has grave concerns over plans to give the Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, the power to change copyright law without consulting Parliament. The controversial Clause 17 would give Ministers the right to amend the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, potentially paving the way for measures such as greater surveillance of internet connections to tackle file-sharing.

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"For a Minister to do anything [to copyright law], probably under pressure, is wrong in our democratic system," Erroll said. "It’s for Parliament to decide laws. You can’t give that kind of power to the Civil Service."

Erroll said the legislation needs to be given further consideration. "Thinking about it for another six months isn’t going to make a big difference, and we might get it right."