Govt’s surveillance powers criticised

Human rights groups and journalists yesterday scored a victory against the British government’s mass electronic surveillance system after Europe’s top rights court ruled that the so-called “Big Brother” programme violated privacy and free speech.

The European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, eastern France, did not question the existence of the spying programme in itself but said a lack of oversight and safeguards meant it undermined rights to privacy and free expression.

The court gave Britain, which is in the process of altering legislation on an issue publicly exposed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, three months to decide whether to request an appeal hearing after yesterday ruling.

The violations concerned in particular shortcomings when it came to selecting the Internet service providers involved, as well as the search criteria used to filter and select intercepted communications for assessment.

“Furthermore, there were no real safeguards applicable to the selection of related communications data for examination, even though this data could reveal a great deal about a person’s habits and contacts,” the court statement said.

By related communications, the court said it meant the collection of details like who calls who, from where and when — rather than the content of the communications.

The cases are the latest legal challenge to the UK in a longrunning spy scandal following revelations by Snowden, a former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor whose revelations in 2013 renewed debate over privacy versus security.

Among the more than one dozen groups that took the case to Strasbourg were the Londonbased Big Brother Watch organisation, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and former Guardian reporter Alice Ross.