The Information Commissioner has welcomed the government's plans to scrap a massive central database for communications records, but warned the data it wants access to is still "highly intrusive".
Yesterday, the government laid out its plans for the Communications Bill, which would let policing agencies see data about mobile phone calls, text messages, email and even internet browsing session. The proposals would not let police see the content of messages, but would let them see when and to whom they were sent.
Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said in a statement: "We should remember that communication records who? when? where? can be highly intrusive even if no content is collected. You can tell an awful lot about some people's personal circumstances from the people they are talking to and the websites they visit."
The government did scrap plans to hold all the data in one place, however, saying internet service providers and mobile operators would have to offer easy access instead.
"It is welcome that the Government has stopped short of proposing the creation of a centralised database of these records, recognising the privacy concerns that such a step would raise, but there are still many matters of details that will require much closer examination," Thomas said.
"It is important that the proposals are tightly defined and minimise the level of intrusion with appropriate safeguards in place," he added.
Thomas said his office would be making a "formal response" to the consultation about the bill soon.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolenNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
Lateral moves in tech: Why leaders should support employee mobilityIn-depth Encouraging staff to switch roles can have long-term benefits for skills in the tech sector
-
ICO admits it's too slow dealing with complaints – so it's eying up automation to cut staff workloadsNews The UK's data protection authority has apologized for being slow to respond to data protection complaints, saying it's been overwhelmed by increased workloads.
-
AI recruitment tools are still a privacy nightmare – here's how the ICO plans to crack down on misuseNews The ICO has issued guidance for recruiters and AI developers after finding that many are mishandling data
-
“You must do better”: Information Commissioner John Edwards calls on firms to beef up support for data breach victimsNews Companies need to treat victims with swift, practical action, according to the ICO
-
LinkedIn backtracks on AI training rules after user backlashNews UK-based LinkedIn users will now get the same protections as those elsewhere in Europe
-
UK's data protection watchdog deepens cooperation with National Crime AgencyNews The two bodies want to improve the support given to organizations experiencing cyber attacks and ransomware recovery
-
ICO slams Electoral Commission over security failuresNews The Electoral Commission has been reprimanded for poor security practices, including a failure to install security updates and weak password policies
-
Disgruntled ex-employees are using ‘weaponized’ data subject access requests to pester firmsNews Some disgruntled staff are using DSARs as a means to pressure former employers into a financial settlement
-
ICO reprimands Coventry school over repeated data protection failuresNews The ICO said the academy trust failed to follow previous guidance, which caused a serious data breach
