News & events
Unwarranted snooping - Liberty
Ever since the Snowden revelations emerged, our politicians have been at pains to reassure us over mass surveillance. Our intelligence services work within a strict legal framework, they say. At no point have UK officials acted outside of the law. But today we reveal that GCHQ does not need a warrant to access unlimited bulk content – including on people in the UK – from the NSA and other foreign agencies.
They can then keep such data on a massive searchable database for up to two years.
All of which makes a nonsense of Intelligence & Security Committee spin that whenever GCHQ seeks information from the US, a warrant is in place.
Liberty managed to unearth this secret internal policy as part of our Human Rights Act legal challenge against the intelligence services over their role in the surveillance scandal.
It’s only thanks to Liberty members like you that our lawyers are able to bring such vital cases in the Courts.
We don’t doubt the importance of targeted surveillance in fighting serious crime. Nor do we question the role that lawful intelligence-sharing plays.
But those in power cannot swap targeted investigations for endless blanket monitoring of the entire globe.
That’s why, with your help, we’ll keep on holding our spying agencies and the Government to account – in the courtroom, in Parliament and beyond.
Thank you for your continued support.
- Read Liberty's joint press release with Privacy International and Amnesty International on today’s revelations https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/news/press-releases/secret-policy-reveals-gchq-can-get-warrantless-access-bulk-nsa-data
- Find out more about No Snoopers’ Charter – Liberty’s campaign for an end to mass surveillance https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/campaigning/no-snoopers-charter