Judgment Approved by the court for handing down.
Davis & Ors v SSHD
statute (the USA FREEDOM Act) restricting the data retention powers previously
conferred by another statute passed in 2001 (the USA PATRIOT Act). It is not our
function to take sides in this continuing debate, nor to say whether in our opinion the
powers conferred by DRIPA are excessive or not. We have to decide the
comparatively dry question of whether or not they are compatible with EU law as
expounded by the CJEU in Digital Rights Ireland.
12.
On 11 June 2015, a few days after the main hearing before us had concluded, the
Government published “A Question of Trust”, a 373-page report on the operation and
regulation of investigatory powers by David Anderson QC, Independent Reviewer of
Terrorism and Security Legislation. His report was rightly described by the Prime
Minister in a statement to Parliament as thorough and comprehensive. We allowed the
parties to make short written submissions to us about it.
Communications data
13.
The phrase “communications data” does not include the content of a communication.
Such data can be used to demonstrate who was communicating; when; from where;
and with whom. They can include the time and duration of a communication, the
number or email address of the originator and recipient, and sometimes the location of
the device from which the communication was made. They do not include the content
of any communication: for example the text of an email or a conversation on a
telephone. Communications data comprise three broad categories:
(a)
Subscriber data: information held or obtained by a communications service
provider (CSP) in relation to a customer, for example their name, address and
telephone number;
(b)
Service data: information relating to the use made by any person of a
communications service and for how long, for example, itemised telephone
records showing the date, time and duration of calls and to what number each
call was made; and
(c)
Traffic data: data comprised in or attached to a communication by means of
which it is being or may be transmitted, for example, who the user contacted,
at what time the contact was made, the location of the person contacted and
the location of the user.
14.
Communications data are used by the intelligence and law enforcement agencies
during investigations regarding national security and organised and serious crime.
They enable investigators to identify members of a criminal network, place them in
specific locations at given times and in certain cases to understand the criminality in
which they are engaged. They can be used as evidence in court.
15.
As the Home Secretary said in a statement to the House of Commons on 10 July
2014: