The UK’s Home Office continues to push for maximum surveillance powers with minimum accountability in the latest adjustments to the Communications Data Bill. I decided to find out just how much consultation with non-corporates there had been before the Bill was introduced originally.
See the FOI request I placed and the response I received – there were a total of four, and no meetings worth keeping records of the content were held. Although the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee said consultation with civil society organisations was needed, by all accounts the meetings since then have been worthless too, with just notification and talk rather than true consultation. One small note for any BCS members listening to their claims they represent you; they are not listed in the response.
Open Rights Group now has a form for citizens to ask for a proper consultation to be held. They would welcome both individuals and organisations completing the form to show demand for a proper consultation.
Filed under: Communications Data Bill | Tagged: Open Rights Group |
Wild Webmink 
[…] learn today from the Wild Webmink blog that the controversy over the Communications Data Bill – aka the Snooper’s Charter […]
Regarding the meetings referred to in your FoI request, I see that at the four you mention, the Home Office reply states that no minutes were taken.
It just shows what contempt the Home Office has for genuine concerns raised about its authoritarian proposals.
[…] Demand A Proper Consultation […]
On this subject, you may be interested in:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/ccAllYourEmailsToTheresaMayDay
A protest against the “Snooper’s Charter” now on its second year 🙂