Police Web & Phone Snooping Powers Curbed
The need to comply with a European Court Ruling has meant that senior UK police officers are to lose the power to self-authorise snooping on personal phone and web browsing records.
What Ruling?
This latest development is the upholding of a ruling (after an appeal) that was sent to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2016. The original ruling dates back to 2015 and relates to a case brought by Labour Party deputy Tom Watson (and Brexit Secretary David Davies, who later dropped out). The original case challenged the legality of core parts of the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA), which was a predecessor to the Investigatory Powers Act (also known as the ‘Snooper’s Charter)’.