By Bill Goodwin and Tommy Greene
MI5 provided ‘false information’ to the Home Office to secure bulk surveillance warrants, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal heard
The Home Office has unlawfully allowed MI5 to gather vast amounts of the public’s data by wrongly approving bulk surveillance warrants, Britain’s most secret court heard on 25 July 2022.
The human right’s groups Liberty and Privacy International told the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that MI5 has provided false information to obtain warrants for bulk surveillance. The Home Office failed to investigate breaches by MI5, some of which date as far back as 2010, the court heard.
Liberty lawyer Megan Goulding said that the case showed that the UK’s surveillance laws are not fit for purpose and fail to offer adequate safeguards to protect the public from abuse.