In the UK, GCHQ is a Greater Problem than American Spies, Claims Intelligence Whistleblower

GCHQ, Britain’s electronic eavesdropping agency, is tapping into vast numbers of emails and internet messages and is “worse” than US spy agencies, a former American intelligence worker has said.

Edward Snowden said Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters had gained access to the network of cables that transmitted international phone and internet traffic.

Mr Snowden, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, has passed a number of documents to the Guardian newspaper in recent weeks. Among those are papers suggesting that GCHQ has programmes named Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, which are focused on online and telephone communications.

The documents refer to information derived from global communications networks as “special source exploitation”. They are said to show that last year GCHQ handled 600 million “telephone events” each day, had tapped into more than 200 fibre-optic cables and was able to process data from at least 46 of them at any one time.

Mr Snowden, who has accused US intelligence agencies of violating privacy, was quoted as saying: “It’s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight. They [GCHQ] are worse than the US.”

Whitehall sources said that it was “hardly a secret” that GCHQ sought access to electronic communications, since that was “precisely what it is there to do”.

Source... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10135919/GCHQ-is-a-greater-problem-than-American-spies-claims-intelligence-whistleblower.html

Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin
Open Evenings and Weekends this Summer
Call Us Now (310) 273-9600    
 http://www.jonathanfranklinlaw.com