I had the pleasure of speaking to a close advisor of Nick Clegg about these new regulations. He spoke at great length of the added protections which are being introduced as part of this bill.
While I'm still sceptical of the need for large scale surveillance I'm glad to see these regulations being moved from shady interpenetration of existing laws to being out in the open.
- The Bill includes a termination clause that ensures the legislation falls at the end of 2016 and the next government is forced to look again at these powers.
- Between now and 2016 we will hold a full view of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, to make recommendations for how it could be reformed and updated.
- We will appoint a senior diplomat to lead discussions with the American government and the internet companies to establish a new international agreement for sharing data between legal jurisdictions.
- We will establish a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on the American model, to ensure that civil liberties are properly considered in the formulation of government policy on counter-terrorism. This will be based on David Anderson's existing role as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
- We will restrict the number of public bodies that are able to approach phone and internet companies and ask for communications data. Some bodies will lose their powers to access data altogether while local authorities will be required to go through a single central authority who will make the request on their behalf.
- Finally, we will publish annual transparency reports, making more information publicly available than ever before on the way that surveillance powers operate.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/jul/10/cameron...