The official announcement is expected next week but the bush-telegraph is beating out the message that the custodial sentences associated with the deliberate misuse of personal data are not going to commence, as promised, in May. This is not surprising, even though there was a hastily made consultation process ending in early January.
The sticking point I suspect is the application of the offence to the special purposes and in particular journalism. It has dawned on the Government that embracing legislation which could imprison journalists has very little to commend it when a General Election is looming. One can also imagine the fuss if this measure was actually passed by a Parliament full of MPs whose credibility is about zero, thanks the expenses scandal.
I should add that I am not expecting the custodial offence to be enacted after the Election as well - perhaps towards the end of the year at the earliest. Just consider. You are an incoming Government with a fresh mandate to cut back public spending and introduce whatever major reforms.
Do you enact legislation related to your political mandate or pussy-foot around with legislation that could lead to the imprisonment of journalists from newspapers that have supported your election effort? If there is a Bill of Rights, expect more delay on the grounds that freedom of expression has to be balanced properly with any privacy right (if it is expressed as a privacy right).
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