GCHQ views data without a warrant, government admits | UK news | The Guardian
British intelligence services can access raw material collected in
bulk by the NSA and other foreign spy agencies without a warrant, the
government has confirmed for the first time.
GCHQ’s secret “arrangements” for accessing bulk material are revealed
in documents submitted to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the UK
surveillance watchdog, in response to a joint legal challenge by Privacy
International, Liberty and Amnesty International. The legal action was
launched in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations published by the
Guardian and other news organisations last year.
The government’s submission discloses that the UK can obtain
“unselected” – meaning unanalysed, or raw intelligence – information
from overseas partners without a warrant if it was “not technically
feasible” to obtain the communications under a warrant and if it is
“necessary and proportionate” for the intelligence agencies to obtain
that information.
The rules essentially permit bulk collection of material, which can
include communications of UK citizens, provided the request does not
amount to “deliberate circumvention” of the Regulation of Investigatory
Powers Act (Ripa), which governs much of the UK’s surveillance
activities.
The documents show GCHQ does not regard warrants as necessary in all cases. Photograph: Greg Blatchford / Barcroft Media
