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BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
detriment, damage or prejudice. Its determination therefore constituted just
satisfaction and no compensation was awarded.
II. RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW AND PRACTICE
A. The interception of communications
1. Warrants: general
56. Section 1(1) of RIPA renders unlawful the interception of any
communication in the course of its transmission by means of a public postal
service or a public telecommunication system unless it takes place in
accordance with a warrant under section 5 (“intercept warrant”).
57. Section 5(2) allows the Secretary of State to authorise an intercept
warrant if he believes: that it is necessary for the reasons set out in
section 5(3), namely that it is in the interests of national security, for the
purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime, or for safeguarding the
economic well-being of the United Kingdom; and that the conduct
authorised by the warrant is proportionate to what is sought to be achieved
by that conduct. In assessing necessity and proportionality, account should
be taken of whether the information sought under the warrant could
reasonably be obtained by other means.
58. Section 81(2)(b) of RIPA defines “serious crime” as crime which
satisfies one of the following criteria:
“(a) that the offence or one of the offences that is or would be constituted by the
conduct is an offence for which a person who has attained the age of twenty-one and
has no previous convictions could reasonably be expected to be sentenced to
imprisonment for a term of three years or more;
(b) that the conduct involves the use of violence, results in substantial financial gain
or is conduct by a large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose.”
59. Section 81(5) provides:
“For the purposes of this Act detecting crime shall be taken to include–
(a) establishing by whom, for what purpose, by what means and generally in what
circumstances any crime was committed; and
(b) the apprehension of the person by whom any crime was committed;
and any reference in this Act to preventing or detecting serious crime shall be
construed accordingly ...”
60. Section 6 provides that in respect of the intelligence services, only
the Director General of MI5, the Chief of MI6 and the Director of GCHQ
may apply for an intercept warrant.
61. There are two types of intercept warrant to which sections 5 and 6
apply: a targeted warrant as provided for by section 8(1); and an untargeted
warrant as provided for by section 8(4).