
The draft bill, which is one of the longest pieces of legislation to be considered by MPs, would force internet service providers to store web browsing records of those in the UK for a year. This is supposed to help security services keep pace with technology used by terrorists and organised criminals.
However, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) claimed that despite the draft possibly having suffered due to the timing constraints imposed by the “sunset clause” in the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014, there were issues that first needed to be addressed before it was laid before the House of Lords. As such, the committee drafted a report, in which it said: “Given the background to the draft bill and the public concern over the allegations made by Edward Snowden in 2013, it is surprising that the protection of people’s privacy – which is enshrined in other legislation – does not feature more prominently. “One might have expected an overarching statement at the forefront of the legislation, or to find universal privacy protections applied consistently throughout the draft bill. However, instead, the reader has to search and analyse each investigatory power individually to understand the privacy protections which may apply. This results in a lack of clarity which undermines the importance of the safeguards associated with these powers.”- Facebook: Make sure your privacy policies are watertight
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