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GCHQ Officials Given Immunity From Hacking Charges

Posted by Soulskill on from the government-in-CYA-mode dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news that members of British intelligence agency GCHQ have been granted immunity from prosecution for any laws they might have violated while hacking into citizens' computers or cellphones. The immunity was granted by changes to the Computer Misuse Act that weren't noticed until now, and not discussed or debated when implemented. While different legislation has long been thought to grant permission for illegal activities abroad, civil rights groups were unaware that domestic hacking activities were covered now as well. The legislative changes were passed on March 3rd, 2015, long after domestic spying became a hot-button issue, and almost a year after Privacy International and several ISPs filed complaints challenging it.

6 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. They can do ANYTHING anyway...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ......this just formalizes it for the plebs .

  2. They made a good argument, though. by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "James Bond has a license to kill, does he not?"

    "That's right."

    "Shoot someone, get off scot-free?"

    "Yes, why?"

    "So then, why do computer crimes carry a worse sentence than murder?"

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  3. good thing that's common. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good thing Aaron Swartz got similar immunity from any laws broken.

    Oh, wait, my bad. That's not what happened. Instead they tried to destroy his life. For fuck-all social harm, and arguable social good, compared to the NSA and GCHQ who have caused incalculable harm to our society.

  4. Why Do We Carry On Pretending? by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We all know Western Civilization has fallen to Fascism, so why not just come out and announce it? Why bother with these pieces of meaningless paper such as "Laws" and "Constitutions"? It's clear the rule of Law only applies to the Subjects, not the Wealthy or the Government. How about Marshall law? How about jackboots and arm bands and "show me your papers" and "up against the wall"? We're pretty much there anyway, but we all seem so intent on playing this bullshit game and pretending we still live in a free society.

    When will someone just fucking go ahead and blink already????

    1. Re:Why Do We Carry On Pretending? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It really does seem to be the case. Every day on we see example after example of entirely different rules for (dare I say) about 1% of the population-- from Clapper just plain not being prosecuted for lying to congress to the CIA spying on torture investigators in congress without consequences to Patreas getting a slap on the wrist for leaking to his mistress to a heavy-handed campaign against whistleblowers but at the same time... zero Wall Street prosecutions and zero prosecutions for war crimes and other crimes for the propaganda campaign that took us into Iraq and the billions of waste that occurred there etc etc while on the other hand they (I say they and not we) are prosecuting kids who change computer desktops without "authorization", making education overly expensive w/predatory lending rates, tuition and bankruptcy laws, over-prosecuting and criminalizing people like Aaron Swartz... trade agreements being fast tracked and done in secret... mass surveillance, civil forfeitures... the list goes on and on and on.

      Something has gone very very wrong in the last 20-30 years. Oh, and we have global warming to look forward to as well. Woo.

    2. Re:Why Do We Carry On Pretending? by amiga3D · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No need to show papers when you're being tracked 24/7. As long as you behave you'll be able to retain a modicum of freedom and if you don't look you'll never notice the bars.