- Jan 21, 2018
- 814
Snowden was right, rules human rights court as it declares UK spy laws broke ECHR
Says privacy and freedom of expression breached, but upholds sending surveillance product to foreign countries
www.theregister.com
"Surveillance laws permitting GCHQ to operate its Tempora dragnet mass surveillance system broke the law, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.
The judgment, handed down this morning in Strasbourg, vindicates the Edward Snowden revelations of 2013. The former NSA contractor revealed that Western spy agencies had been largely ignoring legal controls on their operations because, at the time, indiscriminate dragnet surveillance was more convenient than obeying the law.
Today’s ruling confirms that dragnet surveillance is not against the European Convention on Human Rights per se, provided that properly enforced safeguards to minimise indiscriminate spying are in force – and this is where UK.gov’s arguments fell apart.
“The Court considers that, when viewed as a whole, the section 8(4) regime, despite its safeguards... did not contain sufficient ‘end-to-end’ safeguards to provide adequate and effective guarantees against arbitrariness and the risk of abuse,” ruled the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)’s Grand Chamber..."
