Parliament takes on CJEU

An emergency law to ensure police and security services in Britain can continue to access people's phone and internet records is expected to be approved at a special cabinet meeting later. David Cameron says the Data Retention and Investigation Powers Bill is needed to fight "criminals and terrorists". But civil liberties groups say it infringes the right to privacy and sets a dangerous precedent. It comes after the European Court of Justice struck down existing powers. An EU directive requiring phone and internet companies to retain communications data - when and who their customers called, texted, and emailed but not what was said - for a 12 month period was ruled unlawful in April by the European Court. I'm on the fence - on the one hand, without a new law being passed in the UK to retain the powers, that information could be destroyed within weeks by companies fearing legal challenges, meaning police and the security services will not be able to access it. The ability to access information about communications and intercept the communications of dangerous individuals is essential to fight the threat from criminals and terrorists targeting the UK, or any country for that matter. But on the other hand, not only could the proposed legislation infringe Britons' right to privacy, it may also set a dangerous precedent where the government of the day simply re-legislates every time it disagrees with a decision by the CJEU. The ruling still stands and these new plans may actually increase the amount of personal data that is retained by ISPs, further infringing on the right to privacy. So who's in the right there? A US pilot, of course. More specifically, one who ordered pizzas for a plane full of passengers as they were stuck on the tarmac for two hours in Wyoming. Gerhard Bradner ordered 50 pizzas (25 cheese and 25 pepperoni) after his plane was diverted to Cheyenne and they waited for thunder and lightning to clear in Denver. Passengers said the entire cabin burst into applause after the pilot announced the delivery on the loudspeaker. The Washington DC to Denver Frontier Airlines flight, with 160 people on board, finally flew on to Colorado. The captain paid for the pizza party out of his own pocket, but he has now been telephoned by the airline's president who has said that he will reimburse him for the cost. That just goes to show that not all airlines are run by complete bellends.