House of Lords calls for Privacy Commissioner

The Information Commissioner could find his position superseded by a dedicated Privacy Commissioner.

According to a report from online sister publication, The Inquirer, an amendment to a tabled discussion in the House of Lords has called for a position to be created that would regulate privacy issues affecting the public.

"The Secretary of State shall appoint a Commissioner to be known as the Privacy Commissioner.... It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to promote respect for individual privacy," the amendment says.

The Inquirer said it had learned of the tabled amendment via Privacy International, which has said UK citizens needed stronger data protection than is currently offered by the Information Commissioner's Office.

"If successful, the UK could have a real privacy regulator rather than a weak one that merely oversees data protection...[the ICO] is a quasi judicial regulator that sees its role as protecting data rather than people," Privacy International told The Inquirer.