David Blunkett calls for urgent review of laws governing security services.
Britain's intelligence laws need to be urgently reviewed to keep up with new technologies and provide a stronger framework for spy agencies, which can "get carried away" unless they are kept in check, the former Labour home secretary David Blunkett has said.
Calling for a commission to address the issue, Blunkett said governments were put under enormous pressure by the secret services – and he had learned to treat some of their demands with healthy scepticism. In an interview with the Guardian, he said it was human nature for the agencies and the police to push the boundaries, and that meant laws could be used in a way parliament never intended.
"Human nature is you get carried away, so we have to protect ourselves from ourselves," he said. "In government you are pressed by the security agencies. They come to you with very good information and they say 'you need to do something'. So you do need the breath of scepticism, not cynicism, breathing on them. You need to be able to take a step back. If you don't have this, you can find yourself being propelled in a particular direction."
He said a high-level review by specialists with a proper understanding of the arguments was the best way to update laws that were out of touch.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/04/david-blunkett-review-laws-security-services