describes its interception of communications (and communications data)
as “bulk” because all of the data over entire fibre optic cables “making up
the core structure of the internet” are intercepted (§1.23).
27.
The
Government cites a number of reports, which discuss the
Government’s bulk surveillance capabilities and, in doing so, sheds some
light on the meaning of these terms. It cites, for example, the 17 March
2015 report by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament
(“ISC”): “Privacy and Security: A modern and transparent legal
framework” (hereinafter the “ISC Report”).3 In the section of that report
addressing the “bulk interception” capability, the ISC refers to “targeted
capabilities” as those “deployed against a person or single set of
premises…where there is specific knowledge about a threat (e.g. a specific
email address that has been linked to terrorism or other intelligence
requirements)”.4 In contrast, where the Government accesses the “‘bearers’
which make up the core infrastructure of the internet”, the ISC recognises
that “bulk” is “an appropriate term to use” given “the volume of
communications flowing across these bearers, and the number of people
those communications relate to, is…extremely large.”5
28.
The Government also cites the Independent Reviewer’s June 2015 report,
in which the Independent Reviewer does not specifically define “bulk”, but
describes “bulk collection” as the Government’s “acquiring material on
INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE (ISC), PRIVACY AND SECURITY: A MODERN AND
TRANSPARENT LEGAL FRAMEWORK, 2015, HC 1075 (UK) (“ISC Report”).
4 ISC Report, para 49.
5 ISC Report, para 59. The Applicants observe that the UK Government uses the term “bearer”
throughout its Observations and indicates that by “bearer”, it means “fibre optic cable”: “GCHQ
could theoretically access traffic from a small percentage of the 100,000 ‘bearers’ (i.e. fibre optic
cables) making up the core structure of the internet.” (§1.23) The Applicants note however that in
its submissions to the ISC, GCHQ described bearers differently, explaining that at the heart of
each fibre optic cable “sit a small number of optical fibres”, which “carry the data” and that “[i]n
one transatlantic cable for example, there are eight fibres (arranged as four pairs).” GCHQ further
explained that these fibres “carry 47 separate bearers” and analogised the bearers “to different
television channels – there are various ways of feeding multiple bearers down a single optical
fibre”. ISC Report, para. 55. For the sake of simplicity, the Applicants refer to fibre optic cables,
rather than bearers throughout this document.
3
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