The Court of Appeal in the United Kingdom has ruled the government’s mass surveillance program for spying on internet use and phone records of the British people “unlawful.”
The judges ruled on Tuesday that the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) 2014 enabled police and public bodies to authorize their own access to confidential information and avoid prior authorization by a court or an independent body.
The ruling also stated that the mass surveillance program was “inconsistent with EU law” as it allowed the data to be collected for reasons other than fighting serious crime.
“This legislation was flawed from the start. It was rushed through parliament just before recess without proper parliamentary scrutiny,” said British Labour Party’s deputy leader Tom Watson, who brought the case.
“The government must now bring forward changes to the Investigatory Powers Act to ensure that hundreds of thousands of people,…