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Opponents call it the “snoopers charter”. Others refer to it as the Surveillance Bill or Spying Bill. Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti called it a “breathtaking attack” on civil liberties.
Government and other public officials have played down the controversial nature of the new legislation. National Police Chiefs’ Council chair Sara Thornton said it will be used “to protect the public, preserve life and prevent and detect crime” – just like lots of laws before it.
The draft Investigatory Powers Bill (to give it its official name) has been published today. Here are 10 things we learned.
1.Internet firms will be required for the first time to store data relating to people’s web and social media use.
Internet connection records (ICRs) are the online equivalent of a phone bill, covering the services a computer or smartphone connects to but not the user’s full browsing history.
2. Judges will have unprecedented power to veto requests for more intrusive operations, such as interception of the content of communications.
3. The overall cost of implementing the changes is estimated to be £247m over ten years.
4. A new single body led by a powerful investigatory powers commissioner will replace the current system of oversight which is split across three different bodies.
5. Successive governments since around 2001 have authorised secret directions to providers, which allow intelligence agencies to collect communications data in bulk under the Telecommunications Act 1984.
6. Communications firms will be legally required to help spies hack in to suspects’ smartphones and computers.
7. The Prime Minister would have to be consulted before MPs’ communications could be intercepted by British spies as the protection of the so-called Wilson Doctrine is written into law for the first time.
8. Councils will be banned from accessing ICRs.
9. The Government held dozens of meetings with industry, civil liberties groups and other organisations “to inform its policy proposals”.
10. A new offence of “knowingly or recklessly obtaining communications data” will be created to guard against abuses of powers, with those convicted facing up to two years in prison.
