‘Snoopers’ charter legal challenge launched

Campaign group Liberty has launched a crowd-funded legal challenge to the UK government's ‘assault on our freedom’ through the so-called ‘snoopers' charter’.

Having gained royal assent in November, the government has said it will defend the Investigatory Powers Act, which will allow state agencies to control and alter electronic devices, read texts, online messages and emails and listen in on calls. The government has restated that such laws will provide police and the intelligence agencies the tools to keep people safe and addressing ‘ongoing capability gaps’.

The Act means that communications companies will retain data of the ‘who, where and when’, but not the content of people's phone calls, emails, texts and web browsing history.

Nevertheless, Liberty will challenge the lawfulness of these powers, accusing the government of ‘exploiting fear and distraction to quietly create the most extreme surveillance regime of any democracy in history’.

The challenge arrives just weeks after a landmark ruling from the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) rendered core parts of the Investigatory Powers Act effectively unlawful.

Martha Spurrier, Director of Liberty, said: “Last year, this government exploited fear and distraction to quietly create the most extreme surveillance regime of any democracy in history. Hundreds of thousands of people have since called for this Act’s repeal because they see it for what it is – an unprecedented, unjustified assault on our freedom.

“We hope anybody with an interest in defending our democracy, privacy, press freedom, fair trials, protest rights, free speech and the safety and cyber security of everyone in the UK will support this crowdfunded challenge, and make 2017 the year we reclaim our rights.”