UK - We spy on everybody

Our blog recently revealed how the British indulge in spying on our allies and yet another story has been revealed about how UK intelligence agencies systematically spy on people.

UK intelligence agencies MI5, MI6 and GCHQ violated the law by collecting and examining data of human rights group Privacy International, a court said. The data was collected as part of two mass surveillance programmes called Bulk Communications Data and Bulk Personal Datasets, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal said.

"We do not know why MI5 reviewed Privacy International's data, but the fact that it happened at all should raise serious questions for all of us," Caroline Wilson Palow, general counsel of Privacy International, said.

"Today's revelations are troubling for a whole host of reasons. The UK intelligence agencies' bulk collection of communications data and personal data has been shown to be as vast as we have always imagined - it sweeps in almost everyone, including human rights organisations like Privacy International," Wilson Palow said.

The revelation comes a week after the European Court of Human Rights said the UK was violating human rights with its mass surveillance programmes. The European court specifically singled out the lack of oversight about data collection.

In January, Britain's Court of Appeals ruled the UK government was breaking the law with its Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act, which allowed the UK to collect internet activity and phone records of its citizens.