The Investigatory Powers Act a.k.a The Snoopers' Charter
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2016
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Investigatory Powers Act - or Snoopers' Charter to its critics - is a highly controversial new law. On one hand, it clarifies a host of vague laws which were out of date with modern technology - but it also enshrines new powers of digital observation and surveillance, which will be available to the British intelligence services, the police, and a host of government agencies.
In this programme, David Aaronovitch explores the specifics of this new law, including the new safeguards which it puts in place, including the new demand for warrants for government 'equipment interference' (or hacking) must now be signed off by a senior judge.
He also discusses the new legal requirement for Internet Service Providers to store data about our internet browsing habits and the power for government authorities to demand access to this information.
Does the new law mean we are safer? Better safeguarded against surveillance abuses? Susceptible to more government scrutiny? Or all three of these things?
CONTRIBUTORS
Bella Sankey, Director of Policy at the civil liberties advocacy organisation Liberty
David Anderson QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation for the United Kingdom
Sir David Omand, visiting professor at King's College London and former Director of GCHQ
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith Research: Matt Bardo Editor: Innes Bowen
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | They've adopted a new paradigm of pre-criminal investigation, where they have begun collecting |
| 0:07.0 | everything on all of us. |
| 0:10.3 | And they say that they're not going to, you know, read your email, for example, but they |
| 0:15.2 | can. |
| 0:16.8 | And if they did, you would never know. |
| 0:19.8 | Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the secret surveillance techniques used by our intelligence |
| 0:24.3 | agencies. |
| 0:25.3 | And he had some advice for the UK. |
| 0:27.9 | You need to impose a structure of oversight that will allow both members of government |
| 0:34.7 | and the public to verify that their activities are proper and appropriate |
| 0:39.7 | at all times and that those who violate them can be held to account. |
| 0:43.3 | This week in whatever is the opposite of a blaze of publicity, a bill aimed at doing just that |
| 0:50.3 | became law. |
| 0:52.3 | So tonight, in the briefing room, is the new Investigatory Powers Act |
| 0:57.3 | a licence to Snoop, or does it protect our privacy against state surveillance? |
| 1:05.4 | Joining me in the briefing room this week are three experts on intelligence gathering and |
| 1:09.9 | surveillance law, coming from three |
| 1:11.7 | different perspectives. There David Anderson, QC, the UK's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, |
| 1:18.9 | Belisanki, policy director from the Human Rights Advocacy Group Liberty, and Sir David Oamond, |
| 1:24.8 | visiting professor at King's College London and a former director of the British |
| 1:28.8 | Intelligence Agency, GCHQ. Bell Asanky, in a nutshell, why is Liberty and other campaigners as well, |
| 1:37.4 | and members of the public indeed, so outraged by this law? |
... |
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