The Investigatory Powers Bill is a new law that will give the UK police and security agencies massive powers to collect, analyse and look at our private communications and Internet use. The state does need surveillance powers to fight serious crime and terrorism, this law goes too far.
The IPBill will give the state unprecedented access to your private data. Your web browsing history and app use will be collected; every public and private database you are on can be analysed; your personal communications data will be scooped up. The indiscriminate collection of our data is a mass violation of privacy and a reversal of the presumption of innocent until proven guilty.
How do you know whether the police or security services have looked at your private communications when they shouldn’t have? The lack of transparency about surveillance means that we do not know whether surveillance powers are being abused. One of the changes ORG is calling for is for people who have been placed under surveillance to be notified six months after the surveillance ends as long as there is no risk to an ongoing investigation. This happens in other democracies and would help the police and security services be more transparent about their work.
The Government's Investigatory Powers Bill is the new Snoopers' Charter. It brings even more powers for the police and GCHQ to spy on us. Join our campaign to help us stop it.