importantly they must also describe the action which they have taken to prevent
similar errors occurring again. The most common types of errors are the
transposition of numbers or where numbers have been provided by members of
the public and either reported or noted down incorrectly. These are human errors
which unintentionally can result in the acquisition of data which is not relevant to
the matter under investigation. In such circumstances the Public Authority must
destroy the data as soon as it has made its report to my office.
57. Public Authorities also have a responsibility to report any errors which are
made by Communications Service Providers (CSPs) in the course of acquiring
and disclosing communications data. Generally such errors occur when the CSP
concerned discloses data which is in excess of that originally requested by the
Public Authority. Often this occurs as a result of a fault in the system or it may be
due to a mistake which has been made by the CSP when keying the request into
a computer.
58. During the period covered by this report 1,088 errors were reported to my
office. A total of 301 of these errors were attributable to CSPs and the remainder
(787) were blameworthy errors made by Public Authorities. This may seem a
large number but indeed it is very small when compared to the overall number of
requests for communications data which totalled 253,557 during the same period.
The number of errors equates to approximately 0.4% of the total number of
requests. In paragraph 82 of his final report for 2005/2006 my predecessor, Sir
Swinton Thomas, concluded that no useful purpose would be served in giving
further details about the individual errors. I agree with this stance for the same
two reasons that Sir Swinton gave. First the inspections are still ongoing so that
any description might well be incomplete and paint a false picture. Second, I am
not at present convinced that a useful purpose would be served by a detailed
description of the errors in relation to communications data in a report of this
nature. I should add that neither I nor any member of my team have found any
instances of wilful or reckless conduct and that is why there is no mention of this
in the report.
59. My Inspectors work closely with the public authorities and CSPs to review
their systems and processes so that errors are kept to an absolute minimum but of
course human error can never be eliminated completely. A large number of the
law enforcement agencies, who are the principal users of communications data,
have acquired fully automated systems and these greatly reduce the scope for
keying errors. My Inspectors review all the errors during their inspections and
check that the public authorities destroy any data which has been illegally
obtained, or which should only be retained for a finite period. Errors which are
caused as a result of a breach of the draft Code of Practice by public authorities
are fully investigated and the Inspectors ensure that appropriate action is taken to
remedy any faults.
60. From the ever increasing number of inspections being undertaken it is
evident that public authorities and law enforcement agencies in particular are
making very effective use of communications data as a powerful investigative
tool. Communications data has provided crucial evidence, which has led to the
arrest and conviction of serious criminals e.g., kidnappers, rapists and
paedophiles, and it is regularly used to combat organised and serious crime. The
police and CSP work closely together to trace vulnerable or suicidal missing
persons and this often results in the saving of life.
Interception successes
61. I have been impressed during my first nine months in office by how
interception has contributed to a number of striking successes. It has played a key
role in numerous operations including, for example, the prevention of murders,
tackling large-scale drug importations, evasion of Excise duty, people smuggling,
gathering intelligence both within the United Kingdom and overseas on terrorist
and various extremist organisations, confiscation of firearms, serious violent
crime and terrorism. I have provided fully detailed examples in the Confidential
11