Privacy groups invited into interception law consultation

The Home Office will meet with privacy and data protection campaigners during its consultation on Ripa, after complaints that those groups were being left out of the process.

In a turnaround on Monday afternoon, the Home Office which had previously said it did not have time to meet with such groups will now meet with representatives next week to discuss the consultation, according to a post on the Open Rights Group website.

Jim Killock, executive officer of the Open Rights Group — one of six groups that had written a letter to security minister Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones at the Home Office requesting a meeting — told ZDNet UK in response to the news that "just the act of participating and being able to be one side of the argument moves the centre of gravity of these discussions".

At the time of writing, representatives from the Open Rights Group, the Financial Information Protection Association (Fipa), Justice and Privacy International were due to attend the meeting, but more may be added, Killock said.

Between eight and 10 representative bodies will be at the meeting, and it is likely to be held on Monday or Tuesday next week, according to Home Office email seen by ZDNet UK.