§ The Earl of Northeskasked Her Majesty's Government:
How they respond to the recent warning quoted in the media from the Information Commissioner that, within the terms of the Council of Europe's proposed Cybercrime Convention, access to communication traffic data and location data by law enforcement authorities should be limited to cases where the need to prevent or detect crime or safeguard national security justifies the privacy intrusion; and what implications this has for their current approach to the Telecommunications Data Protection Directive. [HL422]
§ Lord RookerThe Government agree that intrusions into privacy must be properly justified. The Government are satisfied that United Kingdom law on access to communications data is consistent with this. The Telecommunications Data Protection Directive, which was transposed into UK law in 1999, is being renegotiated as the Communications Data Protection Directive. The approach taken in these negotiations is consistent with this approach.