The current use of RIP and the Terrorism Act breaches human rights. It criminalises and persecutes innocent people for engaging in legitimate behaviour, such as public photography and peaceful assembly.
It allows public bodies to snoop on employees, denying them right to privacy, to snoop on and illegitimately oppsess normal citizens for purposes which have nothing to do with prevention of terrorism. Essentially it strips UK citizens of rights and freedoms that this country pioneered and should protect. I believe their permanent erosion to be a far greater threat to this country and its society in the long term than terrorism, which is only a short-term threat. A "threat of terrorism" should never be used to suppress civil liberties.
For why it is important – see Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia and other dictatorships where the overblown threat of "enemies of the state" has been used to persecute ordinary citizens for the sake of enforcing public fear of the state and for the sake of annual police and "state security" performance targets. We must get the UK off this dangerous road before it's too late.