2. POWERS UNDER REVIEW
2.1.
The purpose of this chapter is not to attempt any appraisal of the utility or
necessity of the powers under review, but rather to identify those powers, to
describe them briefly, to point the reader to more detailed descriptions
elsewhere, and to summarise the nature of the controversy that they have
attracted.
2.2.
Past comments on the utility and necessity of the powers under review, and
similar powers, are summarised in chapter 3 below.
2.3.
It may be useful to record in tabular form the salient characteristics of each of the
powers under review: whether they are unique to the SIAs; whether their use
must be foreign-focused; whether they allow content as well as other data to be
collected; whether they can be used for the purposes of preventing or detecting
serious crime, even in the absence of a parallel national security purpose;52 and
which of the three SIAs (MI5, MI6 and GCHQ) uses or is expected to use the
power provided for in the Bill.
Bulk power
Interception
Acquisition
EI
BPD
SIAs only?
YES
YES
YES
NO53
Foreign-focused?
YES
NO
YES
NO
Content included?
YES
NO
YES
YES
National security
purpose required?
YES
YES
YES
NO
Power used by?
GCHQ
MI5, GCHQ
GCHQ
ALL
Powers not reviewed
52
53
2.4.
The terms of reference for the Review (Annex 2), which were decided upon by
the Government, make it clear that the Review does not extend to the whole
range of powers in the Bill.
2.5.
Nor, even, does the Review cover the whole range of powers that could be
described as bulk powers in the broader sense of that phrase (1.5-1.6 above).
Powers in the Bill which are liable to result in the collection or retention of large
None of the powers under review may be used for the investigation or prosecution of ordinary
(non-serious) crime.
Though BPDs are retained and used also by non-SIAs such as the police, that activity (perhaps
incongruously) does not fall within the scope of the Bill.
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