Theresa May – even more reason to worry about DRIP….

I watched and listened to the session of the Home Affairs Select Committee this afternoon: Home Secretary Theresa May was being questioned about a number of things, including DRIP. The session was, I suspect, intended to reassure us that everything was OK, and that we needn’t worry about DRIP. The result, for me at least, was precisely the opposite: it left me feeling even more concerned.

Theresa May is the minister responsible for DRIP, and her performance before the committee suggested neither competence in managing the process nor an understanding of what the issues were or why people would be concerned. It was a performance that mixed the incompetent with the contemptuous, not just failing to provide answers but suggesting that she didn’t think the questions were even worth asking.

Many things about it were poor. May failed to explain why the legislation had to be rushed through – she could not (or would not) explain why nothing had happened publicly since the ECJ ruling in April, and she could not (or would not) provide details as to why there was pressure now. Next, she could not answer the key question on extraterritoriality – whether the powers in DRIP were in fact new. She claimed to have had advice that the powers did exist before – but couldn’t say whether or not they had ever been used.

Most importantly, though, when pushed by David Winnick on the key point – compliance with the ECJ ruling that struck down the Data Retention Directive, she fumbled and obfuscated when asked about the ruling. She either did not understand or deliberately pretended not to understand that the key point of the ruling was that blanket gathering of data was in conflict with fundamental rights. Ultimately, that’s the real point here – and she either could not or would not answer it.

To put it directly, the ruling said that blanket gathering of data, gathering data on everyone, regardless of suspicion, guilt or innocence, or any particular reason, was not appropriate. That is what the Data Retention Directive (DRD) did, and why the ECJ struck it down. They’re right, too. This isn’t some esoteric or obscure point, it’s a fundamental one, parallel to the idea of the presumption of innocence. The DRD did it, and DRIP does it – which is why at the very least we need to discuss it in much more depth. The session with Theresa May left me thinking that she either didn’t understand it or she dismissed it as unimportant. Now you may disagree on proportionality, and believe that mass surveillance is a proportionate response, but to dismiss the issue as unimportant and unworthy of discussion is indefensible.

Mind you, I don’t think people will be talking that much about this – because Theresa May’s performance when questioned about the appointment and subsequent resignation of Lady Butler-Sloss was even worse, if that can be believed. All in all, Theresa May looked neither trustworthy nor competent. It’s hard to imagine someone less appropriate to trust with the open-ended and extensive powers granted by something like DRIP.