ORG policy update/2018-w09

This is ORG's Policy Update for the week beginning 26/02/2018.

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ORG’s work

ORG launched a new infographic as part of their campaign against current trials of electronic voting in Scotland.
ORG are fundraising to recruit more permanent members of our legal team. Join ORG today to help out!
ORG is running a petition against the Government’s misguided proposals threatening fines for internet companies who do not rapidly censor extremist material shared on their platforms. Sign the petition here!
ORG have launched an open call for ideas to develop a tool for consumers to enjoy their stronger rights under GDPR. This is a joint project with Projects by IF, funded through a grant from the Information Commissioner Office.

Planned local group events:

Join ORG Cambridge on 6 March for their regular monthly meeting.
Join ORG Legal Intern Alex Haydock at ORG North East on 10 March to learn about digital rights and how to take control of your online life.
Join ORG Birmingham on 26 March to hear about what the Government's Digital Charter will mean for free speech online.

Official meetings

Jim Killock met with Internet Matters to discuss internet filtering and the Blocked! project.
Jim Killock met with PIPCU to discuss domain suspension and seizure.
Jim Killock gave an interview to German television network ARD about Amber Rudd's extreme content filtering tool.
Michael Morel hosted a presentation from investigative journalist Joseph Cox about the zero-day and exploit industry.
Matthew Rice held a briefing in Holyrood on electronic voting.

UK Parliament

Data Protection Bill

ORG are still tracking the progress of the Data Protection Bill, which had its first reading in the House of Commons at the end of January, and is awaiting a second Commons reading before Committee Stage can begin. While no date has yet been announced for the Second Reading, ORG are expecting this to be held around the time of Monday 5 March.

The Bill still contains the controversial "immigration exemption", which ORG have campaigned against during earlier stages. For more information, see previous policy updates.

ORG are planning future outreach campaigns targeting MPs and MEPs, intended to highlight our concerns with some of the provisions of the Bill.

Scottish Electronic Voting Bill

A debate is expected to be taking place in the Scottish Parliament soon on a motion supporting the adoption of electronic voting. This was expected to take place on 7 March but may be delayed due to the impact of recent weather on other Parliamentary business.

The Parliamentary motion can be found here, and you can read ORG Scotland Director Matthew Rice's blog post about the problems with electronic voting here.

Other national developments

Liberty begin legal challenge against Investigatory Powers Act surveillance

This week, the first High Court hearings began in human rights group Liberty's legal challenge against the mass surveillance powers found in the Investigatory Powers Act.

A High Court hearing was held on 27 February. The hearing focused on Liberty's challenge against the data retention provisions of the Act, which define the Government's powers to order private companies to store individuals' internet browsing history and communications data.

Last month, the Court of Appeal ruled in ORG's favour in a related challenge that the almost identically worded powers found in the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 were unlawful. The court held that such powers could not be considered legitimate as they allowed access to records of internet activity and communications without independent oversight, and without there needing to be a suspicion of 'serious crime'. You can read more about this challenge and ORG's involvement here.

During Liberty's hearing, the Government conceded that parts of the Investigatory Powers Act did violate human rights, and that they would need amending. Liberty are demanding a ruling from the court that the Government cannot continue to use the powers of the Act until serious changes have been made to bring the act in line with EU law and the ruling in the DRIPA case. They are also demanding that questions of EU law should be referred to the European Court of Justice to be answered.

You can read Liberty's pre-hearing press release here, and read Advocacy Director Corey Stoughton's thread of live Twitter updates from the hearing here.

Questions in the UK Parliament

Question on social media codes of practice

John Mann asked the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, "how he plans to encourage uptake and monitor compliance of the code of practice provided for by s103 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 by social media companies."

Margot James replied that "implementation of the social media code of practice, as required under the Digital Economy Act (2017), will be the first step of this process. The consultation on this, and measures proposed in the Internet Safety Strategy, closed on 7 December.

In her speech on 6 February, the Prime Minister confirmed that the Government would be bringing forward the social media code of practice as proposed in the green paper. The code of practice will set out guidance about what social media providers should do in relation to bullying conduct on their platforms. We will be setting out next steps to achieve the code of practice in our Government response which will be published in the spring."

Question about police use of digital forensics

Louise Haigh asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, "whether all providers of digital forensics to the police are accredited to the Forensic Services Regulator's codes of practice and conducts."

Nick Hurd replied that the Home Office do not collect such information, but that "in her latest annual report, published on 19 January 2018, the Forensic Science Regulator set out her view of the national picture for accreditation in digital forensics." The report referred to can be accessed here.

Question about online hate crime and cyberbullying

John Mann asked the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, "what discussions he has held with stakeholders on establishing a commissioner to (a) tackle and (b) provide guidance on tackling (i) online hate activity and (ii) cyber bullying."

Margot James responded that "ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with stakeholders on a range of issues, including online hate and abuse. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the Gov.uk website."

Question about the use of blockchain technology for the NHS

Eddie Hughes asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, "what assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits of using blockchain for the NHS; and if he will make a statement."

Jackie Doyle-Price responded that "the Department is currently assessing the potential benefits of Blockchain along with a number of other innovative, emerging technologies. Blockchain has the potential to enable patients to have greater control over who can access their records through the use of encrypted data and a permanent ledger in which all transactions are recorded. It also has possible applications in contracting. Globally the use of Blockchain in health and care is in a very early stage of development and there is no firm evidence as yet of the exact benefits it might offer."

ORG media coverage

See ORG Press Coverage for full details.

2018-02-28-TechDirt-UK's New 'Extremist Content' Filter Will Probably Just End Up Clogged With Innocuous Content: Author: Tim Cushing; Summary: Jim Killock quoted in a story questioning how effective Amber Rudd's proposed AI-based 'extremist content' filter will be.; Topics: Online censorship

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