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Europe goes to second base on UK privacy flaws

by Scott Bicheno on 29 October 2009, 12:27

Tags: European Commission

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Under pressure

The European Commission has moved its infringement proceeding against the UK to the next level as it remains unconvinced that our laws do enough to protect our private electronic data.

The proceeding kicked-off last April, catalysed by concerns over the consumer behaviour tracking company Phorm. The EC felt that the UK's privacy laws needed be improved to get in line with European law in this area.

Amazingly, it looks like our law-makers have just sat on their hands in the intervening six months, leading the EC to enter the second phase of the proceeding. This time they only have two months to respond - how can the EC expect anyone to live with that pace?

Here are the three main issues the EC has with UK law on this matter:

  • There is no independent national authority to supervise interception of communications, although the establishment of such authority is required under the ePrivacy and Data Protection Directives, in particular to hear complaints regarding interception of communications.
  • The current UK law - the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) - authorises interception of communications not only where the persons concerned have consented to interception but also when the person intercepting the communications has ‘reasonable grounds for believing' that consent to do so has been given. These UK law provisions do not comply with EU rules defining consent as freely given specific and informed indication of a person's wishes.
  • The RIPA provisions prohibiting and providing sanctions in case of unlawful interception are limited to ‘intentional' interception only, whereas the EU law requires Members States to prohibit and to ensure sanctions against any unlawful interception regardless of whether committed intentionally or not.

 



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