“We are concerned that introducing emergency legislation does nothing to enhance the rule of law or address the fact that we are increasingly becoming a ‘surveillance society’. The history of emergency legislation is not exemplary, with laws being used for purposes for which they were not intended. Today’s news is particularly worrying, given the emergency legislation will go against a court judgment on human rights. There needs to be a public debate about how to strike the right balance between security, freedom and privacy. We need to simplify and clarify a complex and confusing legal framework and ensure that it protects human rights.”
Emergency UK ‘Data Retention and Investigation Powers (DRIP) Act’.
Within days, MPs are being asked to approve DRIP, providing little time to debate or digest any of the implications with regard to balancing liberty, privacy and security. In this clip, Tom Watson describes it as ‘anti-democratic’, and ‘hasty legislation… that invariably goes wrong’;
