The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It came into force in July 2015.

Provisions

Part 1 Temporary restrictions on travel

Part 2 Terrorism prevention and investigation measures

Part 3 Data retention

Part 4 Aviation, shipping and rail

Part 5 Risk of being drawn into terrorism

Part 6 Amendments of or relating to the Terrorism Act 2000

Part 7 Miscellaneous and general

Drafting

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill was proposed by

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

in November 2014. The press reported it would require

Internet service providers An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privatel ...

to retain data showing which IP address was allocated to a device at a given time. At that time, companies providing internet services were not required to keep records of extra data that can show which individuals have used a particular IP address at a given time, even though this information exists.

Justification

The Home Secretary said the new bill would help security services "deal with the increased threat that we now see". She said "This is a step but it doesn't go all the way to ensuring that we can identify all the people we will need to". To "fully identify" everybody, she said police would need the power to access communication data, as previously proposed in the

Draft Communications Data Bill The Draft Communications Data Bill (nicknamed the Snoopers' Charter or Snooper's Charter) was draft legislation proposed by then Home Secretary Theresa May in the United Kingdom which would require Internet service providers and mobile phone com ...

Effects

In December 2015, under a remit of the act which places local authorities, prisons, NHS trusts and schools under a statutory duty to prevent extremist radicalisation taking place within their walls, teachers reported a 10-year-old boy to the police after he had misspelled the word "

terraced In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...

" and written "I live in a terrorist house". He was subsequently interviewed by police and social services and had his home searched. In February 2016,

Ken Macdonald Kenneth Donald John Macdonald, Baron Macdonald of River Glaven, (born 4 January 1953) is a British lawyer and politician who served as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of England and Wales from 2003 to 2008. In that office he was head of ...

warned that the "prevent" aspect of the law risked a "

chilling effect In a legal context, a chilling effect is the inhibition or discouragement of the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights by the threat of legal sanction. A chilling effect may be caused by legal actions such as the passing of a law, the ...

" on academic debate and a "deadening impact" on research at universities.

References

{{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2015 National security policies Home Office (United Kingdom) Counterterrorism in the United Kingdom Mass surveillance Terrorism laws in the United Kingdom