RE: FINANCIAL SURVEILLANCE PROVISIONS UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION AND DIGITAL INFORMATION BILL

The proposed amendments to existing legislation appear in Sch 11 to the DPDIB under the heading of “Power to require information for social security purposes.” Para 6 of that schedule sets out what would be a new Sch 3B to the 1992 Act entitled “Power of the Secretary of State to require account information.” The paragraph references below are to that proposed schedule to the 1992 Act. [...] Paragraph 2 describes AINs in the following terms: (1) An account information notice is a notice requiring a person to give the Secretary of State— (a) the names of the holders of accounts that the person identifies as being matching accounts in relation to a specified relevant benefit, (b) other specified information relating to the holders of those accounts, and (c) such further information in c. [...] It is conceivable that in some cases, the exercise of the powers in question could also interfere with the right to freedom of association and assembly under Article 11 of the Convention and, possibly, the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Convention. [...] 15 the measure may be used;23 (2) independent ex ante authorisation of the measure, rather than its being implemented on the basis solely of the discretion of a member of the executive;24 and (3) independent oversight/ review of the process of surveillance and the use made of information derived from it to ensure that it complies with relevant safeguards and remains necessary and proportionality.2. [...] For the reasons we have addressed above, the surveillance/monitoring pursuant to an AIN and the subsequent sharing of information harvested from that process would engage the subject’s right to a private and family life – that is more than sufficient to bring the treatment/measure within the “ambit” or “general subject area” of Article 8 for the purposes of Article 14.40 36 See e.g.