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UK: GCHQ: UK government claims power for broad, suspicionless hacking of computers and phones

21 March 2015

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"The British Government has admitted its intelligence services have the broad power to hack into personal phones, computers, and communications networks, and claims they are legally justified to hack anyone, anywhere in the world, even if the target is not a threat to national security nor suspected of any crime....Buried deep within the document, Government lawyers claim that while the intelligence services require authorisation to hack into the computer and mobile phones of intelligence targets, GCHQ is equally permitted to break into computers anywhere in the world even if they are not connected to a crime or a threat to national security."

See the full text: UK government claims power for broad, suspicionless hacking of computers and phones (PI, link)

See: GCHQ Tribunal document: Investigatory Powers Tribunal - Government's Open Response: News Article - 18 Mar 2015 (link)

This evidence confirms: New Code of Practice: "Equipment Interference" to give the intelligence and security agencies direct access to computers to by-pass encryption and to use "remote access" to "obtain information.. in pursuit of intelligence requirements" or to "remove or modify software" (Statewatch) and: GCHQ is authorised to spy on the world but the UK Interception of Communications Commissioner says this is OK as it is lawful (Statewatch Analysis, May 2014)

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