Ask your MP to join the surveillance debate
The MPs Tom Watson, Julian Huppert and Dominic Raab have secured a ‘Westminster Hall’ debate in Parliament next Thursday, on ‘oversight of intelligence and security services.’
Intelligence agencies have significant powers to collect and analyse private information. It is Parliaments’ responsibility to ensure these are necessary, proportionate and that they are not abused.
We now know from Edward Snowden’s leaks that GCHQ has developed a range of alarming mass surveillance programmes, for example the tapping of undersea fibre-optic cables under the codename ‘Tempora’. From the information published so far, it seems clear that surveillance law is unfit for the digital age and that significant reforms are needed.
Debates about the limits of surveillance and the oversight of intelligence agencies are being held in America and across Europe.
Yet MPs here have seemed reluctant to take the initiative and discuss mass surveillance by UK intelligence services. And so far the Government have only seemed worried about whether newspapers should have told us anything about the surveillance.
It is high time a substantial debate took place in the UK too.
The debate next Thursday will be the first substantial debate in Parliament about the mass surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden. It is an opportunity to kick start our politicians into debating mass surveillance. That will give us a better chance of getting surveillance laws changed so they better respect our privacy.
You can help now.
Please get in touch with your MP and ask them to speak up about this issue. Tell them why it matters, why you’d like them to attend the debate, and why you think they should stand up for your privacy. You can use the following form: