Mass surveillance and Snoopers' Charter
Legal challenge: Investigatory Powers Act
We’re in the middle of a case against the Government because its Investigatory Powers Act (the Snoopers’ Charter) gives the police and security services powers to spy on everyone whether or not we’re suspected of wrongdoing.
We’re arguing these ‘bulk powers’ violate rights to privacy and freedom of expression, because there are insufficient safeguards in the Act, including to protect confidential journalistic sources and legal material.
In April 2018, the High Court said the Act was incompatible with EU law in the way that it allowed state agencies to access data held by telecommunications operators, and the Act was amended.
But in June 2019, the Court said the ‘bulk powers’ don’t breach privacy and free expression rights and the Act does contain sufficient safeguards for journalistic and legal communications.
We are appealing against that June 2019 judgement.
In October 2020, the EU Court of Justice gave its judgment in a related surveillance case brought by Privacy International. The Court ruled against the UK Government, finding that mass data collection and retention practices must comply with EU privacy safeguards.
In June 2022, in our case, the High Court of Justice ruled that it is unlawful for the security services – MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – to obtain individuals’ communications data from telecom providers without having prior independent authorisation, when those bodies are carrying out criminal investigations.
And in July 2022 Liberty were given permission to appeal on certain points decided against it in the June 2022 High Court judgment, including:
- Whether the bulk powers in the IPA permit indiscriminate and generalised data collection and thus require a higher level of safeguards
- Whether prior independent authorisation is required each time state agencies look at our data that they have stored.
Liberty’s wider case against the IPA (the appeal against the June 2019 judgment) also continues before the Court of Appeal, for which Liberty already has permission to proceed on five out of its six grounds.
The Court of Appeal will hear all of Liberty’s points of appeal (against the June 2019 and the June 2022 judgments) together 9-11 May 2023.
Judgment
Pleadings
- Statement of Facts and Grounds
- Summary Grounds of Resistance
- Detailed Grounds of Resistance
- Claimant’s Skeleton Argument
- Defendants’ Skeleton Argument
Claimant’s witness statements
- Witness Statement of Silkie Carlo
- Witness Statement of Colin Passmore
- First Witness Statement of Corey Stoughton
- Second Witness Statement of Corey Stoughton
Defendants’ witness statements
Judgment
Pleadings
- Statement of Facts and Grounds
- Summary Grounds in Response
- Detailed Grounds of Resistance
- Claimant’s Skeleton Argument
- Defendants’ Skeleton Argument
- NUJ’s Skeleton Argument
- Claimant’s Skeleton Argument on MI5 disclosure
- Claimant’s table on Secondary Data
- Defendants’ note on Secondary Data
- Claimant’s response to Defendants’ response on Secondary Data table
Claimant’s witness statements
- First Witness Statement of George Danezis
- Second Witness Statement of George Danezis
- Witness Statement of Ian Cobain
Defendants’ witness statements
- Witness Statement of MI5 Witness
- Witness Statement of SIS Witness
- First Witness Statement of James Dix
- Witness Statement of Joanna Cavan
- Second Witness Statement of James Dix
MI5 disclosure
- Letter from MI5 Director to IPC, 11 March 2019
- IPCO Inspection Report, 29 March 2019
- Annex H, Section II of MI5 Handbook, 1 April 2019
- IPC’s decision, 5 April 2019
- Letter from MI5 Director General to Home Secretary, 24 April 2019
- Letter from IPC to MI5 Director General, 26 April 2019
- IPCO Inspection Report, 26 April 2019
- Letter from MI5 to IPCO, 3 May 2019
- Letter from IPC to MI5 Director General, 8 May 2019
- Letter from MI5 to IPC, 15 May 2019
- MI5 report on searches, October 2017
- Summary of independent review of MI5 compliance, June 2019
- IPCO Inspection Report, 22 July 2019
- TE2 update from MI5 to IPCO
- Compliance Improvement Review
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