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Home Office ponders if data laws protecting citizens are too difficult

by on14 February 2023


Easier for everyone just to let the authorities spy on everyone

The UK government's independent review of the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) will assess whether the safeguards in the way police and intelligence services acquire and use bulk databases on UK citizens are too onerous.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured), who once said she would love to see a front page of The Daily Telegraph sending asylum seekers to Rwanda and described it as her "dream" and "obsession" has called upon David Anderson KC to conduct a quick review of Britain’s Surveillance Act after police and intelligence agencies said the law should be reformed.

What is causing problems are the safeguards put in place by the IPA in 2016 to collect and capture “bulk records” – which contain personal data of large numbers of people.

The Home Office last week released a report of its own internal review calling for reforms to the Investigatory Powers Act oversight regime, the use of bulk personal data records and other issues in the light of technological developments and changing threats UK.

“British intelligence services have stressed the critical importance of updating the legislation to technologically keep pace with the increasingly sophisticated tools used by terrorists, drug smugglers and organised crime gangs.”

The Home Office argues that rapid technological changes coupled with restrictions in the Investigatory Powers Act are preventing UK intelligence agencies from using digital technology “necessary to keep the country safe”.

 

Last modified on 14 February 2023
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