Liberty welcomes Government climb-down on centralised communications database

(London, 27 April 2009) – In a consultation published today, the Government accepted the massive privacy implications of a centralised database holding a record of every email, phone call and text message and confirmed that this plan has been abandoned.

While Liberty understands the importance of this data in the prevention and detection of serious crime and terrorism, it has voiced concerns about the dangers of centralising this data since the proposals were announced by the Home Office in October 2008.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said:

“We applaud the Home Office climb-down on the super Big Brother database and thank the broad coalition of sensible voices who brought it about. It is a clear signal that the public interest in personal privacy can no longer be ignored. However, if companies are to be required to hold even more information than they do at present, concerns about access and use become even more important.”

“Let us look forward to this U-turn on communications data being followed by limiting DNA retention, dumping ID cards and a less callous approach to privacy protection more generally.”

Communications service providers (CSPs) already hold large amounts of communications data and an EU directive that came into force earlier this month now requires that data is retained for 12 months. The Government is now proposing that data generated by communications services based overseas by crossing networks in the UK be collected and retained by CSPs.