. The notice says the government had a budget of up to £2 million to create a technical system that allowed law enforcement officials to access ICR data for investigations.. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from WIRED, the Home Office provided some pages of the contract with Bae but refused to give any technical details due to commercial interests.
The Home Office FOIA response also refused to provide details of an internal review into ICRs, citing national security and law enforcement grounds. A Home Office spokesperson said the UK has “one of the most robust and transparent oversight regimes for the protection of personal data and privacy anywhere in the world” and confirmed that trials of ICRs are ongoing.
When asked whether ICRs will be rolled out across the entire UK, the Home Office spokesperson pointed to the FOIA response, which says that providing additional information may jeopardize law enforcement activities.
The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office , which oversees intelligence agencies, police, and local authorities, says the collection of ICRs to date has been to support “small-scale trials” and that it is “unable” to provide any figures on the number of data retention notices issued. A separate is due to be published this summer. The National Crime Agency says it is still participating in the ICR trials to evaluate the use of ICRs, and that “data exploitation is essential” to its work.. In its annual 2020 report, published in January 2022, IPCO highlighted that an unnamed telecoms company that was asked to provide internet connection requests “provided data in excess of that which had been authorized.” The reason? There was a technical error. No extra detail was provided.