Legal advice commissioned by privacy and civil liberties NGO Big Brother Watch warns that the powers would be likely unlawful and would reveal information about people’s movements, opinions, and medical information.
The NGO’s director Silkie Carlo said that these new powers are “a completely unprecedented regime of intrusive generalised financial surveillance across the population, not restricted to serious crime or even crime at all.
The legal advice is clear that the bank spying powers seriously risk Britons’ privacy rights. We urge the government to go back to the drawing board and scrap these Orwellian powers.”
The Times – DWP plans to snoop on claimants’ bank accounts branded ‘Orwellian’
Big Issue – DWP could violate human rights with plan to snoop on benefit claimants’ bank accounts