GCHQ: "we do not spy at will"

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 5 May 2009 at 11:32

The UK's electronic surveillance agency has issued a rare statement denying claims that it is pressing ahead with plans to track all internet use.

The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was responding to reports in The Sunday Times that claimed it was spending £1 billion on "thousands of 'black box' probes being covertly inserted across online infrastructure".

The newspaper claimed the probes would enable GCHQ to "spy at will" on emails, websites visits and telephone calls made over the internet. This was despite assurances from Home Secretary Jacqui Smith that such plans had been dropped in favour of an ISP-centric collection model.

The story was promptly rejected by GCHQ. "GCHQ is not developing technology to enable the monitoring of all internet use and phone calls in Britain, or to target everyone in the UK," it writes in a statement.

"Similarly, GCHQ has no ambitions, expectations or plans for a database or databases to store centrally all communications data in Britain. The new technology that GCHQ is developing is designed to work under the existing legal framework.

"GCHQ follows these meticulously. GCHQ only acts when it is necessary and proportionate to do so; GCHQ does not spy at will."

GCHQ went on to say that the £1 billion Mastering the Internet program was a simple modernisation scheme. "One of our greatest challenges is maintaining our capability in the face of the growth in internet-based communications and voice-over internet telephony. We must reinvest continuously to keep up with the methods that are used by those who threaten the UK and its interests," it says.

"Just as our predecessors at Bletchley Park mastered the use of the first computers, today, partnering with industry, we need to master the use of internet technologies and skills that will enable us to keep one step ahead of the threats. This is what mastering the internet is about."