CHAPTER 6: POWERS AND SAFEGUARDS
are located outside the British Islands.45 Large volumes of data are carried around the
world via fibre-optic cables and satellites. Section 8(4) warrants may be used to
authorise the interception of all communications transmitted on a specified route or
cable, or carried by a particular service provider.46
6.46.
6.47.
45
46
47
48
49
A s8(4) warrant application should specify:47
(a)
the background to the operation in question;
(b)
a description of the communications to be intercepted, details of the service
providers and an assessment of the feasibility of the operation where this is
relevant;
(c)
a description of the conduct to be authorised which must be restricted to the
interception of external communications, or to conduct necessary in order to
intercept those external communications, where appropriate;
(d)
the certificate that will regulate examination of the intercepted material;
(e)
an explanation of why the interception is considered to be necessary for one of
the RIPA s5(3) purposes;
(f)
a consideration of why the conduct to be authorised by the warrant is
proportionate to what is sought to be achieved by that conduct;
(g)
a consideration of any unusual degree of collateral intrusion, and why that
intrusion is justified in the circumstances.
In particular where the
communication might affect religious, medical or journalistic confidentiality or
legal privilege, this must be specified in the application;48
(h)
where the application is urgent, supporting justification;
(i)
an assurance that intercepted material will be read, looked at or listened to only
so far as it is certified and it meets the conditions of RIPA ss16(2)-(6); and
(j)
an assurance that the material intercepted will be handled in accordance with
the safeguards required by RIPA ss15 and 16.
GCHQ currently only has the capacity to intercept the data travelling through a small
percentage of the 100,000 bearers, including undersea cables, which make up the
global communications core infrastructure.49 Section 8(4) warrants play a strategic
role in setting out which of these bearers are to be intercepted. They are issued by
RIPA s20.
See Charles Farr’s witness statement of 2014 in the Liberty IPT Case [Charles Farr Statement]:
https://www.privacyinternational.org/sites/privacyinternational.org/files/downloads/pressreleases/witness_st_of_charles_blandford_farr.pdf, para 139.
Interception Code, para 5.2.
The Draft Interception Code does not contain this requirement but does contain fuller provisions
concerning the protection of confidential communications overall.
ISC Privacy and Security Report, para 27.
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