BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT
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4. A Democratic Licence to Operate: Report of the Independent
Surveillance Review (“ISR”)
166. The ISR was undertaken by the Royal United Services Institute, an
independent think-tank, at the request of the then deputy Prime Minister,
partly in response to the revelations by Edward Snowden. Its terms of
reference were to look at the legality of United Kingdom surveillance
programmes and the effectiveness of the regimes that govern them, and to
suggest reforms which might be necessary to protect both individual privacy
and the necessary capabilities of the police and security and intelligence
services.
167. Despite the revelations by Edward Snowden, having completed its
review the ISR found no evidence that the British Government was
knowingly acting illegally in intercepting private communications, or that
the ability to collect data in bulk was being used by the Government to
provide it with a perpetual window into the private lives of British citizens.
On the other hand, it found evidence that the present legal framework
authorising the interception of communications was unclear, had not kept
pace with developments in communications’ technology, and did not serve
either the Government or members of the public satisfactorily. It therefore
concluded that a new, comprehensive and clearer legal framework was
required.
168. In particular, it supported the view set out in both the ISC and
Anderson reports that while the current surveillance powers were needed,
both a new legislative framework and oversight regime were required. It
further considered that the definitions of “content” and “communications
data” should be reviewed as part of the drafting of the new legislation so
that they could be clearly delineated in law.
169. With regard to communications data, the report noted that greater
volumes were available on an individual relative to content, since every
piece of content was surrounded by multiple pieces of communications data.
Furthermore, aggregating data sets could create an extremely accurate
picture of an individual’s life since, given enough raw data, algorithms and
powerful computers could generate a substantial picture of the individual
and his or her patterns of behaviour without ever accessing content. In
addition, the use of increasingly sophisticated encryption methods had made
content increasingly difficult to access.
170. It further considered that the capability of the security and
intelligence services to collect and analyse intercepted material in bulk
should be maintained, but with the stronger safeguards recommended in the
Anderson Report. In particular, it agreed that warrants for bulk interception
should include much more detail than is currently the case and should be the
subject of a judicial authorisation process, save for when there is an urgent
requirement.