Common Cause Part I
The Data (Use and Access) Bill completed its passage through the House of Lords on 05 February 2025 and was sent to the House of Commons in its amended form. The Bill had its First Reading in the House of Commons on 06 February 2025, which is a formality, then its Second Reading on 12 February, which was the first opportunity for its content to be debated.
During the course of debate several MPs made contributions raising concerns regarding the Data (Use and Access) Bill’s content, and wider issues, including:
cyber security relating to digital data repositories;
the proposed scope of the definition of scientific research;
the removal of protections against automated decision-making in certain circumstances;
the government’s position on artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright;
proposals to develop international technical standards for watermarks in relation to AI generated content;
the challenges of identification for individuals without a passport or driving licence and the need for digital identity mechanisms and non-digital identity mechanisms;
the scope of the Secretary of State’s delegated powers under the Bill;
the need to foster trust in data processing activities, including through transparency;
the impact on the European Commission’s adequacy decision in respect of the UK;
proposals for data trusts or data communities;
data centre energy consumption;
protections for children;
tackling non-consensual intimate image abuse and sexually explicit deepfakes;
the burden imposed by vexatious data subject access requests (DSARs);
the dangers of nudification apps;
artificial intelligence (AI) regulation;
the retention and right for parents to be able to access directly from social media companies personal data relating to their deceased children’s accounts, as proposed in the Social Media (Access to Accounts) Bill;
age verification;
data accuracy, reliability and integrity;
the recording of biological sex in government records; and,
the potential for the Secretary of State to create new recognised legitimate interests.
The government indicated its intention to seek to overturn Viscount Colville’s amendment incorporated at House of Lords Report stage into clause 67 of the Bill, importing into the definition of what constitutes scientific research that it must be in the public interest.
The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle MP, reaffirmed his view that legislation would be necessary to amend the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 in relation to data mining / web scraping for the purposes of the training, validation and testing of artificial intelligence (AI) models, notwithstanding the ongoing consultation. Chris Bryant, Minister for, Data Protection and Telecoms subsequently indicated that this legislation could also adopt elements of the EU Copyright Directive Directive (EU) 2019/790, in particular Articles 18 and 20, where Article 18 provides for the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration for the exploitation of the works of authors and performers and Article 20 provides for a contract adjustment mechanism where the agreed remuneration is subsequently deemed to be disproportionately low.
Sir Jeremy Wright proposed that a Joint Committee on Digital Regulation be established, to which the Secretary of State indicated he was open-minded.
The Data (Use and Access) Bill was committed to a Public Bill Committee to conclude by 18 March 2025.
Access our comprehensive briefing on the Data (Use and Access) Bill, and our unofficial Data (Use and Access) Bill Keeling schedules showing a mark up of the changes that the Bill (as introduced) would make to the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) respectively.
Keep up to date with developments as the Data (Use and Access) Bill progresses through Parliament on our Data Protection Reform page in our Resources section.
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