The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 became law on 29 November, when it received Royal Assent. It is currently being brought into force in stages. This post, originally composed on 3 December 2016, is my big-picture reaction to the Act, which was influenced by my reports A Question of Trust (June 2015) and Report of Bulk Powers Review (August [...]
The report of my Bulk Powers Review, which I delivered to the Prime Minister on 7 August, was published to Parliament (in unaltered form, and without redactions or confidential annex) at 11 am today. Web and print versions of the report are on the gov.uk website, and a PDF copy of the report is here: Bulk Powers Review – final [...]
Lord Carlile, David Anderson, Max Hill On 1 March 2016, BBC2's Daily Politics screened a 5-minute film about my work, made on location in London and Bolton, and an unusually long and varied interview (clips still available). The film, which also features my predecessor Lord Carlile QC, is a good introduction to the work [...]
Introduction “A Question of Trust”, the report of my Investigatory Powers Review under DRIPA 2014 s7, was laid before Parliament today. It can be accessed below in print and web accessible versions, together with the accompanying press release and (so far as the authors were willing for it to be published) the evidence [...]
Terrorism was commonplace prior to 9/11: yet the years since then have seen an unprecedented growth in anti-terrorism law. This paper suggests that some of the conventional justifications for terrorism-specific laws are overblown, and that such laws need to be justified by the particular demands of policing and prosecuting this type of crime. An appropriate definition of terrorism, together with a culture of [...]
