The UK government has breached the right to privacy with its mass electronic surveillance program, which was exposed by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2018) The UK government has breached the right to privacy with its mass electronic surveillance program, which was exposed by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday.
The court assessed three aspects of digital surveillance, including the interception of communications, intelligence sharing and acquisition of communications data.
In a 5-2 vote, the ECHR judges ruled that the UK Government Communications Headquarters' (GCHQ) "bulk interception regime" violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights � rights to privacy � arguing that there was insufficient oversight over the selection and interception of the data.
The case is based on three applications filed by a coalition of rights groups and organizations, including Amnesty International and Big Brother Watch, against the United Kingdom in September 2013, September 2014 and My 2015. These actions followed Snowden's revelations that the GCHQ was running an operation called Tempora that allowed it to tap into and store large volumes of data, including phone calls, messages and internet communication.
