Policy and cybersecurity experts, and charities, talk to draft investigatory powers bill committee

Monday also marks the closing date for written submissions to the Committee to be received.

The Draft Investigatory Powers Bill would provide a framework for the use of investigatory powers by law enforcement and security and intelligence agencies, as well as other public authorities, and includes provisions for the interception of communications, the retention and acquisition of communications data, the use of equipment interference, and the acquisition of bulk data for analysis.

In Committee Room 4, the Joint Committee will hear from:

At 2.15:

• Rachel Griffin, Director of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust
• Alan Wardle, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the National Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Children
• Rachel Logan, Law and Human Rights Programme Director, Amnesty International UK

At 3pm:

• Prof Bill Buchanan, Professor at the School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University
• Eric King, expert in signals intelligence, surveillance technologies and intelligence agency practices
• Erka Koivunen, Cyber Security Advisor at F-Secure Corporation

At 3.45pm:

• Robin Simcox, Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society
• Professor Christopher Forsyth, Policy Exchange

In the first of the three sessions, the Committee is expected to look at both sides of the argument from victims' perspective; how the Bill might help keep children and adults safe, but also how it might affect people's human rights and privacy. The second session will examine the technical definitions and aspects of the Bill, for example, exactly what communications data is and whether it can be separated from content. The final panel is made up of academics and think tanks, who will talk about the impact of the Bill, the issue of oversight and whether the Bill is a proportionate and sensible proposal.