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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I should like to make a few comments on this issue because I am very much involved in the information systems security world. I prefer the amendment proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, because it is hard to decide what is government and what is not, and there is the status in between. Telephone records can be extremely sensitive. For instance, BT is private: it is not government. Many bits of information put together could be extremely damaging to the citizens of this country if they are revealed. We are very weak on this. Given that, quite rightly, we are putting in the new clause exemptions for journalistic purposes, it would be good to strengthen the awareness of the people who will potentially sell this information that they could get into a lot of hot water if they do so. I would therefore draw it wider. Restricting it purely to government systems is unwise and far too limiting. Therefore, the noble Baroness’s amendment would be very useful to send a message and to make people think twice.