The 'snooper charter', which is set to be heard before the UK Parliament today, is designed to construct a framework of legal safeguards around the government's use of surveillance and data interception. However, a 200-strong group of legal elites have penned a letter of stringent opposition to the proposed legislation, arguing that the safeguards it contains are not fit for purpose. The group—which includes judges, QCs, law professors and other senior lawyers—argue that the bill poses a fundamental, and unacceptable, threat to the privacy of British citizens.
The UK government's monitoring agency GCHQ has always maintained that targeted interception of data (such as emails and other electronic communications) in the pursuit of criminal or terrorist activity requires bulk interception and a preceding step. However, critics of the snooper charter say that authorising bulk interception will give legal legitimacy to mass surveillance. Moreover, the bill fails to include any specific requirement for 'reasonable suspicion', let alone suspects, of criminal or terrorist activity prior to surveillance activities being carried out on individuals, organisations, or other groups.
'A law that gives public authorities generalised access to electronic communications contents compromises the essence of the fundamental right to privacy and may be illegal,' the lawyers' letter to The Guardian reads. It then elaborates: 'There are international standards found in the recent opinion of the UN special rapporteur for the right to privacy, and in judgments of the EU Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. At present, the bill fails to meet these standards – the law is unfit for purpose.'
Among the signatories of the letter are Bar Human Rights Committee chair Kirsty Brimelow QC, former court of appeal judge Sir Stephen Sedley and former special advocated in security cases Tom de la Mare QC, as well as representatives from at least 40 UK law schools.
Source: The Guardian The Guardian (2)
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