---

Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009

My Lords, they are very different issues. The debate on targeted online advertising is ongoing, as I said before. It has been the subject of investigations by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, and we are looking into it. As I said, I am very unhappy about it. This is the sort of snooping—the sort of area—that worries me more. People seem to think, "Goodness me, the Government are a dreadful bunch", but I can tell noble Lords that what all sorts of other people can gain by looking at people’s e-mails is horrifying. I am quite able myself to get amazing amounts of data on people in a normal, open way, which is pretty frightening. People do not understand that, when they go into their e-mails and on to their little screens, they are telling more people in the world what they are writing than if they wrote a postcard and stuck it in the mail. That is the reality, but that is a side issue. We are satisfied that the regulations, which implement an EU instrument on data retention, are expressly stated to comply with Article 8 of the ECHR and are therefore compatible with it. These regulations rightly include protections for privacy and security, and for industry. The Information Commissioner is the supervisory authority for data retained under these regulations, and companies taking forward data retention projects under these regulations will be required to undergo security audits to increase confidence that due regard is paid to the security of data. We have spent much of this debate discussing points of access to communications data, which is important. But it is separate from the purpose of these regulations, which are to do with retention of data. While we might not all agree on who needs to access this communications data—indeed, we will have opportunities to debate that aspect of it—surely noble Lords agree as to the need for the retention of this data, so that those who we think should have access can have access to it in the future. If that is the case, and we are in agreement as to the need to keep this data—our European friends seem to think that that is the case—I see no need to pursue the amendment. The amendment calls for new primary legislation on the retention of communications data, on which there is a broad consensus. The noble Lord, Lord Stoddart, mentioned that we are being observed more day by day and hour by hour, and that we are no longer a free society. I do not intend getting into that long debate, although I have to say that I disagree completely. In more than 40-odd years of travelling the world with the Navy, I have been in societies which are not free, and we are very far from that. I do not think that what the noble Lord said is correct. Information is fundamental to the delivery of modern public services and to public protection. It helps to ensure that citizens receive the services to which they are entitled. Front-line staff have the information they need to do their jobs effectively. Joining up services is very important. A number of independent reports—for example, Bichard’s report on the Soham murders and that of the noble Lord, Lord Laming, into child protection—often say that there is a failure in shared information. We are abused then of that failure. We cannot turn the clocks back 30 years. We are in a society where data has to be used. Turning to the amendment in more detail, the first part relates to expressions of regret. Clearly, all of us would rather be in a world where there was no necessity to think of collecting communications data—a world with no Soham murders, no murders of prostitutes in Ipswich or terrorist threats. I do not think that we need an amendment to reflect the regret we all feel. The second part of the amendment refers to access to communications data. I say again that that is not what this is about. Let us focus on what it deals with; that is, making it mandatory that the appropriate communications data are kept in the most efficient and usable manner by the communications service providers. All Europe thinks that that makes sense—