Leaker brands Britain's GCHQ 'worse than US'
Source: AFP |
June 23, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITAIN'S electronic eavesdropping agency has gained secret access to fibre-optic cables carrying global Internet traffic and telephone calls, The Guardian said yesterday, citing documents disclosed by rogue US intelligence technician Edward Snowden.
The latest claims sparked fresh outcry from privacy campaigners.
The Guardian said Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has started processing vast amounts of personal information - including Facebook posts, emails, Internet histories and phone calls - and is sharing it with its US partner the National Security Agency (NSA).
It reported that GCHQ was able to tap into and store data from the cables for up to 30 days.
"It's not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight," Snowden, who is holed up in Hong Kong, told the Guardian. "They (GCHQ) are worse than the US."
The Guardian claimed Operation Tempora had been running for 18 months and GCHQ and the NSA were able to access vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people.
It also claimed that the intelligence-gathering directly led to the arrest and jailing of a British terror cell and the arrests of others planning acts of terror.
The Guardian said the documents it had seen showed that by last year, GCHQ was handling 600 million "telephone events" each day, had tapped more than 200 fibre-optic cables and was able to process data from at least 46 of them at a time.
GCHQ said it was "scrupulous" in its compliance with the law.
The latest claims sparked fresh outcry from privacy campaigners.
The Guardian said Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has started processing vast amounts of personal information - including Facebook posts, emails, Internet histories and phone calls - and is sharing it with its US partner the National Security Agency (NSA).
It reported that GCHQ was able to tap into and store data from the cables for up to 30 days.
"It's not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight," Snowden, who is holed up in Hong Kong, told the Guardian. "They (GCHQ) are worse than the US."
The Guardian claimed Operation Tempora had been running for 18 months and GCHQ and the NSA were able to access vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people.
It also claimed that the intelligence-gathering directly led to the arrest and jailing of a British terror cell and the arrests of others planning acts of terror.
The Guardian said the documents it had seen showed that by last year, GCHQ was handling 600 million "telephone events" each day, had tapped more than 200 fibre-optic cables and was able to process data from at least 46 of them at a time.
GCHQ said it was "scrupulous" in its compliance with the law.
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