The new government has released plans to reduce surveillance, including reducing DNA retention and ending storage of internet records 'without good reason'.
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have agreed to implement a freedom or great repeal bill to "reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour government", according to their coalition agreement published on Wednesday.
The fingerprinting of children at school without parental permission will be outlawed, among the plans "to roll back state intrusion", the document says. It also lists "ending the storage of internet and email regulations and email records without good reason", which could spell the end of the Interception Modernisation Programme in its current form.
The published agreement confirms that identity cards, the National Identity Register and the ContactPoint directory of children will be abolished, as previously stated in both parties' manifestos. The next generation of biometric passports incorporating fingerprints will also be scrapped, something only the Lib Dems had pledged.
Read this
Tech election 2010
Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and other parties outline their tech policies on open source, government IT and other issues
In a joint press conference at 10 Downing Street, prime minister David Cameron said the new coalition was "committed to civil liberties and curbing the power of the state". Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg added that they were forming "a government that hands back your liberties and your privacy".
Clare Hirst, a senior analyst at Kable, pointed out that this will significantly cut the cost of the passport procurement plans, which have until now been wrapped within the National Identity Scheme.
"The scaling back of activity impacting civil liberties won't come as much of a surprise: both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives had pledged to scrap ID cards," she said. "But with the Lib Dem pledge now in place to scrap biometric passports as well, the value of the project will fall to £2.3bn, saving an estimated £3.1bn in costs across areas such as business and programme management (a £620m saving), regional office networks (£554m) and enrolment offices (£277m)."
"Where there is less clarity is around what will happen to the controversial Interception Modernisation Programme, which the Lib Dems had originally wanted to be scrapped; email records would now only be kept if there is a good reason to do so," she added.
The document also pledges to increase regulation of CCTV and extend the Freedom of Information Act "to provide greater transparency".
In other plans touching computing, both parties agree on ending all existing welfare to work programmes in favour of a single programme to help get the unemployed back to work, something which would have a major impact on supporting IT systems.
Plans to establish a smart grid and implement computerised smart meters are also outlined in the agreement. "The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to fulfil our joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy," it says.
