GCHQ’s bulk interception of communications data, including data about telephone calls and emails of UK citizens unlawfully breached privacy rights of UK citizens, the European Court of Human Rights ruled today. The court found that the UK’s regime for interception bulk communications data and for obtaining data from phone and internet companies breached citizens rights to privacy. The decision follows an eight-year legal battle by 11 NGOs, including Liberty, Privacy International and Amnesty. They brought the case in the wake of revelations of the UK’s involvement in mass surveillance following the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.
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MI6 unilaterally assumed power to break the law on UK soil, a tribunal has found.
At the Investigatory Powers Tribunal on Wednesday, it was revealed that MI6 may have unilaterally assumed the power to authorise agents to commit crimes in the UK – potentially without any legal basis or limits on the crimes they can commit.
Reprieve, the Pat Finucane Centre, Privacy International, and the Committee on the Administration of Justice have been challenging a secret policy under which MI5 authorises covert agents, known as covert human intelligence sources (CHIS), to commit crimes in the UK.
Late last year, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal issued the first split ruling in its history, finding only by a bare majority that MI5’s activity was lawful.
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In January this year, Kenya’s High Court halted the roll-out of the country’s controversial biometric ID, the Huduma Namba, citing the lack of a regulatory framework to protect the privacy of citizens.
Once distribution is complete before the end of 2021, Kenyans will need the ID – which holds their fingerprints, contact details and occupational information – to access government services. When asked in 2019 why the government was pursuing the project, Kenya’s Information and Communication Technology Principal Secretary, Jerome Ochieng, responded, “Data is the new oil.”
According to the World Bank, Africa is home to roughly half of the estimated one billion people in the world who are unable to prove their identities. To help remedy that, the World Bank has mobilised more than $1.2bn to support ID projects in 45 countries.