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BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
the Media Lawyers’ Association; and in the third case, to Article 19, the
Electronic Privacy Information Center and to the Equality and Human
Rights Commission.
5. On 4 July 2017 the Chamber of the First Section decided to join the
applications and hold an oral hearing. That hearing took place in public in
the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 7 November 2017.
There appeared before the Court:
(a) for the Government
Ms R. SAGOO,
Mr J. EADIE QC,
Mr J. MILFORD,
Ms N. SAMUEL
Mr S. BOWDEN,
Mr M. ANSTEE,
Mr T. RUTHERFORD,
Ms L. MORGAN,
Mr B. NEWMAN,
(b) for the applicants
Ms D. ROSE QC,
Ms H. MOUNTFIELD QC,
Mr M. RYDER QC,
Mr R. MEHTA,
Mr C. MCCARTHY,
Mr D. CAREY,
Mr N. WILLIAMS
Agent,
Counsel,
Advisers.
Counsel,
Advisers.
6. The Court heard addresses by Mr Eadie, Ms Rose and Ms Mountfield,
as well as their replies to questions put by the President and by
Judges Koskelo, Harutyunyan, Eicke, Turković and Pardalos.
THE FACTS
I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
A. Background
7. The three applications were introduced following revelations by
Edward Snowden relating to the electronic surveillance programmes