UK Intelligence Agencies

Press release

New Document Reveals That GCHQ And MI5 Stretched The Law To Breaking Point

Privacy International releases previously confidential correspondence between lawyers for MI5 and GCHQ and the former Interception of Communications Commissioner, highlighting problems with the relationship between the two bodies The correspondences show a lack of meaningful oversight and restraint

News & Analysis

An Open Letter To Everyone Who Participated In Our ‘Did GCHQ Illegally Spy On You?’ Campaign

Thank you to those of you who joined our campaign, 'Did GCHQ Illegally Spy on You?'. If you made a claim to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) - the court that hears claims about surveillance by public bodies, including the intelligence agencies - to find out if GCHQ has illegally obtained your

Press release

We will continue to challenge GCHQ's hacking powers

In response to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) ruling today that GCHQ's hacking is lawful, we have issued the following press statement: "We are disappointed by the IPT’s judgment today, which has found Government hacking lawful based on a broad interpretation of a law dating back to 1994

Long Read

Investigatory Powers Tribunal Rules GCHQ Hacking Lawful

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (“IPT”) today held that GCHQ hacking of computers, mobile devices and networks is lawful, wherever it occurs around the world. We are disappointed that the IPT has not upheld our complaint and we will be challenging its findings. Our complaint is the first UK legal

Press release

Court Documents Reveal Oversight Body Struggling To Control GCHQ Domestic Hacking

Documents released today confirm GCHQ, the UK intelligence agency, is hacking computers in the United Kingdom without individual warrants. The documents contain previously unknown details and defenses of GCHQ's use of "thematic warrants" to hack. The legal challenge in which these documents are

Press release

Human Rights Watch Legal Challenge To NSA/GCHQ Intelligence Sharing

Human Rights Watch and three individuals have today lodged a legal challenge to establish whether their communications were part of those unlawfully shared between the US National Security Agency (NSA) and UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Despite billions of records being shared

Press release

British Spy Agency GCHQ's Oversight Has Technical Blind Spots

A new report released today by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) highlights key technical blind spots in current GCHQ oversight and calls for a new, comprehensive and clear legal framework governing British intelligence agencies' surveillance capability. The report panel, which included

Press release

GCHQ unlawfully spied on Amnesty International, Court admits

The UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) today notified the ten NGO claimants in a legal challenge against GCHQ mass surveillance practices that the Tribunal had mistakenly omitted information about unlawful GCHQ actives in their judgment from ten days ago . In an email to the claimants

Press release

Court says GCHQ spied on human rights NGOs, acted unlawfully

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) today revealed that the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) spied on two international human rights organisations, failed to follow ITS own secret procedures and acted unlawfully. The targeted NGOs are the South African Legal Resources Centre (LRC

Press release

After legal claim filed against GCHQ hacking, UK government rewrite law to permit GCHQ hacking

The Government has quietly ushered through legislation amending the anti-hacking laws to exempt GCHQ from prosecution. Privacy International and other parties were notified of this just hours prior to a hearing of their claim against GCHQ's illegal hacking operations in the Investigatory Powers

Press release

Intelligence and Security Committee Report Exonerates GCHQ For Mass Surveillance Activities

The UK Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee's report provides a long-awaited official confirmation that the British government is engaging in mass surveillance of communications. Far from allaying the public's concerns, the ISC's report should trouble every single person who uses a

Press release

Privacy International Launches Platform Allowing People To Discover If GCHQ Illegally Spied On Them

Privacy International today has launched a platform and campaign to allow anyone in the world to request whether Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ has illegally spied on them. The platform and campaign has been developed in response to a recent court ruling that GCHQ unlawfully obtained millions of

News & Analysis

Victory! UK Surveillance Tribunal Finds GCHQ-NSA Intelligence Sharing Unlawful

Privacy International, Bytes for All and other human rights groups are celebrating a major victory against the Five Eyes today as the UK surveillance tribunal rules that GCHQ acted unlawfully in accessing millions of private communications collected by the NSA up until December 2014. Today’s

Long Read

The Snoopers’ Loophole: Why Winning Against GCHQ Is Bittersweet

As Privacy International celebrates Friday's victory against Britain’s security services - the first such victory this century - we cannot help but feel the success is bittersweet. After all, we may have convinced the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that GCHQ was acting unlawfully in accessing NSA

Press release

GCHQ-NSA intelligence sharing unlawful, says UK surveillance tribunal

British intelligence services acted unlawfully in accessing millions of people’s personal communications collected by the NSA, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled today. The decision marks the first time that the Tribunal, the only UK court empowered to oversee GHCQ, MI5 and MI6, has ever ruled

Press release

Investigatory Powers Tribunal rules GCHQ mass surveillance programme TEMPORA is legal in principle

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) today followed its previous judgments in finding that UK security services may in principle carry out mass surveillance of all fibre optic cables entering or leaving the UK under RIPA, the 2000 law that pre-dates the modern internet. In summary, the Tribunal