UK Government Just Admitted To Illegally Spying On Citizens for 17 Years, But Won't Stop
After a legal battle that spanned more than a year, the UK government's surveillance agency - GCHQ - admitted to illegally spying for the past 17 years and apologised for their actions. But then, thanks to some tiny changes in GCHQ policy, it turns out they can carry on without being punished.
Isn't that some bull shit...
So how on Earth did they pull this sudden swerve? Let's take a look at the timeline and see where things went wrong for the public.
As you all probably know, GCHQ's mass monitoring program was revealed by Edward Snowden - showing the rather scary amount of surveillance being done. The bulk collection even contained an entire year's worth of mobile phone records for every single phone in the UK.
So this did two things - earned Snowden a lifetime ban from entering Britain, and kicked off this case. The tribunal eventually ruled that this was a blatantly illegal, breaking Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
But what's more peculiar is that Parliament had plenty of opportunities to make this level of surveillance legal in the country and approve the program. Every time it went to them, they turned it down - and yet, it still happened...
This program has been conducted between 1998 and the end of 2015, while the public remained completely oblivious to it and courts were kept just out of reach of accessing this information.
And now it's out in the open, surely they should stop now right? Wrong. Thanks to a change in some of their underlying policies, their practice has now been deemed "fully lawful." That means they can continue monitoring without any legal interruptions.
What we've seen here is the equivalent of stalking your ex, being found guilty of said crime, and then being let off because the courts agreed you were doing it for his/her protection - even though everybody with common sense can see your true intention.
Onward we march towards an Orwellian nation, but now it's happening in plain sight.
