I have sympathy but you're right the situation they're in is completely self-inflicted. They wanted to see all data all the time and when anybody found out - as was remarkably inevitable - the public were massively alarmed. Nothing has changed in GCHQ (and at the NSA, BND, others FWIW) since the events that led us to where we are now; without competent civilian oversight (there's civilian oversight, but it isn't competent) of what GCHQ are playing at with regards to what they're doing to perfectly innocent citizens minding their own business for a purpose that could easily be defined as "nothing good" long may it continue. I don't even see where competent oversight comes from by the way, they're never going to let people like me who _understand_ what the tools they use do and what the effect might be on national, personal and business security - as long as that remains true people like me are going to do everything we can to ensure they stay shut out of everywhere it matters. I've said it here before but their remit as defined in law is to protect the national security of the country, work in the interests of the economic well-being of the UK and support the prevention and detection of serious crime. Trawling comms of Joe Average minding his own business isn't that - in fact it plainly makes their job far far harder.
I don't even have confidence that they're even restricting themselves to working within the rather open legal framework they're allowed to act.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
