JAAG scrutinises the
Data Protection and Digital Information N°2 Bill

JAAG is convinced that this Bill will
seriously weaken our rights over our personal data.

JAAG believes that strong data protection laws are vital to enable individuals to protect themselves and hold organisations to account in a data ecosystem where all the power is skewed towards governments and corporations.

The Government introduced this Bill into the House of Commons in March 2023.
It has now had its third reading and is being considered by the Lords.

Our analysis shows that the Bill:

⮚     exclude some personal data from existing legal protections;

⮚     gives businesses broad freedoms to use our personal data for “scientific” research, which now includes commercial activities;

⮚     defines direct marketing and similar businesses as ‘legitimate’ users of our personal data;

⮚     does away with data protection officers;

⮚     no longer requires organisations to keep full records of their data processing activities and steps to limit risks to individuals;

⮚     creates wide-ranging ‘legitimate’ grounds for organisations to process data about individuals – including children - without checking whether their rights and freedoms have been properly considered;

⮚     lets the Secretary of State decide when people’s data can be accessed;

⮚     allows machines to take key decisions about people without human intervention; and

⮚     takes away the Information Commissioner’s powers to protect individuals.

This is not good enough. JAAG wants:

⮚     People to be able to find out easily how their personal data is being collected and used;

⮚     Stronger safeguards on the high-risk processing of personal data;

⮚     Organisations that process personal data to be held accountable;

⮚     There always to be human oversight of decisions made by machines, so that people know how decisions about their lives are being taken;

⮚     A fully independent Information Commissioner’s Office; and

⮚     Any changes to data regulations to be subject to scrutiny by Parliament.

JAAG is working with other organisations to seek amendments to the Bill before it becomes law.