David Anderson Q.C. is the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, who has been tasked with reviewing the operation of the United Kingdom’s anti-terrorism laws. In June 2015 he published a report titled ‘A Question of Trust’ [1] with the stated aim to (a) “inform the public and political debate”…
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) is a statutory committee of the UK Parliament that has responsibility for oversight of the UK intelligence agencies. The ISC works to scrutinise the work of the UK intelligence community and hold them to account. A report published by the ISC in…
The Digital Rights Ireland ruling, of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Joined Cases C‑293/12 and C‑594/12, given in 2014, declared invalid the EU Data Retention Directive (Directive 2006/24/EC). This Directive had provided the legal basis for UK regulations requiring service providers to retain communications data for…
Davis and Others vs The Secretary of State for the Home Department was a judicial challenge by the MPs David Davis and Tom Watson to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 (DRIPA). The case was heard in the High Court of Justice, which ruled in favour of the claimants, rendering DRIPA…
The Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, an Act of Parliament, was described by the Anderson Review as, outside of RIPA, “the key statute allowing for the interception of communications.” [1] Sections 48 and 49 grant broad powers for the interception of communications to “the Secretary of State, the Commissioners for [HMCR], or any…
The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015, an Act of Parliament, makes provision for the retention of data by Content Service Providers (CSPs), amongst other counter-terrorist measures. Part III of the Act revises DRIPA to include mandating the retention of data regarding the allocation of IP addresses to given devices at particular times…
Outside of the security and intelligence agencies such as GCHQ, around 600 public authorities hold the power to request communications data. In his 2015 report, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC, distinguished between “major” law enforcement agencies, including police forces – who make the great majority of requests for…
The legal power to decrypt materials is expressly granted as a statutory function to GCHQ in the Intelligence Services Act 1994, where it is empowered to “obtain and provide information derived from … encrypted material” (s.3 (1)(a)). Further, sections 49-51 of RIPA gives a range of government agencies the power…
Powers contained in RIPA 2000 and the Intelligence Services Act 1994 give agencies power to conduct what is described as ‘intrusive’ and ‘targeted’ surveillance. The terminology here is potentially confusing, given that other agency powers – such as the large-scale interception of communications and access to communications data – are often…
The government appointed Sir Nigel Sheinwald as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Intelligence and Law Enforcement Data Sharing in September 2014. His role was created to work with foreign governments and US communication service providers (CSPs) to improve access to data across different jurisdictions for intelligence and law enforcement…
