International ‘digital bill of rights’ receives support from Law Society president

Andrew Caplen, Law Society president, has increased the pressure for a digital Magna Carta, in order to establish global internet rights and particularly to protect legal privilege from surveillance systems.

This follows emergency legislation on data surveillance - the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act - passed by the UK government in July. The act involves collecting considerable "communications data", but does not cover listening in on calls unless a target requires additional monitoring (ie, a "legal intercept"). In a presentation to the American Bar Association (ABA) at the weekend, Caplen described the act as "far from a perfect example of the British parliamentary system". He went on: "The development of a global digital Magna Carta is an international effort that we consider should command the support of lawyers, their bar associations and law societies worldwide."

Caplen joins a growing group of people requesting the bill, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Al Gore. Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, wishes to develop an accepted ‘digital bill of rights’ in each country: a statement of principles that would ideally bring about an international standard for the web. In March he said: "Our rights are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to it. So I want to use the 25th anniversary for us all to do that, to take the web back into our own hands and define the web we want for the next 25 years."

Caplen’s presentation can be viewed in full here. He also spoke to the ABA on the issue of business and human rights.