By: Owen Bowcott
June 17, 2019
“Bulk hacking” powers exploited by the intelligence services to access electronic devices represent an illegal intrusion into the private lives of millions of people, the high court has been told.
In its latest challenge to the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), the civil rights organisation Liberty has argued that government surveillance practices breach human rights law.
Of the multiple powers authorised by the legislation – labelled by critics as the “snooper’s charter” – the ability to interfere with computers, mobiles and other equipment amounts to the greatest invasion of individuals’ privacy, the court was told.