Tag Archives: Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill

Paddy’s Dangerous Idea No. 2

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 3rd January 2019 - 8:14 am

Following on from my post last week on Paddy’s Dangerous Idea No. 1, I am delving into his second proposal. Paddy argued:

We have long understood that property owning rights are one of the foundation stones of democracy. Yet each of us gives away our most intimate of property free and daily to the most powerful corporations, who make millions and millions from it. I am talking of course, about our personal data.

Why do we Lib Dems not assert the citizens right to own their own data and to have control over how it is used? Why about proposing a law – perhaps a European one – which says to Messrs Amazon, Google, Starbucks etc, that they can use our personal data for their commercial purposes, but only with our permission and if they give us a share of the profits. Can you think of anything which would more alter the relationship between these masters of the commercial universe and the customers whose information they exploit for such enormous profit? Can you think of anything which would more empower the citizen in the market place? Isn’t that what we Lib Dems are supposed to be about? So?

I really like this idea. Ownership of our own data gives us not only control over who does what with our data but means we can expect to be paid if others use our data, especially if they make money from it. It might seem radical, but it makes a lot of sense.

The arguments over whether we own our bodies and separated bodily material have been extensively debated. If we do own our bodies, shouldn’t our data also be owned by us – isn’t our data inherently who we are?

Paddick: EU court ruling on surveillance shows that Government overstepped the mark

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st December 2016 - 9:45 pm

When the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act was just a Bill being rushed through Parliament with indecent haste, the pros and cons were hotly debated on this site.Today, the European Court of Justice ruled that the general and indiscriminate collection of data was illegal.

Now, this was a Bill passed by the Coalition Government with Liberal Democrat consent So shouldn’t we be feeling a bit embarrassed by this ruling? I guess we need to look at the position we were in at the time. Even if we’d told the Tories that we wouldn’t support the legislation, there would have been a majority in the House of Commons for it. In fact, Labour would have been falling over itself to make it even more authoritarian.

We also know what the Tories wanted to do with communications data – because they did it with the much more pervasive and illiberal Investigatory Powers Act passed, again with Labour support, as soon as they had a majority.

Back in 2014, we secured some important concessions from the Tories in return for our support on the DRIP Act. Julian Huppert wrote at the time that it was what we already had but with additional safeguards as he set out the context to it all:

There is an issue we have to deal with now. The European Court of Justice threw out the European Data Retention Directive, which underpins all collection of communications data in this country. I sympathise with the reasons, but we must acknowledge that it causes real problems – we do need to have some way to keep some communications data, but under very careful control.

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged communications data, Investigatory Powers Bill and julian huppert | 16 Comments

LibLink: Lord Ken MacDonald: How the DRIP Bill will help us convict criminals

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 16th July 2014 - 4:44 pm

The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill cleared its Commons stages last night after a long debate which saw Julian Huppert speak at every stage and in great detail. He was pretty much doing the job of a Minister and very clearly and rationally put the case for the Bill, at all times stating his own personal commitment to civil liberties.

Lord Ken MacDonald, who has been pretty sound on things like secret courts, the statelessness provisions in the Immigration Bill and the cuts to Legal Aid, has written an article …

Posted in News | Also tagged civil liberties, lord ken macdonald and the guardian | 17 Comments

Opinion: Just remember we’re all human

By Marisha Ray | Mon 14th July 2014 - 2:30 pm

When young adults, who may even at the time have been members of prestigious universities and their more infamous clubs, became intoxicated and indulged in aggressive or loud and disturbing speech, violent actions or were simply careless and destructive, did we automatically assume that when they matured they would behave that way for the rest of their lives? We did not. Indeed some may still be thought fit to take part in the running of our country.

When young adults or older youths indulge in isolated incidents of unwise pyromania, do we say that they will be pyromaniacs for life? We do not, and in general they are not.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged civil liberties and surveillance | 11 Comments

Opinion: DRIP under the microscope – should Liberal Democrats support this Bill?

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th July 2014 - 12:59 pm

Unusually for me, I’m starting writing this piece without knowing what conclusion I’ll come to by the end of it. Normally it’s straight forward enough to marshal evidence, decide on view and then write it up (unless the curse of writers’ block strikes of course).

But the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill (DRIP) takes the usual perils of journalism turning most stories into a simple good versus bad dynamic, throws in the paucity of expert mainstream coverage of many technical issues and adds a dash of juggling different uncertainties.

Certainly if …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged civil liberties and featured | 29 Comments

Lord Brian Paddick writes: The difficult balancing act between privacy and security

By Brian Paddick | Mon 14th July 2014 - 10:45 am

As a Liberal former police officer I am acutely aware of the difficult balancing act the government has to perform between keeping us safe and keeping our personal data safe. At the same time I see both the anxiety that those concerned with civil liberties have over the new legislation and the Government’s need to act to prevent a valuable crime detection tool slipping from our grasp.

So why the need and why the rush?

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged civil liberties and communications data | 37 Comments

The Independent View: Lib Dems have cause to be concerned about the data retention bill

By Jim Killock | Sun 13th July 2014 - 2:50 pm

Many Liberal Democrats are congratulating themselves on a ‘sensible compromise’ on the emergency data retention bill, DRIP. I am afraid they are deeply wrong, and want to explain a little about why.

The first, most important point, is that DRIP doesn’t answer any of the points made by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) about data retention laws. Most importantly, they ask for an end to blanket retention, saying that retention must relate to specific threats, and be confined by specific criteria, such as a time period, …

Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged open rights group | 15 Comments

Baroness Sarah Ludford writes…How not to use Brussels for policy laundering

By Sarah Ludford | Fri 11th July 2014 - 7:20 pm

The new Data Retention and Investigatory Powers (DRIP) Bill responds to the European Court of Justice annulment of the 2006 EU Data Retention Directive.

The government asserts that the DRIP Bill only confirms existing law as it is broadly the same content as the 2009 regulations implementing the EU Directive. But as that Directive has been swept away, DRIP provides a new legal basis, and this will in fact be the first time that legislation to regulate retention of phone, email and internet records has been generated …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged civil liberties, communications data, featured and snoopers charter | 7 Comments

ALDC’s By-Election report – 13 March 2025

Improving social care and attitudes to migrants

A distinctive defence niche for the Lib Dems to seize

What would Paddy do?

Tag Archives: Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill

Paddy’s Dangerous Idea No. 2

Paddick: EU court ruling on surveillance shows that Government overstepped the mark

LibLink: Lord Ken MacDonald: How the DRIP Bill will help us convict criminals

Opinion: Just remember we’re all human

Opinion: DRIP under the microscope – should Liberal Democrats support this Bill?

Lord Brian Paddick writes: The difficult balancing act between privacy and security

The Independent View: Lib Dems have cause to be concerned about the data retention bill

Baroness Sarah Ludford writes…How not to use Brussels for policy laundering

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ALDC’s By-Election report – 13 March 2025

Improving social care and attitudes to migrants

A distinctive defence niche for the Lib Dems to seize

What would Paddy do?

Tag Archives: Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill

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