A U.K. privacy organization has sued the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) for surveillance tactics it deems to be "incompatible with democratic principles and human rights standards."
Privacy International on Tuesday filed a legal complaint that demands an end to hacks that GCHQ has been carrying out in conjunction with the National Security Agency (NSA) in the U.S. According to the group, GCHQ and the NSA are "infecting potentially millions of computer and mobile devices around the world with malicious software that gives them the ability to sweep up reams of content, switch on users' microphones or cameras, listen to their phone calls, and track their locations."
Privacy International points to the documents released by Edward Snowden as evidence. The move violates Article 8 (the right to privacy) and Article 10 (right to freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights, it said.
"The hacking programs being undertaken by GCHQ are the modern equivalent of the government entering your house, rummaging through your filing cabinets, diaries, journals and correspondence, before planting bugs in every room you enter," said Eric King, Deputy Director of Privacy International, in a statement. "Intelligence agencies can do all this without you even knowing about it, and can invade the privacy of anyone around the world with a few clicks."
A GCHQ spokesperson said that the agency does not comment on intelligence matters, but insisted that "all of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorized, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. All our operational processes rigorously support this position."
In the U.S. a group of 19 consumer and privacy groups last summer sued the NSA, arguing that the agency's data collection processes violate the law and the Constitution.
The Privacy International complaint comes as journalist Glenn Greenwald, to whom Snowden released the NSA documents, prepares to release a book about the issue, No Place to Hide.
According to an excerpt published yesterday by The Guardian, Greenwald says that NSA secretly intercepts networking devices that are set to be exported from the U.S., loads them up with surveillance software, repackages them, and sends them off to their final destinations.
The charges are damning given that U.S. officials have accused Chinese companies - like ZTE and Huawei - of doing the same thing, and encouraged U.S. firms toavoid doing business with them as a result.
For more, check out How to Stay Anonymous Online. Also watch PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses Greenwald's report.