back to article Privacy warriors take legal action over UK gov's right to hack

Privacy International is reviving its challenge against the UK government's right to issue general hacking warrants. It's filed for the High Court to review the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) decision that ruled the warrants are legal. The Investigatory Powers Bill, or Snoopers’ Charter, is currently under consideration …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What expansion of capabilities?

    All the bill does is document what the journalists and Snowden have managed to uncover so far. It is not an "expansion of capabilities". It is a grudging, grumbling, while being dragged kicking and screaming admission of capabilities. It is also incomplete as it quite deliberately does not include anything the journos have so far failed to uncover.

    So we should not be talking about "expansion of capabilities" as a result of the bill. We should be talking about "curtailing the current capabilities" to comply with the fundamentals of common law and the European Convention of Human Rights.

    The Convention was envisaged by Churchill in 1943 (even before the war ended) with one guiding star and one purpose: "NEVER AGAIN". This is its fundamental function and this is the exact reason why our future High Chancellor(ess) Treasonous May hates it as it stands in between her and her desire for "Faith through Unity, Unity Through Faith". That is the point where the discussion should start, not in the La La Land of "expansion of capabilities".

    1. Neil Alexander

      Re: What expansion of capabilities?

      All the bill does is document what the journalists and Snowden have managed to uncover so far

      It also sets a disturbing legal precedent that corners citizens into thinking they have a lessened right to privacy because "it's the law" and also "we need to stop the terrorists", "think of the children", etc.

      If one thing is for certain, a legal precedent such as this will only ever be extended, and never be firmly revised or reduced. The Government will never admit "actually, this was a complete and total waste of time" and repeal.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What expansion of capabilities?

        Good evening, London.

        Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

        There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way.

        Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

        How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler*.

        He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

        * Any resemblance to some characters presently jockeying to be the next boss of the Tory party are merely and purely a coincidence.

      2. Chris Parsons

        Re: What expansion of capabilities?

        And what I find so disturbing is that hardly anyone I know seems to care.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Stop

      Re: What expansion of capabilities?

      Are hacking powers really curtailed to comply with the HRA? "All your computers are belong to us" doesn't suggest so.

  2. Paul Crawford Silver badge

    Targeted hacking is much less of a concern to me that the hoovering of EVERYTHING you access via your ISP "just in case".

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe this is my tin foil hat talking but am I the only one who thinks the government + police should not be hacking anyone at all, ever, full stop? We used to have a thing called "the law" which applied to the public, police, government to follow??? no ? I'll be leaving now.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hack my NAS...

    Good luck hacking my NAS then. The moment it suspects unauthorized intrusion it immediately destroys itself (software not hardware) and requires me to get everything back from an offline backup which takes a while.

    So if they really wanted my data, they would need to get my offline backups and if they want that I would immediately know they are looking at my stuff so the secrecy is blown.

    Anon... obviously

  5. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    FAIL

    LOL!

    "....the IPT has upended 250 years of common law that makes clear such warrants are unlawful...." Yeah, you did such a good job of explaining that to the legally-trained individuals - not! Or could it be that was just another line thrown out there to scare the legally-illiterate, tinfoil-attired?

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