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| Internet monitoring bill 'must do more to protect privacy' | Internet monitoring bill 'must do more to protect privacy' |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Plans to authorise mass data collection and hacking by Britain's spies do not do enough to protect privacy, a watchdog has warned. | |
| The extent of the intelligence agencies' computer and internet spying operation has recently become clear. | The extent of the intelligence agencies' computer and internet spying operation has recently become clear. |
| The draft Investigatory Powers Bill is meant to put it on a firm legal footing. | The draft Investigatory Powers Bill is meant to put it on a firm legal footing. |
| But the Intelligence and Security Committee says the bill lacks clarity and is a "missed opportunity". | But the Intelligence and Security Committee says the bill lacks clarity and is a "missed opportunity". |
| 'Exceptional powers' | |
| Committee chairman, Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, said: "We had expected to find universal privacy protections applied consistently throughout, or at least an overarching statement at the forefront of the legislation. | Committee chairman, Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, said: "We had expected to find universal privacy protections applied consistently throughout, or at least an overarching statement at the forefront of the legislation. |
| "Instead, the draft bill adopts a rather piecemeal approach, which lacks clarity and undermines the importance of the safeguards associated with these powers. | "Instead, the draft bill adopts a rather piecemeal approach, which lacks clarity and undermines the importance of the safeguards associated with these powers. |
| "We have therefore recommended that the new legislation contains an entirely new part dedicated to overarching privacy protections, which should form the backbone of the draft legislation around which the exceptional powers are then built. This will ensure that privacy is an integral part of the legislation rather than an add-on." | "We have therefore recommended that the new legislation contains an entirely new part dedicated to overarching privacy protections, which should form the backbone of the draft legislation around which the exceptional powers are then built. This will ensure that privacy is an integral part of the legislation rather than an add-on." |
| The Home Office is due to publish a final, amended version of the bill later this year. | The Home Office is due to publish a final, amended version of the bill later this year. |
| The draft bill, which is one of the longest pieces of legislation to be considered by MPs in recent years, would force internet service providers to store web browsing records of everyone in the UK for a year. | |
| This is meant to help the police and security services keep pace with technology being used by terrorists and organised criminals. | |
| The draft bill is being scrutinised by a joint parliamentary committee which is due to report on Thursday. | |
| 'Equipment interference' | |
| The ISC, a cross-party committee of MPs and peers, has confined its scrutiny to the parts of the bill that relate to secret intelligence material, which the other committee cannot see. | |
| It has taken evidence from Home Secretary Theresa May and the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. | |
| The committee wants to restrict the scope of proposed "equipment interference" warrants, allowing spies to hack into suspects' smartphones and computers and download data from them. | |
| It says "targeted" warrants are sufficient. | |
| The committee is also concerned about the downloading of large databases, which might include medical or bank records, known as bulk personal data sets, to aid investigations. | |
| Dominic Grieve said: "Given that each Bulk Personal Dataset potentially contains personal information about a large number of individuals - the majority of whom will not be of any interest to the agencies - the committee considers that each dataset is sufficiently intrusive that it should require a specific warrant. | |
| "We therefore recommend that Class Bulk Personal Dataset warrants are removed from the legislation." | |
| It is also calling for more clarity about the privacy safeguards to be applied to the examination of material gathered by the trawling of internet traffic passing through the UK, a practice revealed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden. |