ECHR’s Judgment on UK Govt’s Mass Surveillance Program

Responding to the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the UK’s RIPA regime for bulk surveillance, Jim Killock, the Executive Director of the Open Rights Group and one of the organisations challenging the UK’s activities before the European Court of Human Rights, said: 

“The Court has recognised that Bulk Interception is an especially intrusive power, and that ‘end-to-end safeguards’ are needed to ensure abuse does not occur.

“The court has shown that the UK Government’s legal framework was weak and inadequate when we took them to court with Big Brother Watch and Constanze Kurz in 2013.

“The court has set out clear criteria for assessing future bulk interception regimes, but we believe these will need to be developed into harder red lines in future judgments, if bulk interception is not to be abused.

“As the court sets out, bulk interception powers are a great power, secretive in nature, and hard to keep in check. We are far from confident that today’s bulk interception is sufficiently safeguarded, while the technical capacities continue to deepen. GCHQ continues to share technology platforms and raw data with the USA.

“This judgment is an important step on a long journey.” 

ENDS