UK Intelligence Agencies

Long Read

Social media monitoring in the UK: the invisible surveillance tool increasingly deployed by government

Privacy International presents how the use of social media monitoring by governments and companies is an increasingly prevalent one, and as this article explores, largely unregulated.

Advocacy

Two kites with eyeballs flying in blue sky

PI response to UK Government consultation on Technical Capabilities Notices

Among the myriad of surveillance powers it already possesses, the UK government wants the power to stop companies - anywhere in the world - from making security improvements to their services without approval. To fall under this power, the company only has to service UK users, and yet the effects will be felt by every user, every where.

Video

In conversation with Edward Snowden

The European Court of Human Rights’ judgment on the 10 Human Rights Organisations case is imminent. Privacy International sat down with whistleblower Ed Snowden last year to discuss what this case means for surveillance not only in the UK, but around the world. We spoke about mass surveillance, litigation, privacy, proportionality, Tempora and everything in between.

Press release

Press release: New law sets no limits on MI5 powers to authorise crimes

A joint press release from Privacy International, Reprieve, CAJ, and the Pat Finucane Centre. Agents of MI5 and other Government bodies could be legally authorised to commit crimes under new legislation introduced today. There appear to be no express limits in the legislation on the types of crime

Press release

PI’s statement on the ECtHR decision in Privacy International v. UK

PI issues the following statement in relation to the European Court of Human Rights decision handed down on 3 September 2020.

News & Analysis

PI and Liberty submit a new legal challenge after MI5 admits that vast troves of personal data was held in “ungoverned spaces”

Privacy International (PI) and Liberty have filed on Friday, 31 January 2020, a complaint with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the judicial body that oversees the intelligence agencies, against MI5 in relation to how they handle vast troves of personal data.

News & Analysis

Government implies having no responsibility for MI5 ‘agents’ human rights abuses

*Photo by Michelle Ding on Unsplash Pat Finucane was killed in Belfast in 1989. As he and his family ate Sunday dinner, loyalist paramilitaries broke in and shot Pat, a high profile solicitor, in front of his wife and children. The Report of the Patrick Finucane Review in 2012 expressed “significant

Long Read

A secret MI5 policy that enables crime in the UK with no accountability: How safe would you feel?

*Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash The British government needs to provide assurances that MI5’s secret policy does not authorise people to commit serious human rights violations or cover up of such crimes Privacy International, along Reprieve, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, and

Long Read

Two states admit bulk interception practices: why does it matter?

Six years after NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents providing details about how states' mass surveillance programmes function, two states – the UK and South Africa – publicly admit using bulk interception capabilities. Both governments have been conducting bulk interception of internet

News & Analysis

A Hack Job? BT Responds to Report that Claims it Develops Malware for the GCHQ

One of the UK’s largest telecommunications operators, BT, has said to Privacy International that a report claiming it “co-produces malware” with a surveillance company for the GCHQ is inaccurate – but hasn’t said why or given any more details. The accusation was made by C5IS – a shadowy online

News & Analysis

Ghosts in Your Machine: Spooks Want Secret Access to Encrypted Messages

Privacy International has joined a global coalition of privacy campaigners, tech companies, and technology experts to respond to proposals by British intelligence chiefs aimed at allowing them access to encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Signal. If implemented, the proposals would allow

Press release

Press release: Legal judgment finds successive foreign secretaries unlawfully gave GCHQ free rein to collect our data

We found this image here The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) today held that, for a sustained period, successive Foreign Secretaries wrongly gave GCHQ unfettered discretion to collect vast quantities of personal customer information from telecommunications companies. The judgment exposes: · the

Press release

Press Notice: Unprecedented Opportunity For PI To Cross Examine GCHQ In Open Court

Hearing: Cross examination of senior GCHQ official about Intelligence Agencies’ use of massive databases of information about everyone in the UK When: Monday 26 February 2018, 3.15pm Where: Royal Courts of Justice, Court 28, Strand, London WC2A 2LL Summary This is the first time GCHQ have given open

Press release

Documents Obtained By Privacy International Show That UK Intelligence Agencies May Analyse Our Facebook And Twitter Accounts

Key points Privacy International has obtained previously unseen government documents that reveal British spy agency GCHQ collects social media information on potentially millions of people. GCHQ collected and accesses this information by gaining access to private companies’ databases. Letters

Press release

GCHQ Makes Brazen Attempt To Undermine The Independence Of Its New Regulator

In today’s latest hearing in our ongoing legal challenge against the collection of massive troves of our personal data by the UK intelligence agencies, shocking new evidence has emerged about GCHQ’s attempts to yet again avoid proper independent scrutiny for its deeply intrusive surveillance

Press release

Privacy International's Legal Challenge Against MI6, MI5, And GCHQ's Secret Surveillance Practices That Go Beyond The Edward Snowden Revelations

Tomorrow, on 26 July, the main hearing will begin in Privacy International's legal challenge against MI6, MI5, and GCHQ's collection of bulk communications data and bulk personal datasets. Previously secret documents will be made public at the hearing, and Privacy International will brief attending