A new legal challenge to U.K. intelligence agency surveillance practices has been filed in the U.K. by human rights organization Human Rights Watch and three unnamed individuals working in security research, investigative journalism and law. The action is aimed at ascertaining the scope of illegal data-sharing that took place between the NSA and GCHQ.
The move follows a landmark legal ruling, back in February, when the IPT — the court which oversees the U.K.’s domestic intelligence agencies — ruled that prior to December 2014 GCHQ had acted illegally by receiving data from the NSA’s surveillance dragnets. It was the first time in the court’s 15 year history it had ruled against the agencies.
The claims filed today with the IPT will “seek to establish whether GCHQ has spied on the claimants, whether their communications were part of those unlawfully shared between NSA and GCHQ, and how the Tribunal is interpreting intelligence sharing”, according to pro-privacy organization Privacy International, which was one of the groups which brought the earlier legal challenge.
Source: TechCrunch
A presentation prepared by Hacking Team for a surveillance conference in South Africa later this month shows the company complaining about the “chilling effect” that it claims regulation of surveillance technology is having on the ability to fight crime.
The presentation singles out the organizations Hacking Team views as its main adversaries, noting that it is a “target” of groups such as Human Rights Watch and Privacy International and warning that “democracy advocates” are putting pressure on governments.
Separately, the company’s emails show CEO David Vincenzetti’s reaction to criticism from activist groups, who he says are “idiots” good at “manipulating things and demonizing companies and people.”
Late Sunday, hackers dumped online a massive trove of emails and other documents obtained from the systems of Italian surveillance firm Hacking Team. The company’s controversial technology is sold to governments around the world, enabling them to infect smartphones and computers with malware to covertly record conversations and steal data.
For years, Hacking Team has been the subject of scrutiny from journalists and activists due to its suspected sales to despotic regimes. But the company has successfully managed to hide most of its dealings behind a wall of secrecy – until now.
Source: firstlook.org