Freedom of speech advocates have urged UK lawmakers to safeguard journalistic rights after a bill facilitating police access to journalists’ private emails was submitted to Commons, with debates set to begin on Wednesday.
The Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill will help UK authorities access data in overseas servers from foreign tech companies like Google, Facebook and others, in addition to increasing data exchanges with foreign governments.
“This government has sought to restrict existing freedom of information law, introduced draconian surveillance legislation, tried to make it easier to prosecute journalists by reforming the Official Secrets Act and now it’s pushing legislation that disregards the few legal protections there are for journalistic material and sources.”
https://twitter.com/UK_CAGE/status/1090601113806618631
The Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill will be debated in parliament today.
It widens the state's ability to intercept digital content and reduces protections for journalists.
Read our joint letter to parliament in the link below. https://t.co/KuO8AJ3POT
— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) January 30, 2019
But a Home Office spokesperson said that whilst “no one should be above the law”, the UK government was listening to journalists concerns.
“No one should be above the law but we have recognised journalists’ concerns by tabling a range of amendments.”
The Crime Overseas Production Orders Bill was sponsored by Conservative junior government minister Baroness Williams of Trafford and Home Office secretary Sajid Javid. The bill “received broad support” by the House of Lords, but was amended to “ensure sufficient parliamentary scrutiny” of future agreements on international cooperation, including cases where “the death penalty may be imposed”, the report briefing claims.