Days after the European Commission threatened totake the UK to courtover short-comings in the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act(Ripa), the
government has promised to take action to make it harder for local
authorities to use powers under the act for trivial
matters.
The Commission believes that Ripa allowed the unwarranted
interception of online private messages, including web searches,
breaching EU rules on data privacy.
But policing minister David Hanson MP announced plans to appoint
a director-level "senior executive" to approve how and when the
powers are used.
Ripa provides for the
surveillance and interception of user logs and e-mails of
suspected criminals by the security and intelligence services. More
than 350,000 individuals are allowed to use the powers. Many did,
sometimes to catch people who allowed their dogs to foul public
pathways or to check if they lived in the right catchment area for
schools.
Under the new measures, elected councillors in each local
authority will be required to oversee the use of Ripa. Training for
them and bespoke written guidance on how local authorities should
use Ripa will be issued, Hanson said.
The Home Office received 222 responses to a
Ripa
consultation that ended in July. It will now bring forward
legislation to implement the changes.
New codes of practice make clear to all public authorities which
can make authorisations under Ripa that they cannot be used for
minor matters, a Home Office statement said.
The orders and the related codes of practice will include
measures to:
• clarify the test of necessity and proportionality so that
powers will not be used to investigate dog fouling or people
putting bins out a day early;
• raise the rank of the authorising officer to at least director
level;
• give elected councillors a role in overseeing how local
authorities use covert investigatory techniques;
• require voters' communications with MPs on constituency
business to be treated as confidential information, and therefore
subject to authorisation by a higher rank of officer;
• treat covert surveillance of legal consultations as
"intrusive" rather than "directed" surveillance, meaning it can be
carried out only by very few public authorities.
The Home Office said Ripa powers benefited the public by helping
to catch rogue traders and fly tippers who dump rubbish on an
industrial scale.
Hanson said in a statement, "A wide range of public authorities
need to be able to authorise surveillance under Ripa to protect us
from those who would do us harm. But it is equally clear that
[they] must respect our right to privacy and only use [Ripa powers]
when necessary and proportionate."