Data Protection Bill - UK government tries again
After months of delay, and changes in Ministers, the UK Government introduced their revised version of this Bill into the House of Commons on 8 March 2023.
Following an in-depth, 50-page analysis of the Government’s proposals, JAAG had expressed many concerns about the first version of the Bill, published in the summer of 2022. That version contained many clauses that would have undermined individuals’ rights. In particular, JAAG wanted it to be amended so that:
⮚ People could be able easily to find out how their personal data is being collected and used.
⮚ Stronger safeguards would apply to the high-risk processing of personal data
⮚ Organisations that process personal data would be held accountable.
⮚ There would always be human oversight of decisions made by machines, so that people know how decisions about their lives are being taken.
⮚ The Information Commissioner’s Office would be fully independent.
⮚ Any changes to data regulations would be subject to scrutiny by Parliament.
The Government stresses that the revised version of the Bill has been ‘co-designed’ with business’ and will ‘cut down pointless paperwork for businesses’ by giving them ‘more flexibility about how they comply’. The CBI have welcomed the Bill.
Incredibly, civil society organisations like JAAG were excluded from these behind-closed-doors consultations. JAAG this week joined with other like-minded groups to publish a second open letter to the Minister, criticising this unfair and undemocratic treatment. We said:
the government is setting the country on a dangerous path to further economic instability and the erosion of fundamental rights
The new Bill will weaken data subjects’ rights, water down accountability requirements, reduce the independence of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and empower the Secretary of State with undemocratic controls over data protection.
Strong data protection laws provide critical tools for civil society and individuals to protect themselves and hold organisations to account in a data ecosystem where all the power is skewed towards governments and corporations.
The Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology must bring data protection reform back to the design stage and ensure that data protection experts, civil society and ordinary citizens are thoroughly consulted, to avoid another Bill based on unsubstantiated evidence and a lopsided consultation process.
JAAG is restarting its line-by-line scrutiny of the new version of the Bill. We will keep you informed.
If you want to help with this project, contact Paul Holdsworth. holdspa[at] gmail[dot].com