Home Office admits it's preparing to accept EU ruling on surveillance • The Register

Home Office admits it's preparing to accept EU ruling on surveillance • The Register: "Other than the notable omission of a draft code of practice on communications data alongside the other draft codes published last month, it has been unclear whether the Home Office had paid any attention to the ruling at all – until last Friday, when an IT tender relating to the Investigatory Powers Act made mention of a "a new communications data independent authorising body", which was spotted by the Open Rights Group.

 Regarding the new authorising body, a Home Office spokesperson repeated to The Register that it was "disappointed" and "carefully considering [the ruling's] implications".

"The government will vigorously defend the fundamental powers in the Investigatory Powers Act because they are vital to the police and intelligence agencies in arresting criminals, prosecuting paedophiles and preventing terrorist attacks," the spokesperson added. "We will provide Parliament and the courts with an update on our response to the judgment in due course."

 While the ambiguity of "in due course" has become something of a running joke for those asking questions of the department, it did also inform us that although the CJEU ruling was specifically directed at a previous bit of legislation which the Investigatory Powers Act replaced, DRIPA, it was currently considering how the ruling would affect the new Snoopers' Charter. 'via Blog this'