United Kingdom of Surveillance

Author (Corporate)
Series Title
Series Details 31.10.13
Publication Date 30/10/2013
Content Type

With the focus on the NSA in the United States, Europeans all too often ignore the threat in their midst: surveillance apparatus of the United Kingdom. Not only that, writes Thorsten Benner, government meddling is making life difficult for reporters in the UK.

The writer says that Britain runs a massive surveillance apparatus affecting millions of citizens around Europe and the world through taps on fiber-optic cables, weakening of encryption, and compelling of Internet service providers to provide user data to the authorities.

Thorsten Benner is director of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin.

According to EUObserver on the 8 November 2013, the head of UK spy agency GCHQ, Iain Lobban, has said in the Parliament that leaks on mass-surveillance have made it harder to catch terrorists.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://dw.de/p/1A9h9
Related Links
ESO: Background information: Belgacom downplays UK hacking allegations at EU hearing http://www.europeansources.info/record/belgacom-downplays-uk-hacking-allegations-at-eu-hearing/
ESO: Background information: Merkel's phone tapped by the US, Germany claims http://www.europeansources.info/record/merkels-phone-tapped-by-the-us-germany-claims/
Website: GCHQ http://www.gchq.gov.uk/Pages/homepage.aspx
BBC News, 31.10.13: Internet giants should answer questions on NSA links, says Tom Watson http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24755219
The Guardian, 31.10.13: Comment is free: Whether it's hacking or the NSA, some of us don't accept that privacy is dead (Article by Timothy Garton Ash) http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/31/hacking-nsa-dont-accept-privacy-is-dead
Deutsche Welle, 30.10.13: Government puts pressure on British press http://dw.de/p/1A8tE
The Guardian: Tag: GCHQ http://www.theguardian.com/uk/gchq
Wikipedia: Government Communications Headquarters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications_Headquarters
EUObserver, 08.11.13: UK spy chiefs defend mass-snooping on Europeans http://euobserver.com/justice/122030
BBC News, 07.11.13: UK intelligence work defends freedom, say spy chiefs http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24847399
Spiegel Online International, 11.11.13: Quantum Spying: GCHQ Used Fake LinkedIn Pages to Target Engineers http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ghcq-targets-engineers-with-fake-linkedin-pages-a-932821.html
Spiegel Online International, 11.11.13: Oil Espionage: How the NSA and GCHQ Spied on OPEC http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/how-the-nsa-and-gchq-spied-on-opec-a-932777.html
The Guardian, 20.11.13: UK secretly agreed to US surveillance of British citizens (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/4338561-uk-secretly-agreed-us-surveillance-british-citizens

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