DSS and LAs to trawl internet traffic

[Roland Perry]

In message <3BDC4FE8.7767@dmed.demon.co.uk>, Pete Mitchell
<pete@dmed.demon.co.uk> writes

>It's very well to talk about "consultations" and "unopposed", but who
>got to be consulted and who was asked whether they opposed it?

The opposing is largely down to The Opposition. (As encouraged or
otherwise by lobbyists and external PR campaigns).

The consultation process started with a 1998 Green Paper "Beating Fraud
is Everyone’s Business: Securing the Future".

That was followed by a consultation document "Safeguarding Social
Security: Getting the Information We Need" in July 2000. It sought views
on proposals that "the Government should examine how it can make use of
information from private sector sources and put in place a Code of
Practice and, if necessary, legislation." The consultation period ended
on 21 October 2000.

The Social Security Fraud Bill was introduced into the Lords on 18
December 2000.

During the passage of the Bill, the bill team started a working group
with interested parties, including representatives of CSPs.

The Bill ended up being rushed through because of the election, and
there was no real opposition to any of its proposals, despite
reservations from CSPs about many of the assumptions being made.

Then a Code of Practice was issued...

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/press/fram1907-pcfi.htm

...regarding the day to day working of the Act (similar to the RIPA Ch2
CoP). There has been a consultation on this, but less formally than run
than the Home Office runs their consultations (ended on 18th October,
btw).

Regarding how people are supposed to know that initiatives like this are
in progress - well that's why we employ parliamentary intelligence
organisations and analysts such as myself.

The full history is at:

http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-032.pdf

Page 29-30 is especially relevant to the present concerns.
-- 
             Roland Perry | tel: +44 1733 207705 | roland@linx.org
Director of Public Policy | fax: +44 1733 207729 | http://www.linx.net
 London Internet Exchange | mbl: +44 7050 604080 |       /contact/roland