The government's controversial Draft Communications Data Bill, which aims to allow unparalleled interception of data about UK citizens' online communications and voice calls, needs to go back to the drawing board, according to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Clegg was responding to a critical report from MPs and peers which laid into the Bill, accusing the government of using "fanciful and misleading" figures to justify them and stating that the current draft is "too sweeping, going further than it needs or should".
"Their report makes a number of serious criticisms - not least on scope; proportionality; cost; balances; and the need for much wider consultation," Clegg said.
"It is for those reasons that I believe the Coalition Government needs to have a fundamental rethink about this legislation. We cannot proceed with this bill and we have to go back to the drawing board. We need to reflect properly on the criticisms that the Committee have made, while also consulting much more widely with business and other interested groups," he added.
The Home Office had revealed that the Bill, which was laid before Parliament in June, could lead to an increase in public expenditure of up to £1.8bn over 10 years. It also claimed that the benefits from the investment are estimated to be between £5bn and £6.2bn over the same period. However, it was not clear how these figures were calculated, leading to the MPs claiming that the figures were "not robust".
"They were prepared without consultation with the telecommunications industry on which they largely depend, and they project forward 10 years to a time where the communications landscape may be very different," the MPs said.
If introduced, the Bill would require internet and phone providers to store information about all web, social media and mobile activity in the UK for 12 months without the need for consent from users. This does not include the content of messages, as officers would need a warrant to gain access to these, but it does include other information such as the time, duration, recipient, originator, and location of device.
But the report warns that the draft pays insufficient attention to the duty to respect the right to privacy, even if officials and ministers claim that the powers that the bill would give them would not be exercised in full, the fact that the power is on the statute book means it is available to be misused and abused in the future, the MPs said.
Home Secretary Theresa May, an advocate of the Bill, had claimed that without the Bill, there was a "serious and growing risk that crimes enabled by email and the internet will go undetected and unpunished".
The aim of the Bill according to the government, is to catch terrorists, cyber criminals and paedophiles but last month MPs fired back at May, stating that the Bill represents a huge invasion of privacy that could be exploited by criminals. While anti-Bill campaigners have warned that the government may gather masses of data about innocent people and then seek to detect evidence of criminal behaviour within it.
Meanwhile, the Information Commissioner has stated that he was unsure how the ICO would get the sufficient resources and power to comply with the Bill.
"My concern is around the adequacy of the proposed safeguards that the ICO would be responsible for regulating. Ensuring the security of retained personal information and its destruction after 12 months would require increased powers and resources, and as it stands today we've not been given clear advice on where that will come from," he said.
But he acknowledged that as part of the Committee's report, it states that the government should undertake detailed discussions with the Information Commissioner to determine what additional safeguards, powers and resources would be needed.
