BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
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copying and distribution of intercepted material) and section 15(3) (destruction of
intercepted material) are to be met. For further details see the chapter on
“Safeguards”.
7. SAFEGUARDS
7.1. All material intercepted under the authority of a warrant complying with
section 8(1) or section 8(4) of RIPA and any related communications data must be
handled in accordance with safeguards which the Secretary of State has approved in
conformity with the duty imposed on him or her by RIPA. These safeguards are made
available to the Interception of Communications Commissioner, and they must meet
the requirements of section 15 of RIPA which are set out below. In addition, the
safeguards in section 16 of RIPA apply to warrants complying with section 8(4). Any
breach of these safeguards must be reported to the Interception of Communications
Commissioner. The intercepting agencies must keep their internal safeguards under
periodic review to ensure that they remain up-to-date and effective. During the course
of such periodic reviews, the agencies must consider whether more of their internal
arrangements might safely and usefully be put into the public domain.
The section 15 safeguards
7.2. Section 15 of RIPA requires that disclosure, copying and retention of
intercepted material is limited to the minimum necessary for the authorised purposes.
Section 15(4) of RIPA provides that something is necessary for the authorised
purposes if the intercepted material:
Continues to be, or is likely to become, necessary for any of the purposes
set out in section 5(3) – namely, in the interests of national security, for the
purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime, or for the purpose, in
circumstances appearing to the Secretary of State to be relevant to the
interests of national security, of safeguarding the economic well-being of
the UK;
Is necessary for facilitating the carrying out of the functions of the
Secretary of State under Chapter I of Part I of RIPA;
Is necessary for facilitating the carrying out of any functions of the
Interception of Communications Commissioner or the Tribunal;
Is necessary to ensure that a person conducting a criminal prosecution has
the information needed to determine what is required of him or her by his
or her duty to secure the fairness of the prosecution; or
Is necessary for the performance of any duty imposed by the Public Record
Acts.
Dissemination of intercepted material
7.3. The number of persons to whom any of the intercepted material is disclosed,
and the extent of disclosure, is limited to the minimum that is necessary for the
authorised purposes set out in section 15(4) of RIPA. This obligation applies equally
to disclosure to additional persons within an agency, and to disclosure outside the
agency. It is enforced by prohibiting disclosure to persons who have not been
appropriately vetted and also by the need-to-know principle: intercepted material must
not be disclosed to any person unless that person’s duties, which must relate to one of
the authorised purposes, are such that he or she needs to know about the intercepted
material to carry out those duties. In the same way, only so much of the intercepted