Liberal Democrats to unveil digital bill of rights proposals in pre-election manifesto
The Liberal Democrats will cement proposals for a digital bill of rights in the party’s pre-election manifesto tomorrow.
Privacy: Photos of Jennifer Lawrence were hacked
The plans follow an overwhelming vote in favour of introducing privacy safeguards tailored for the digital era at the Lib Dems spring conference in York earlier this year. According to the party’s home affairs spokesman Julian Huppert, recent hacks which leaked nude pictures of actress Jennifer Lawrence make the proposals “even more necessary”.
The plans include legislation making ‘revenge porn’ illegal and a potentially prison-worthy offence. The Lib Dems would also seek to ensure police and security services would need parliamentary approval in order to increase surveillance powers.
The pre-election manifesto policies will be submitted to the Lib Dems’ autumn conference for final approval ahead of the general election in May.
Huppert was quoted in the Independent as saying: “Protecting people’s privacy is an essential part of building the society we want to live in, and when people violate that, there have to be proportionate powers available to hold those responsible to account.”
Representatives for Lawrence warned last week warned that anyone posting the hacked images from Apple’s iCloud of the actress could face prosecution.
Meanwhile, Apple tried to play down concerns about iCloud security and claimed the hack was the result of an “all too common” attack on user names, passwords and security questions.