Policy Observatory
UK: Emergency legislation on data retention pushed through
The UK government brought in emergency legislation, a Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill (DRIP), to not only declare data retention to be still lawful but also expand the scope of both retention and lawful intercept in a number of ways.
For example, the UK government has awarded itself the extra-territorial power to demand assistance with surveillance of UK persons from foreign companies that provide communications services to people in Britain. This means that the UK security and intelligence services can demand that Google UK wiretap someone associated with Britain, rather than filing an application via the relevant mutual legal assistance treaty.
Country: UK
Domains: Privacy
Stakeholder: Government
Tags: DRIP, surveillance, UK, law, new, privacy, retention, data