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UK: Security services spied on 20 high-profile people in questionable operations

29 July 2016

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"British security services snooped on 20 high-profile individuals in operations that were either unjustified, or may have been unjustified, according to previously withheld information.

The disclosures came during an investigatory powers tribunal hearing brought by Privacy International against bulk data collection by the intelligence agencies.

Information released on Wednesday by government lawyers on behalf of GCHQ and MI5 shows that between 2009 and 2013 there were three searches into high-profile individuals by three intelligence officers that were “not operationally justifiable”.

In the same period there were another 17 searches, by five officers, “which may not have been operationally justifiable”. The lawyers for the security services said there were no records of conversations with those officers, making it “not possible to ascertain whether they were in fact operationally justifiable”."

See the article: Security services spied on 20 high-profile people in questionable operations (The Guardian, link)

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