Executive Summary
T
he British public are entitled to some answers following the disclosures made
by Edward Snowden in 2013. He alleged, among other things, that the UK and US
governments were conducting mass surveillance programmes. The Independent
Surveillance Review (ISR) was undertaken at the request of the then deputy prime minister
partly in response to this very serious allegation.
The ISR Panel’s terms of reference were to look at the legality of UK surveillance
programmes and the effectiveness of the regimes that govern them, and to suggest
reforms we felt might be necessary that would both protect individual privacy as well
as the necessary capabilities of the police and security and intelligence agencies (SIAs).
This Review has tried to interpret its terms of reference from the perspective of the
British citizen so that it can add the greatest value to other reports that have examined
similar issues from Parliamentary and legal perspectives. The ISR Panel think there are
inadequacies in present arrangements and offer three groups of recommendations to try
to address them. The Panel are not concerned with ‘surveillance’ in all its manifestations
– which cover many standard aspects of policing and intelligence work – but primarily
with the interception and use of private communications and related data.
The British population has been greatly affected by the rapid evolution in information
and communications technology. In this digital society, we all leave extensive traces of
our behaviour and interactions in the course of our normal, everyday lives. We have
unprecedented opportunities to express ourselves, to connect and share knowledge, to
be prosperous and inventive.
At the same time, the digital society also presents new challenges, making citizens
potential targets for fraudsters, criminals and possibly terrorists. The task for the police
and SIAs has become more demanding as they try to stay abreast of rapid technological
innovation and deal with threats that emanate from across the globe. It is important
to ensure that the powers granted to these agencies to protect the public are explicit,
comprehensible, and are seen to be both lawful and consistent with democratic values.
Despite the disclosures made by Edward Snowden, we have seen no evidence that the
British government knowingly acts illegally in intercepting private communications, or
that the ability to collect data in bulk is used by the government to provide it with a
perpetual window into the private lives of British citizens.
On the other hand, we have seen evidence that the present legal framework authorising
the interception of communications is unclear, has not kept pace with developments in