19 July 2016
Baroness Jones of Mouslecoomb, the Green Party's representative in the House of Lords, has responded to the European Court of Justice ruling on bulk data collection and called for the government to take the Investigatory Powers bill 'back to the drawing board.'
The ECJ today made a preliminary ruling that retaining data from emails and telephone calls is only lawful if it is used to tackle serious crimes. The ruling is a response to a legal challenge brought by Conservative MP David Davis and Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson against GCHQ's bulk retention of email and telephone data. (1)
Responding to the ruling, Baroness Jones said:
“Today’s European Court of Justice ruling - that bulk data collection is only lawful if it is used to tackle serious crime - makes it clearer than ever that the Investigatory Powers Bill currently passing through the House of Lords is simply not fit for purpose.
“The Bill poses serious risks to our civil liberties, sanctioning unprecedented surveillance of citizens’ communications and failing to put in place sufficient safeguards against the misuse of powers granted to the security services."
Jones last year took the UK government to court for breaching the 'Wilson Doctrine' which forbids the interception of communications between parliamentarians and their constituents. (2)
Jones added:
“We know too that blanket surveillance is not effective in keeping us safe. Indeed, the US last year ended the bulk collection of data from telephone calls after a report found that it had little or no counter-terrorism benefits; and first-hand evidence suggests that mass surveillance makes the security services’ jobs harder, not easier.
“The government must now go back to the drawing board on this issue and produce a Bill which genuinely addresses the security challenges we face and which can, unlike the current proposed legislation, stand up to proper scrutiny.”
Notes:
1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/19/bulk-data-collection-can-only-be-used-to-fight-serious?CMP=share_btn_tw
2. http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2015/07/23/blanket-surveillance-of-uk-citizens-to-be-challenged-in-cour