Note: This briefing has been superseded by our briefing on the second version of the Bill.
This was our public briefing note on the initial version of the UK’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. Our main points were:
- Data is a significant source of power in modern democratic societies. It is becoming fundamental to the social and political contract between citizens and the state, and to transactions between consumers and the private sector.
- The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill undermines existing safeguards and democratic governance of data and misses a critical opportunity to extend it for citizen, community, business and public benefit.
- Amendments are needed to: address the collective impacts and risks of modern data processing; empower those affected by automated decision making; and build trust through transparency, effective redress mechanisms, and public participation.
