ICO: Bill must deliver in practice

Information commissioner, Christopher Graham, said in reaction to the publication of the protection of freedom bill:

“I welcome the publication of the protection of freedoms bill and support its aims of strengthening privacy, delivering greater transparency and achieving improved accountability, as well as greater independence for the ICO. The bill engages with issues that have been longstanding concerns for us: ensuring the right organisations are subject to freedom of information requirements; that the information the public need is available when they need it; increased privacy safeguards on biometric information such as DNA profiles and ensuring effective regulation of camera surveillance, including the increasing use of automatic number plate recognition.

“The detail of these important provisions will need careful consideration. The current proposals on improved regulation of CCTV and ANPR are limited to the police and local government only but their use is much more widespread. We will be examining all of the bill’s provisions closely to be satisfied that they will deliver in practice.”