Comms Data Bill: will mean widespread snooping powers

Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, responding to the Communications Data Bill announcement in the Queen’s Speech said:

“This is a direct attack on the Coalition’s promise to end the storage of email data without good reason.

“Gaining access to your Facebook and Google data without court supervision is not preserving powers, it is a massive extension of the ability of a police officer to see what you are doing.

“It would be wide open to abuse, endangering whistleblowers and journalists’ sources.

“The interception powers open a whole new can of worms. No law has ever previously claimed that people’s communications data should be collected by third parties just in case. This data has never been previously collected.

“This Bill could mark the end of the government’s reputation as a force for protecting our freedom and privacy. They should scrap it now.”