In response to the Court of Appeal ruling on the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) case, which has ruled that the UK’s data retention framework was “inconsistent with EU law” because of the lack of safeguards, please find below a short statement from the Internet Services Providers’ Association, the trade association for providers of internet services:
The legislative framework in this area has long been contentious and the passage of data retention powers has been fraught with challenges over the years. During the passing of the Investigatory Powers Act, we, and others, called for a legal framework that would comply with existing rights and rulings so that it would not be revisited on a regular basis. We therefore feel it is imperative that the Government fully and unambiguously meet the requirements of the court’s judgment as it consults on additional safeguards to the Investigatory Powers Act, including independent authorisation for communications data acquisition requests. A failure to do so could lead to a situation in the near future where the UK’s regime is again open to further challenge and has to be revisited once more.