see url: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48597111
Quote<<
The security service MI5's handling of large amounts of personal data has been
"undoubtedly unlawful", a watchdog has said.
A High Court case revealed the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's concerns
about data obtained under warrants.
Civil rights group Liberty said it involved the "mass collection of data of
innocent citizens".
It said MI5 knew about the issues three years ago but kept them secret.
"MI5 have been holding on to people's data - ordinary people's data, your data,
my data - illegally for many years," said Megan Goulding, a lawyer for Liberty,
which brought the case.
"Not only that, they've been trying to keep their really serious errors secret
- secret from the security services watchdog, who's supposed to know about
them, secret from the Home Office, secret from the prime minister and secret
from the public."
Among the large amounts of data which can be collected by MI5 under the
Investigatory Powers Act are individuals' location data, calls, messages and
web browsing history.
As well as "bulk data" collection, which can include information about ordinary
members of the public, MI5 can use targeted interceptions of communications and
computer hacking for investigations such as counter-terrorism.
But the act includes safeguards about how all this information is stored and
handled. It is against the law to keep data when it is no longer needed, or to
store it in an unsafe way.
MI5 had a "historical lack of compliance" with the law in the way it retained
and deleted data, said Lord Justice Sir Adrian Fulford, who oversees MI5's use
of data as Investigatory Powers Commissioner.
He criticised "the undoubted unlawful manner in which data has been held and
handled" by the security service.
And his ruling, made public for the first time, said the security service would
be placed under greater scrutiny by judges when seeking warrants - which the
commissioner compared to a failing school being placed in "special measures".>>>
End of Quote.
ATB,
Dougie
