IT news website The Register reports today that the joint parliamentary committee of members of the Commons and Lords scrutinising the government’s draft Communications Data Bill – also known as the Snooper’s Charter (posts passim) – will publish its report tomorrow (Tuesday, 11th December).
It is believed that most of the committee’s members felt the Home Office had failed to make a convincing case for the scale of requested draconian powers required to monitor British citizens’ activities online. The message likely to come from the joint parliamentary committee will probably be to encourage the police and law enforcement agencies to devise a much simpler scheme that the public can trust, along the lines of “go back to the drawing board and come and talk to us when you have something fresh”.
The cost of the scheme – some £1.8 bn. – will also come in for criticism from the committee at a time when police resources are being severely cut.
NB: This is a revised version of a post originally published on the Bristol Wireless site.