United Kingdom’s GCHQ Has Secret Warrantless Surveillance Arrangements With Foreign Intelligence Agencies
Anthony Cuthbertson, International Business Times
BusinessInsider.com
Oct. 29, 2014
The UK government has admitted for the first time that its intelligence agencies can access data collected by other international agencies about UK citizens without a warrant.
Human rights groups Privacy International, Liberty and Amnesty International have revealed that the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had almost limitless access to a “massive searchable database” compiled by the NSA and other overseas partners, which includes information about British citizens caught in surveillance operations.
The revelations were heard at a private hearing at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the UK surveillance watchdog, after the three groups brought GCHQ to court in July this year.
“On the face of the descriptions provided to the claimants, the British intelligence agencies can trawl through foreign intelligence material without meaningful restrictions and can keep such material, which includes both communications content and metadata,” the groups said in a joint statement.
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