Surveillance conducted by British intelligence agency GCHQ does not contravene human rights, a tribunal has heard, despite warnings from civil and internet liberties activists. The decision was made by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), after the case was brought to British courts by a collection of civil liberties groups including Privacy International, Amnesty International and Liberty earlier... 

A law student from Austria has filed a class action law suit against Facebook over privacy violations, urging the social network’s 1.32 billion users around the globe to join him in his legal battle. Max Schrems, who has sued Facebook and several other top US tech companies before, filed his newest claim at the commercial court in Vienna on Friday. The legal proceeding will run as a class action... 

Seven Internet service providers, including the UK-based GreenNet, have filed an official complaint at the investigatory powers tribunal in London charging Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) with illegal surveillance. The ISPs come from the US, UK Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands and Zimbabwe. They have also joined forces with the anti-surveillance charity Privacy International,... 

In a mission statement last year the US National Security Agency described how it would continue to expand its power and assert itself as the global leader in clandestine surveillance, according to a new report based on the Edward Snowden leaks. The five-page document brought to light Friday by the New York Times reveals the intelligence agency’s intention to “aggressively pursue legal authorities... 

Highly-redacted documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show the Australian Attorney-General’s Department prepared a secret briefing on the US PRISM spying program months before it was exposed in Edward Snowden’s leaks. The documents in question were requested and obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). They reveal that the Attorney-General’s Department had a... 

When it comes to Edward Snowden, it’s reasonable to expect a little hard talk from former NSA and CIA chief Michael Hayden. After all, it is HIS baby that’s been shamed by Snowden’s leaks. But hinting that there are ‘lists’ on which Snowden should be is taking things to a new level. Speaking at a panel discussion on Thursday, the ex-NSA director made it clear that he’s aware of Snowden’s... 

New Zealand’s police and intelligence services have direct access to US surveillance systems such as PRISM, to monitor email and capture various data traffic, according to police affidavits in connection with the raid on Kim Dotcom’s mansion. The news that the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (OFCANZ) requested assistance from the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)... 

Germany and the United States will start negotiations this month on an agreement not to spy on each other, a senior German official has said. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff, Ronald Pofalla, said on Monday that such an agreement can set a framework for future activities of western spying agencies, the Associated Press reported. Pofalla, who is responsible for coordinating the various... 

Microsoft’s general counsel has written to the US Attorney General Eric Holder saying that the secrecy regarding the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance is damaging the “constitutional principles” of America. Microsoft has asked the Obama administration to allow it to share details about how it responds to requests from the US government for user account data. Microsoft’s general counsel... 

Search engine Yahoo has won a court case to release NSA records and potentially prove it resisted handing over customer data to US authorities. The ruling could clear Yahoo’s name following allegations it collaborated with the NSA to spy on citizens. The US Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Court ruled that data, pertaining to a 2008 order for Yahoo to hand over customer information to US authorities,... 

Britain has blocked talks between the US and the European Union on the US spying on the EU saying the bloc has no authority to discuss Americans’ methods to safeguard their national security. The EU and the US were to form two working groups on intelligence and espionage and on data privacy and the US National Security Agency’s Prism program and sit down for talks in Washington on Monday for talks. However,... 

Deals brokered between federal agents and foreign corporations have allowed the United States government to easily intercept and interpret a vast swath of communication data sent around the world, new documents reveal. In a National Security Agency slideshow obtained by The Washington Post and attributed to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, the US government encouraged analysts to tap into an array of underwater,... 

The logo of France’s Directorate-General for External Security France’s secret services illegally have been spying on the citizens by monitoring their telephone and internet communications as well as internet searches, a report says. On Thursday, French daily Le Monde reported that the country’s security services had stored the data from communications on a supercomputer at the headquarters of... 

During the past two months I’ve watched in absolute awe and amazement the events which have seen a 30-year-old American high-school dropout consciously declare a personal war against the entire United States Federal Government that to this very day continues to shock the entire world, and so much so that even Russian President Putin is now in fear of what this man may reveal next. This most unlikely... 

The European Parliament has asked for “full clarification” about the latest disclosure that the U.S. has spied on European Union offices both in the U.S. and in Europe, warning EU-U.S. relations would be severely affected. “I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices,” said the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz in a statement...