Interception of Communications Commissioner makes 346 recommendations

The Interception of Communications Commissioner, Rt Hon. Sir Anthony May, says in his recently published report that there is no significant institutional overuse of communications data powers by police forces and law enforcement agencies. However, his office, IOCCO, found that a proportion of the applications did not adequately deal with the question of necessity or proportionality - there are some examples where the powers had been used improperly or unnecessarily.

IOCCO conducted 90 communications data inspections during 2014 examining 13,000 applications on a random basis and 100,000 applications via query based searches. As a result, it has made 346 recommendations on communications data issues.

Joanna Cavan, Head of IOCCO, writes in the March issue of PL&B UK Report (published today) about the body’s objectives and work.

IOCCO published its report 12 March.

Peter Church, Senior Associate, Linklaters, will speak about ‘The interception of and access to communications data’ at Privacy Laws & Business 28th Annual International Conference, Privacy in a Connected World, 6-8 July at St. John’s College, Cambridge.