BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
practice for CSPs will be set out in the discussions they have with the Government
before a Section 12 Notice is served (see paragraph 3.13).
Destruction
7.8. Intercepted material, and all copies, extracts and summaries which can be
identified as the product of an interception, must be marked for deletion and securely
destroyed as soon as possible once it is no longer needed for any of the authorised
purposes. If such intercepted material is retained, it should be reviewed at appropriate
intervals to confirm that the justification for its retention is still valid under
section 15(3) of RIPA.
7.9. Where an intercepting agency undertakes interception under a section 8(4)
warrant and receives unanalysed intercepted material and related communications
data from interception under that warrant, the agency must specify (or must determine
on a system by system basis) maximum retention periods for different categories of
the data which reflect its nature and intrusiveness. The specified periods should
normally be no longer than two years, and should be agreed with the Interception of
Communications Commissioner. Data may only be retained for longer than the
applicable maximum retention periods if prior authorisation is obtained from a senior
official within the particular intercepting agency on the basis that continued retention
of the data has been assessed to be necessary and proportionate. If continued retention
of any such data is thereafter assessed to no longer meet the tests of necessity and
proportionality, it must be deleted. So far as possible, all retention periods should be
implemented by a process of automated deletion, which is triggered once the
applicable maximum retention period has been reached for the data at issue.
Personnel security
7.10. All persons who may have access to intercepted material or need to see any
reporting in relation to it must be appropriately vetted. On an annual basis, managers
must identify any concerns that may lead to the vetting of individual members of staff
being reconsidered. The vetting of each individual member of staff must also be
periodically reviewed. Where it is necessary for an officer of one agency to disclose
intercepted material to another, it is the former’s responsibility to ensure that the
recipient has the necessary clearance.
The section 16 safeguards
7.11. Section 16 provides for additional safeguards in relation to intercepted
material gathered under section 8(4) warrants, requiring that the safeguards:
Ensure that intercepted material is read, looked at or listened to by any
person only to the extent that the intercepted material is certified; and
Regulate the use of selection factors that refer to the communications of
individuals known to be currently in the British Islands.
7.12. In addition, any individual selection of intercepted material must be
proportionate in the particular circumstances (given section 6(1) of the Human Rights
Act 1998).
7.13. The certificate ensures that a selection process is applied to material
intercepted under section 8(4) warrants so that only material described in the
certificate is made available for human examination (in the sense of being read,
looked at or listened to). No official is permitted to gain access to the data other than
as permitted by the certificate.
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