The European Commission took legal action against the UK last year over concerns about the way the government had handled complaints about secret trials by BT of behavioural targeting technology, and its failure to implement certain aspects of EU directives on online privacy.

In September this year the Commission referred the UK to the European Court of Justice, and the government has now agreed to amend the way the directives were incorporated into UK law, issuing a consultation document on suggested changes.

The proposed new rules specify that consent to have one’s activity tracked must be “freely given, specific and informed”. They would also extend the penalties to cover interception that takes place unintentionally. Currently the law only requires the person carrying out the interception to have “reasonable grounds for believing” that consent had been given.

In response to the Commission’s concerns that the UK has no independent national authority to hear complaints about interception of communications, the government proposes that matters should be overseen in the first instance by the Interception of Communications Commissioner (IoCC), with appeals handled by the General Regulatory Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.

The Home Office’s month-long “targeted consultation” on the new rules, in which only specific parties are being been invited to comment, has already attracted criticism from the Open Rights Group for its failure to involve the public. A Home Office spokesman refused to reveal who the contributing parties were, but said they were mainly internet service providers and other online businesses. “There may be a public consultation later but at this current point we’re only after certain views on the issue,” the spokesman said.

Jim Killock of Open Rights Group said he was concerned about the £10,000 limit on fines for unintentional interception, and whether the law could competently be overseen by the IoCC (which currently deals with bodies authorised by ministers to intercept communications, such as the police and security services). “It is very concerning that they’re ruling out the police being involved,” he said. “We’re concerned about whether [the IoCC] is geared up to deal with this properly and has sufficient knowledge of the private sector.”

The Open Rights Group said the topics raised in the consultation were “the right points to be discussing”, but that it was disappointed the Home Office had only acted when its hand was forced by legal action from the EU.