Although this has been known about for a few weeks, the Queens Speech made the "
Draft Communications Bill" (DCB) official in terms of an announcement that is it being put through consideration by the UK Government. In a nutshell, the Communication Bills framework makes it the UK's equivalent to
America's CISPA legislation (mentioned in a previous post). Is essentially has the same provisions that 'require' UK
Communication Service Providers (CSP) to hold communication data for a given period (12 months is cited in the draft), and that they (the CSP) are to be required to do this as part of their service provision (the implication is that refusing to do this could mean licenses being revoked/fines/criminal charges levied where appropriate).
The data being captured is demographic in nature, "
who", "
when", "
where" but
not "
why" or "
what". It's effectively 'metadata', and information that would allow anyone authorised to access it, the ability to mine and profile said captured data.
An investigation and/or Probable Cause do not appear to be requirements for access. Nor is access restricted to 'authorities' (police, military, courts, medical etc.) but instead to authorised agencies ("public authorities"), i.e. anyone granted permission (presumably the Communication Commission is the watchdog for that, although the
Interception of Communications Commissioner is listed as the agency of oversight of the system).
Some Key points;
[...]
• An updated framework for the collection, retention and acquisition of communications data which enables a flexible response to technological change.
[...]
• Establish an updated framework for the collection and retention of communications data by communications service providers (CSPs) to ensure communications data remains available to law enforcement and other authorised public authorities.
[...]
Additional ReadingPartial Background & Origins
