Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014

Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 (DRIP) is an "emergency" act presented by the government in July 2014 following the change in legal status of the implementation of the Data Retention Directive.

The act amends the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

• reimplements the previous enactment of the Data Retention Directive
• grants the Secretary of State the power to make further provisions regarding the retention of communications data.
• widens the definition of "Telecommunications Service" in RIPA to include things such as webmail services.
• clarifies the interpretation of the phrase "In the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom"
• broadens the scope for warrants beyond the United Kingdom and United Kingdom persons (for relevant data held in the UK) - e.g. issued against companies not headquartered in the UK.
• repeals itself, and amendments, at the end of 2016
• addition of Independent Privacy and Civil Liberties Board, Review of Communications Data and Interception Powers, and a senior diplomat to negotiate with the US government, "other key international partners" and CSPs.

The provisions in the Act are expected to be replaced by the Investigatory Powers Bill before the end of 2016.

Announcement of the Bill

The Bill was announced by the Home Secretary, Theresa May MP on Thursday 10 July 2014 in the House of Commons . She said

"I want to propose... a narrow and limited response to a set of specific challenges we face. I am not proposing the introduction of the Communications Data Bill"

"So I can tell the House that today the Government are announcing the introduction of fast-track legislation, through the data retention and investigatory powers Bill".

She said that while the European Court of Justice ruled the Data Retention Directive incompatible with human rights, they did not take into consideration domestic legislation that provides safeguards and guarantees. She said such laws were contained in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, as it was designed to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.

ORG's Initial Views

• The retention period is still 12 months however this is a maximum period and will be adjusted according to the type of retention required, but without seeing a notice there is no way of knowing on what basis the retention period will be adjusted and how frequently it will be lower than 12 months.
• There is now a wider scope to include operators of Tor services as well as any webmail services that process data in the UK
• In regards to the sunset clause, these have been extended in the past and it is not clear that there is anything stopping this happening again.
• Other EU countries such as Germany have not replaced this legislation after the original Directive was struck down, Germany has not fallen prey to repeated terrorist attacks. In our view this suggests that the "emergency" nature of the situation has been exaggerated.

Parliamentary process

As emergency legislation an accelerated timeline enabled it to be pushed through in a week:

• The draft bill was announced and published on Thursday 10 July 2014
  • Communications Data and Interception (Commons), Hansard, 2014-07-10
  • Communications Data and Interception (Lords), Hansard, 2014-07-10
• First reading occurred Monday 14 July 2014
  • Bill Presented (Commons), 2014-07-14
• All remaining Commons stages were Tuesday 15 July 2014
  • Bill Presented (Commons), 2014-07-15
  • Division at 13:34, 2014-07-15 (436 aye, 49 no)
  • Second reading (Commons), 2014-07-15
  • Division at 16:53, 2014-07-15 (498 aye, 31 no)
  • Division at 20:15, 2014-07-15 (454 aye, 56 no)
  • Division at 20:45, 2014-07-15 (440 aye, 25 no)
  • Division at 21:38, 2014-07-15 (449 aye, 33 no)
• Lords second reading, Wednesday 16 July 2014
  • Second Reading (Lords), 2014-07-16
• All remaining Lords stages, Thursday 17 July 2014
  • Committee (Lords), 2014-07-17
  • Report and remaining stages (Lords), 2014-07-17
• Royal Assent, Thursday 17 July 2014
  • Royal Assent, 2014-07-17
• Regulations (SI)
  • Electronic Communications (Commons), 2014-07-22
  • Data Retention Regulations 2014 (Lords), 2014-07-29

Compatibility with European directives

On July 17th the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills informed the European Commission TRIS that the UK does not consider that the new act require notification per the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive.

Judicial Review

On the 22nd of July intention to seek a Judicial Review of the Act was announced by Liberty working on behalf of Tom Watson MP and David Davis MP. Open Rights Group and Privacy International also made interventions.

The High Court ruling, given 17 July 2015, found that sections 1 and 2 of the act were incompatible with ECHR articles 7 and 8.

• Judgment, Judiciary, 2015-07-17

Links

• Text of Act, legislation.gov.uk
  • The Data Retention Regulations 2014
• Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014, GOV.UK
• The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill, GOV.UK
• Bill progress, parliament.uk
• Impact Assessment on Data Retention legislation, 2014-06-27
• ECHR memorandum. Joint Committee on Human Rights, 2014-07-11
  • Letter from Theresa May to JCHR, 2014-07-31 (published 2014-09-10)
• Commons Library Note SN06934, 2014-07-11
• Lords Constitution Committee report, 2014-07-16

Announcements

• PM and Deputy PM to announce emergency security legislation, GOV.UK, 2014-07-10
• Speech (Announcement), David Cameron MP and Nick Clegg MP, 2014-07-10
• Statement to Parliament, Theresa May MP, 2014-07-10
• Data Retention & Investigatory Powers Bill receives Royal Assent, GOV.UK, 2014-07-17

Coverage

• Emergency phone and internet data storage law to be brought in, BBC, 2014-07-10
• Emergency surveillance law to be brought in with cross-party support, Guardian, 2014-07-10
• Cameron announcing emergency surveillance legislation: Politics live blog, Guardian, 2014-07-10
• Emergency surveillance legislation is stitch-up, campaigners say, Guardian, 2014-07-10
• UK to rush through "emergency" phone and internet data retention law, Naked Security blog, 2014-07-11
• Coalition wants to sneakily pass data retention law, Wired UK, 2014-07-10
• UK Emergency Surveillance Law Criticized For Being Overly Broad, Vague And Draconian, TechCrunch, 2014-07-15

Commentary

• Forcing through the surveillance laws is a further erosion of political trust, Tom Watson MP, 2014-07-10
• This is not Snoopers’ Charter. It’s what we had already plus additional safeguards, Julian Huppert MP - Liberal Democrat Voice, 2014-07-10
• Why the emergency surveillance law has united Westminster, Rafael Behr, 2014-07-10
• Nick Clegg gets it the wrong way round on data retention, 2014-07-10
• Top Tory's devastating attack on our loss of privacy: This data law has nothing to do with catching terrorists - and everything to do with a lust for power, David Davis MP / Mail, 2014-07-13
• Emergency surveilliance law: Cameron's cynical appeal to the three of the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse, Laurie Penny - New Statesman, 2014-07-10
• A DRIP in time..., Wendy Grossman, 2014-07-11
• Dissecting DRIP - the emergency Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill, Graham Smith / Cyberleagle, 2014-07-12
• Don't call this the surveillance status quo – it's a cross-party stitch-up, Mike Harris, 2014-07-11
• DRIP: a shabby process for a shady law., Paul Bernal, 2014-07-12
• Mass surveillance and scared politicians, Ray Corrigan, 2014-07-11
• Cowardice meets arrogance in UK surveillance stitch up, Cory Doctorow, 2014-07-11
• Opinion: We should be ashamed of these emergency surveillance powers, James Baker - Liberal Democrat Voice, 2014-07-11
• DRIP Bill means a future torrent of snooping powers, No2ID press release, 2014-07-10
• 'Emergency' is bogus but surveillance law could prove rare liberal moment, Alan Travis - Guardian, 2014-07-10
• Does the UK’s new data retention bill violate the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights?, Steve Peers, 2014-07-10
• Open Letter to UK Prime Minister, Global Network Initiative, 2014-07-14
• The Drip Effect, Shami Chakrabarti - Liberty, 2014-07-14
• Plugging Gaps in Surveillance Laws or Authorising the Unlawful?, Tom Hickman, 2014-07-14
• Open letter from UK legal academic experts re DRIP, 2014-07-15

Letters to MPs

• DRIP drip… a legislative stitch up: My letter to Lucy Powell MP, Tim Dobson, 2014-07-11
• URGENT: Reject the Data Retention Bill, Silkie Carlo, 2014-07-12
• The Politics of Cowards, Piers Beckley, 2014-07-11
• Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill, Matt Realm, 2014-07-14