British spies want to be able to suck data out of US Internet giants
BoingBoing.net
MON FEB 8, 2016
As the UK government passes increasingly far-reaching surveillance laws that bind companies to capture, store and share data on their customers’ activities, US tech giants like Facebook and Google are caught in a dilemma: much of what the UK government demands of them, the US government prohibits.
A leaked draft of an agreement between the UK and the US would allow British spy agencies to require the US companies to turn over their records — the private data of Britons, Americans and citizens and residents of other nations.
Unnamed Obama administration officials predict the agreement will become law, because the rules governing UK spy agencies include “robust protections” for privacy. However, the UK Parliament’s own select committee on Science and Technology has concluded that the spy laws are so badly and broadly drafted that no one can figure out what they mean.
The UK system allows government ministers to secretly issue surveillance orders without judicial review — orders that come with gag clauses prohibiting anyone from discussing them. This falls short of the minimal protections afforded under the US’s kangaroo court surveillance rules.
It looks like this has the backing of the big tech companies, who just want legal clarity on what they must do to avoid legal trouble.
The Rest…HERE
