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UK Security Agencies Unlawfully Collected Data For 17 Years, Court Rules (theguardian.com)

British security agencies have secretly and unlawfully collected massive volumes of confidential personal data, including financial information, on citizens for more than a decade, top judges have ruled. The Guardian adds:The investigatory powers tribunal, which is the only court that hears complaints against MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, said the security services operated secret regimes to collect vast amounts of personal communications data, tracking individual phone and web use and large datasets of confidential personal information, without adequate safeguards or supervision for more than 10 years. The ruling said the regime governing the collection of bulk communications data (BCD) -- the who, where, when and what of personal phone and web communications -- failed to comply with article 8 protecting the right to privacy of the European convention of human rights (ECHR) between 1998, when it started, and 4 November 2015, when it was made public. It said the holding of bulk personal datasets (BPD) -- which might include medical and tax records, individual biographical details, commercial and financial activities, communications and travel data -- also failed to comply with article 8 for the decade it was in operation until its public avowal in March 2015.

40 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Since when? by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

    Secret police were never bound by law in any history book I've read.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:Since when? by npslider · · Score: 2

      What self-serving government is gong to hold accountable the agencies that give it so much power?

    2. Re:Since when? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

      In the UK and EU in general the government, even the secret service, must abide by the European Charter on Human Rights. That includes things like not torturing people, not locking them in a hole without charge or reason, and not violating their privacy without good reason.

      The issue here is that bulk data collection violated the privacy of innocent people on a massive scale for years.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Since when? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 3, Informative

      Unfortunately, even if they don't abide, nobody really gives a shit.
      I mean, has something happened after it was discovered that CIA abducted people and tortured them at black sites in Romania and Poland, with the knowledge and help of the respective governments? Nope.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    4. Re:Since when? by npslider · · Score: 1

      It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that if you are on a governments "watch" ie shit list, your choice to wipe with Charmin this morning was carefully evaluated.
                      *Note: All citizens are on said watch list

      If you are on a government's hit list, you died in that bathroom of 'natural causes"

    5. Re:Since when? by npslider · · Score: 2

      The ultimate 'watchers' are simply the best of the bunch. Just like the Alpha male gets the female, so does the Alpha agency.

      In that sense.. we still live in the jungle, and this whole freedom and rights thing is just a pretty backdrop to keep the masses pacified.

    6. Re:Since when? by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      Do they still only answer to secret courts?

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    7. Re:Since when? by Loki_1929 · · Score: 2

      Super. How many of those violating the law will serve serious prison time? I'm guessing none. In other words, the law is useless bullshit specifically designed to placate a population of sheep who don't actually give a shit. Don't worry, we've got the same thing here.

      Can anyone please point out a government anywhere in the world where everyone at all levels are truly accountable for their actions and face real and lasting consequences for violations of the law under color of authority? I'm not talking about laws or rules or regulations or a targeted middle management fall guy firing; I'm talking about a place where everyone involved in illegal activities on behalf of the government goes to prison when the activities come to light.

      I'm guessing that's nowhere, yes? Great.

      --
      -- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
  2. Judgement gives no protections! by garcia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Privacy International said the judgment did not specify whether the unlawfully obtained, sensitive personal data would be deleted.

    And, more importantly, it doesn't say who, how, or when the individuals responsible for the initial collection and later usage of those data will be prosecuted and/or fined for their actions.

    So basically this is, "yup, we have your data and you know about it. Tough shit."

    Sad.

    1. Re:Judgement gives no protections! by npslider · · Score: 1

      Big Brother takes what it wants
      Big Brother makes no apologies
      Big Brother does not give back anything

      Don't piss of Big Brother

    2. Re:Judgement gives no protections! by npslider · · Score: 1

      *off

    3. Re:Judgement gives no protections! by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      If big telco, servers, crypto providers, hosts, brands, gov all want to help big bro, make that task super easy.
      Alter the "take" part. All the US and UK have is digital collection. Give them what they want in full everyday. Send a cell phone on a trip everyday with boring friends.
      Use the internet in full to paint a really bland, safe, boring picture of everyday interests and interactions. Go for that full basement dweller with every search, CC payment or ISP listed email linked forum post.
      Buy boring books with a CC. Turn off all privacy protections on Google, Microsoft or Apple products to do searches that are diametrically opposed to actual interests. Fill that domestic gov tasking and take with fiction and fun.
      Create email accounts and fill networked computers with pages of work related fiction if your in the media, press.
      Fill all networked computers with boring searches and terms about sport, hobbies, music.
      With the take been all of the UK and Ireland for generations, be creative to stay well in the not interesting database.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. After years of digging... by npslider · · Score: 1

    It has been determined that the admin account for these agencies is james.bond007

  4. And the penalty is... by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    ...the penalty is that the taxpayer paid for this investigation. But nothing is going to change.

  5. Correct statement by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2

    The problem is not so much state governments spying on their own people, which this addresses, but them having other states spy on their citizens and then "sharing" the information as "metadata" and treating assumptions as if they were facts, without being subject to critique.

    You're all serfs.

    Wait.

    No.

    Serfs have rights.

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Correct statement by npslider · · Score: 1

      No we are all just 1's and 0's, blowing like dust in the wind

    2. Re:Correct statement by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      No we are all just 1's and 0's, blowing like dust in the wind

      I'm bootstrapped DNA GCAT sequences combining infinitely in response to environmental conditions, actually.

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      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    3. Re:Correct statement by npslider · · Score: 2

      I'm sure the day is coming when big brother will require a sample of everyone's DNA, so they can keep complete copies of everyone in digital format. Then you will taken "offline" and powered up in a Virtual Machine. They could call it 'Second Life' or something appealing like that...

    4. Re:Correct statement by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      You think they don't already have a sample of your DNA?

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    5. Re:Correct statement by npslider · · Score: 1

      They can have my DNA after they pry it from my dead cold... skin cells

      Hummmm, maybe you are right

    6. Re:Correct statement by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      As an immigrant, I'm willing to bet there is a 95% chance that they have a sample of my DNA secretly on record. There's probably better than evens chance of over 50% of the rest of the population being collected somehow.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    7. Re:Correct statement by npslider · · Score: 1

      The only uncertainty is what is being done with said samples right now, and what plans are in the works

    8. Re:Correct statement by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the day is coming when big brother will require a sample of everyone's DNA, so they can keep complete copies of everyone in digital format. Then you will taken "offline" and powered up in a Virtual Machine. They could call it 'Second Life' or something appealing like that...

      We already have your DNA.

      No, seriously, you have no idea how easy it is.

      Been to the doctor ever?

      Now, the question is, is it part of an international database without privacy protocols?

      Is it searchable?

      Is it identifiable?

      Luckily for you, it isn't.

      Usually.

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      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    9. Re:Correct statement by npslider · · Score: 1

      Is it searchable?

      I'm sure Google is working on that...

    10. Re:Correct statement by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      Is it searchable?

      I'm sure Google is working on that...

      All the stuff posted on Google - or Chrome - is.

      All of it.

      Including your "private" emails. All of them. Any gmail is included.

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      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    11. Re:Correct statement by npslider · · Score: 1

      Dear valued citizen,

      Our records indicate that you have recently purchased a new webcam from an online retailer. We would like to **offer our assistance in properly placing the camera to provide you and your wife, Jane, who has a birthday coming up, and your daughter Jill, who has just found a new boyfiend, the best protection your tax dollars can buy. If you would like our ***assistance, please wave towards the sky.

      Thank You, and have a double plus good day!

      ** To avoid an exaustive IRS audit and full body search
      *** Further invasion of your privacy

  6. Re:Anglo-Saxon problem by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    It happens everywhere, or, ALMOST everywhere. You only hear about it in the media in some countries. Or the government is not held accountable and expected to be spying on the citizens in some countries.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  7. Re:Anglo-Saxon problem by Kaenneth · · Score: 1

    Capability. "Black and Brown countries" didn't build the global telecommunications network.

  8. And? by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

    And nothing.

    "Dreadfully sorry, old chap. Won't happen again." (until after Article 50)

    1. Re: And? by severn2j · · Score: 1

      You give them too much credit. When it was revealed that GCHQ was collecting this data, there was no apology in the UK. In fact, David Cameron praised the agencies, calling them "geniuses"..

      I think the idea here is we should be grateful for their protection. After all, we wouldn't want anything bad to happen, would we..?

    2. Re: And? by npslider · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the human "batteries" were well protected in the Matrix...

      I'm sure the chicken's in the coup are well "protected" from the fox...

      Either way, you are someone's meal, when the dinner bell rings. Perhaps not your physical body, but your rights to privacy, your freedom of speech, your right to disagree with the the goven-

      **Ding!

    3. Re:And? by Xest · · Score: 1

      No, but a provision of membership of the EU is that you abide by it, as soon as article 50 is triggered and the two years are up there's no longer any legal barrier to us pulling out of it, something which Theresa May has long stated she wanted to do when she was Home Secretary. Now she's Prime Minister.

  9. Brexit not a factor by turning+in+circles · · Score: 1

    No worries, the European Convention on Human Rights is a separate treaty than Brexit so GCHQ et al will still be out of compliance for this type of snooping, even after Brexit goes through (whatever that ends up meaning).

    --
    Might as well face it I'm addicted to data.
  10. needed government transparency by Archfeld · · Score: 1

    Nice to hear that despite popular opinion the NSA/CIA were never alone in what they've been doing since WW2. There was a LOT of mud slinging at the US as info regarding what our 'secret police' have been doing in our name became available but as we all really understood, it was never just the US, every country has been practicing violating human rights and its' on internal laws in the name of security for a long, long time. While this doesn't make any of it better at least we can do away with the USA bashing and get back to just generic hypocritical government bashing.

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    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:needed government transparency by niks42 · · Score: 1

      .. and get back to just generic hypocritical government bashing.

      What is so hypocritical about government bashing? I didn't vote for them. Actually, I think it's fair to say I have never voted on the side of a winning party. Pollsters really should start using me as a bellweather for losing political candidates.

  11. So obviously.... by BellyJelly · · Score: 1

    some senior staff will be discplined, and they will be ordered to delete all the data gathered unlawfully. That's how it works, right?

    1. Re:So obviously.... by sjames · · Score: 1

      Absolutely, some senior execs will be banished to a warm beach in the Bahamas for a week or 2 and they will be ordered to delete the data *eventually*.

  12. Re:conclusion? by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    nope

    we're not just serfs, we've got five data collection centers actively spying on our own people, with no check of any kind on their illegal and unconstitutional activities

    we make serfs look good

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  13. Really ? by Archfeld · · Score: 1

    I thought the US was by far the fattest place on the planet, damn I am sorry.

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    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  14. poorly worded... by Archfeld · · Score: 1

    I chose my words poorly. I wasn't implying that bashing the government(s) was hypocritical, but rather that the governments themselves were hypocritical. Here in the land of Freedom, we are routinely required to give up our freedoms so that we can stay the land of the free, and the home of the brave. Speaking of losing battles, I just got my ballot today for the national election and I am considering which losing candidate to vote for. I won't vote Hillary or Trump, and though I am registered Green party I am not sure I like them any better, any last words of advice ?

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    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?