Less Snoopy Charter Unveiled for Discussion, but still meeting Opposition

Home Office consultation paper, "Access to Communications Data: Respecting Privacy and Protecting the Public from Crime", has received a mixed reception. It is the first step in replacing the draft Order that was to have been discussed in the Commons last year, but which drew fire from all quarters for offering intrusive rights to a number of statutory bodies.

Home Secretary David Blunkett acknowledges that the Government got it wrong last year in his introduction to this modified amendment to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (see UN article: Privacy? Not in Britain, mate!).

'I recognise that striking the right balance between respect for privacy and protecting the public is an issue for all of us, and it is important to get it right. Public authorities should be allowed access to communications data only when it is demonstrably both necessary and proportionate for this to happen. Applying these tests to the original Order has led us to conclude that it was too permissive and a more restrictive approach is necessary', says Blunkett.

Given the choice between restricting those who have access and restricting the amount of access that any investigatory body can request, the Government has favoured the latter approach.

Advisory body, the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr), who worked with the Home Secretary on data communications issues, calls the change of position 'a major advance in government thinking'. Dr. Ian Kearns, Head of ippr’s Digital Society Programme, points out that 'the consultation period will be a major opportunity for a new national dialogue around these issues'.

However, ISPs and other service providers have suggested that the plans for data storage required by the Government as a prerequisite to offering access are still unworkable. The article in Computer Weekly, linked below, offers a good round-up of these criticisms.

What must be welcomed is that the Government now recognises that the concerns highlighted by the reaction to the withdrawn Order are only part of a much wider debate about the balance between privacy and protecting the public from crime. Have your say on the future of privacy in the UK: the Home Office consultation paper is available for download as a pdf file.

Associated Link: Computer Weekly: Critics dismiss government's revised RIP proposals as 'unworkable'

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