Online Safety Bill

Debate between David Davis and Adam Afriyie

Report stage
Monday 5th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that the measure will encompass every single telephone conversation when it switches to IP. That is data, too.

[Mr Davis]

That is correct. The companies cannot easily focus the measure on malicious content alone, and that is the problem. With everything we do in dealing with enforcing the law, we have to balance the extent to which we make the job of the law enforcement agency possible—ideally, easy—against the rights we take away from innocent citizens. That is the key balance. Many bad things happen in households but we do not require people to live in houses with glass walls. That shows the intrinsic problem we have.