Lords attempt to sneak through snoopers' charter again

by JAMES TEMPERTON

Update 2 February 20:42: The amendments to the counter-terrorism security bill have once again been rejected in the Lords. Attempts to revive the snoopers' charter for the second time in a week failed to even make it to a vote.

Peers are once again trying to sneak an altered version of the snoopers' charter through the House of Lords despite criticism that their previous attempts were a "gratuitous affront to parliamentary democracy".

The move comes exactly a week after several peers slammed the amendments for being little-more than a rushed copy of the snoopers' charter. Last Monday (26 January) the amendments were dropped without a vote being held.

If passed the snoopers' charter would require technology and telecoms companies to collect and store customer metadata for up to a year and make it available to authorities without a warrant. During last week's debate in the House of Lords it was argued that the government should make better use of the data it already collects.

The latest amendments to the proposed law were added to the counter-terrorism security bill over the weekend ahead of today's debate in the House of Lords. The bill itself is close to being approved but it is unlikely that the rushed amendments will be waved through by the Lords.

Small changes have been made to the amendments, including limiting access to customer metadata to police, the National Crime Agency and intelligence authorities. Changes have also been made to how companies would be required to store and organise metadata.

The snoopers' charter was first proposed in 2012 but has been left in limbo after deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said such legislation would never be passed while his party was in government.

The four peers trying to force through the snoopers' charter include a former police chief, a former defence secretary and a former counter-terrorism minister. Lords Blair, Carlile, King and West have claimed it is essential to pass new legislation now to counter the threat of terrorism and protect British lives.

During last week's debate Lord King blamed Snapchat and WhatsApp for the rise of Islamic State. He said that their communications were so good because they used the apps with "great intelligence".

"I am not a tweeter, but we've got Facebook, we've got Twitter and somebody tried to explain to me what WhatsApp is, somebody else tried to explain to me about Snapchat. My Lords, I don't know about them, but what is absolutely clear is that the terrorists and jihadists do."

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Lord Blencathra, chair of the select committee that looked into the snoopers' charter in 2012, said he stood by his comments of the time that the proposed legislation was "too sweeping" adding he could not support the amended version.

He said that following criticism the government had redrafted the bill. He claimed it took into account "95 percent" of what the select committee had recommended and that "no one could rightly call it the snoopers' charter". 

Peers subsequently called on the government to produce the new draft legislation so it could be debated. It is likely that these latest amendments are an attempt to force the government to share the legislation with the Lords ahead of May's general election.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-02/02/snoopers-charter-again