The government sought to reassure businesses that there will be no mandatory requirement on service providers and that measures will be implemented via a voluntary code of practice. The Home office emphasised that they hoped anti-terrorism measures could be approached in a spirit of co-operation, “the government is committed to working with communication service providers to ensure our ant-terrorism law is effective.”
However, a spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) outlined that this would not entirely eradicate industry concerns, “we welcome the voluntary code of practice, but, in reality, what sort of pressures will be applied to make sure the industry complies? The industry wants to help in the fight against terrorism, but we’re not entirely convinced this is going to provide a significant contribution.”
Although a code of practice is yet to be drafted, it is expected to include details of the types of data which should be retained, how long it should be held and the access to be made available to law enforcement authorities.