(f) Operation of the power is audited by IOCCO and will in future be audited by
the IPC.
Criticism of bulk acquisition
2.43.
In January 2016, not long after the existing bulk acquisition capability was
avowed for the first time, Privacy International amended an existing claim in the
IPT to challenge the use of TA 1984 s94, including for the purposes of bulk
acquisition. It claimed, inter alia, that:
(a) the regime governing the acquisition, use, retention, disclosure, storage and
deletion of private information under s94 was not sufficiently accessible to
the public, and contained insufficient safeguards to provide proper protection
against arbitrary conduct;
(b) the s94 regime was not necessary or proportionate; and that
(c) the effect of using s94 was to circumvent specific safeguards contained in
other legislation.
Some of those arguments were specific to the legal regime currently in force, but
others (particularly as relates to necessity and proportionality) might also have
been applied to the legal regime in Part 1 Chapter 2 of the Bill.
2.44.
The case was argued in July, by reference to disclosure given by the
Government as to the use of s94, and judgment is expected in the coming
months. I have reviewed the transcript of the hearing but say nothing more
about the arguments, which will be authoritatively ruled upon by the IPT.
(3) Bulk Equipment Interference
Nature of bulk EI
2.45.
The third power under review is bulk EI, provided for in Part 6 Chapter 3 of the
Bill. EI covers a range of techniques involving interference with computers.
Most of these techniques fall within the scope of what was previously known as
computer network exploitation [CNE]. The most commonly understood of them
include what may be colloquially referred to as hacking or the implantation of
software into endpoint devices or network infrastructure to retrieve intelligence,
but EI may also include, for example, copying data directly from a computer.
2.46.
From the point of view of the authorities, EI has an important advantage over
bulk interception. In the words of the IPT:
34