[quote]MI5 has secretly been collecting vast amounts of data about UK phone calls to search for terrorist connections, the BBC has learned.
The programme has been running for 10 years under a law described as "vague" by the government's terror watchdog.
It emerged as Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled a draft bill governing online spying by the authorities.
It would mean the internet activity of everyone in Britain had to be stored for a year by service providers.
Mrs May told MPs the proposed powers were needed to fight crime and terror and pledged new safeguards over MI5, MI6 and the police using the data.
'Nobody knew'
In her Commons statement, the home secretary referred to the [B]1984[/B] Telecommunications Act, under which she said successive governments had allowed security services to access data from communications companies.
The data involved the bulk records of phone calls - not what was said but the fact that there was contact - with companies required to hand over domestic phone records.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the programme, which sources said was used to track terrorists and save lives, was "so secret that few even in MI5 knew about it, let alone the public".
The government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, David Anderson QC, told the BBC the legislation used to authorise the collection was "so vague that anything could be done under it".
He added: "It wasn't illegal in the sense that it was outside the law, it was just that the law was so broad and the information was so slight that nobody knew it was happening".[/quote]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34729139[/url]
Isn't Theresa May the lovliest person? Well, this article isn't directly linked to her, but I'm sure this is something she'd gladly endorse, and I'd be surprised if there weren't those amongst other parties who would too assuming they'd heard about it. They see each proverbial line between privacy and so-called security as a challenge, not something to be avoided - "How can we cross this line without pissing anyone off enough to do anything about it?". In this case it's "Don't tell anyone". So far they've been doing a good job if you ask me.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
