So the GCHQ and the NSA are apparently teaming up to do a whole lot of extremely legal warrantless mass surveillance.
I am not against spying or surveillance per se. Anyone who lives in the UK and says "if you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear" doesn't understand the purpose of judicial oversight and probably doesn't speak arabic. I believe in judicial oversight. An amoral-nerd-handler is not a judge. And political bias, false-positives and chilling self-censorship are the only outcomes of the GCHQ program I can see on the horizon.
So, if you're emailing me, please feel free to encrypt your message with my PGP public key.
I'm currently running GPGtools, which is a very user-friendly free implementation of PGP and interfaces nicely with Mac OS and Mail.app for Mac OS in particular.
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- mQENBFHEyV0BCADDc8dg7IPs6l/wh3kn3Cs7u6CYKh8kfnl94FDEWWJ9NSgUCPMu cu7ZKyfaoY74jSfgTpVkctIjMEbUIzAA+OOUuyULAbGK3C3NF6BXNHZydxjCsN0S YpEs0bJJB3du23+EBx4wJBXyXsUMRFLB7aab5yXtLyCLedeipW9NqzZp287UDiGu UX9LQdrXaBma2VgFr3zCsAisugmFyxGmJw8nLpO0C5OHWmuZ9W1ZIkYICBlrjHBV ATLJQLqpuLmIGDPpxB+g89cR3OZ8fpu7Lrjtc9Ka0ZLuzPpwxwQNOX5gwqwEUNBE 718AvOYDxxQZfcmj83i5MI7GuiKoF6kKaWiBABEBAAG0J0NhaSBXaW5nZmllbGQg PHNlY3VyZUBjYWl3aW5nZmllbGQuY29tPokBQAQTAQoAKgIbLwUJB4YfgAULCQgH AwUVCgkICwUWAgMBAAIeAQIXgAUCUcTNKQIZAQAKCRCTCTXwnhMwKhiNCAC7ndlc Tma5D+tTNCjRJpyo1ru3nCAIpnDNh8mtr24k1BNW0PtQ4H1+5Yp+u4t9gRTP+gdU HY5SoI8+Of3dhpZhu6KRk4r0bSksq5LHPdrg0V7jzV+t99Dwz8GB17R6oa1zYbV7 34r8zO5WQ+3jl0QRwBa6f/ocqE4Z0tsKlQt2s/EgvecJDMakSRj1KOZx9yqRSiv9 vfL1qcZKuuowuNE8W2Ri0fADUgOtfuvoMbxApMWgVrK1zjyzSqQXpjj4edZr0qhb 7tc8Xf4An/DA2X2xNAognB/fJl531E5JiB6szDram0SuAJkMssErtDSr1BWL9lfV VJE8aBA6t1Tf3rj0tCpDYWkgV2luZ2ZpZWxkIDxjLmEuai53aW5nZmllbGRAYmF0 aC5hYy51az6JAT0EEwEKACcFAlHEzRgCGy8FCQeGH4AFCwkIBwMFFQoJCAsFFgID AQACHgECF4AACgkQkwk18J4TMCpgQAf+PjodDhaiUnw1z7+8DhSfY2K0gLuMYb7k 0Ak7N9i7+TbVQAYVJP5H/Yd718cwwAM4WbSTAWrg/aP9hLAEqiTrczf7V9ZOvDLW ZjTBWJ8lBs3cYtbVfHyjxMznEcpbFkkT9is9hl0kYQ5XLi0PpLNBcpiudVScJahi o51Lu0DFLOawiKMd2a8eivokCVbjNxNSRpPQvXYxCudU0xd+0R2TCfPP14AvCaAq iPVRwHWHdil5fClRX83V87aARlmvayF0jBtIofOWamXy8i7wsqxbr/XxXZL1nL5W WPogMKMZ+g2V79zbbzcN8pgbrGLGJsENoH1KCTxo0hm/VGXcV7RcWLQkQ2FpIFdp bmdmaWVsZCA8Y2FpQGNhaXdpbmdmaWVsZC5jb20+iQE9BBMBCgAnBQJRxM0FAhsv BQkHhh+ABQsJCAcDBRUKCQgLBRYCAwEAAh4BAheAAAoJEJMJNfCeEzAqlxAIAJbW xPgkHawa+WBdD9QbsuGYBFPpy4nEFDrfO469otf4oCtoRXuT/dfuQZl6yVmBWX04 DpYuyhyPNmixyp36TPsaPCBBJPXY1SGoXQiUkFYu7aQJDReYtdioOgswpn07k9Ql 2ADFfv+W7ESbd2Q/8Kz7/o/0xWwSRhF6gNv9miQ2NNPMOFXcO0ACDIXVpGyNN+J3 vZH2qAEwwWHrhHauD8TeQcsj7+fjTsmEg0W6pMNuMxg4fUO2cj2ohi6cGx4SDaJP h5m7/gthEKlJYQgdTZLvrbbaiSYBuoPE7GlvKHGt11OgRRQBtowj9pToISsI3DM2 M3twIXpp2bgTlXCGuga0JUNhaSBXaW5nZmllbGQgPG1haWxAY2Fpd2luZ2ZpZWxk LmNvbT6JAT0EEwEKACcFAlHFqs8CGy8FCQeGH4AFCwkIBwMFFQoJCAsFFgIDAQAC HgECF4AACgkQkwk18J4TMCq/lgf/afEXF/ESMiEANUBE/DmAgDsZY+cXDy2yutzw obF80JOKosZQIQzLjTVkn37siIc9VvUmbI7zM200qOLPIjC5I5s0sAQnCeRP4GQu EsZjJqWaHW7esu3Ifb89ySJnBYFcuZJcKK7FIOiGhaCOM/lYoJjtKzBOG/l8lBCR NlytmFshmFXyX2jOIQQ5Nd4ysyCZQ0evdz9JGWZr35r+0vUTfpMKxg+HCMRT74T+ cvgxhd0SYAo52nYQrX9+ess7N7O5HaMuSdPB9ICjs//Sl6K9LEvWlFlUmF866H5m U69abH01K66K79hPYAmvhuiLp4eIs/UCtkubbQAzcJQlHZwI67QkQ2FpIFdpbmdm aWVsZCA8Y2FpQHdpbmdmaWVsZC11ay5jb20+iQE9BBMBCgAnBQJRxarYAhsvBQkH hh+ABQsJCAcDBRUKCQgLBRYCAwEAAh4BAheAAAoJEJMJNfCeEzAqVusIALKsfC3Q bLhtMmhLWScnbh5SkjoIVf8vfcBe827IeecHC6EfBiwgBhbzVsUVrR8RyG2PJ73b Py7toS9Qc/zuqjeCGiZqtrDdq9XhROqNDjw6ao7qVDuR2khi+g1ikOYhavr1RPD8 tM/Bu6Zkr9KIxDMjbOUlhykyXJU7wGwQ+xu5XbnGkadwB7QmeTOIH6bjYyFrzQI/ FZnFbs2ED3R1uAceSoDAvSbQij/SIxewxfHOTqM4bYPkbIh+0Gg4nNZ8SSPZIOW5 rwI/mcQjhZmOA2kMts+y7Bhg8pc6LgvipXv760W256cQElFI12GscYzwUNMz4t+e 075PVTDZcC1UgGS5AQ0EUcTJXQEIALarzuYEELV+eCGXtu4+ZJrl6GAbEdvG9bHn SJ74DuUoYedFeFT572eRRrOEQNE+m7dIpvDF5aLkhqVsIKeTzg7uwccMW+znh6c1 N4OibUG8c7S7ABKHptqoii130O8drjl+G3bhBqdig62p9rWvkg9QH49wbB9JIn35 +iueGXZ+imbN7+vof1mQoIRWHVqWHdqUJyXjjwJmH4SlZSgdcJYkfovFsGDjsai4 /7QSNfsw7fU6MFyKNrw1VXjvpbCKLs9wxMhWC/k/YpXrvGXu/HQSjp5fYowLGuw3 fOdkUU0fJEtSc6RIWQ8L7BbCAXXPAN0cRHVKwtF+//PSSfdN8gsAEQEAAYkCRAQY AQoADwUCUcTJXQIbLgUJB4YfgAEpCRCTCTXwnhMwKsBdIAQZAQoABgUCUcTJXQAK CRBXs57K5q+3pqHdB/9qcvmYIZMtNszck7EVOSBhldNX5nzqqfPV/F0/U/wTi5gl GhmtuVUVUxEma8c+sUGF7mTU0zwA16h9/ynvJ2rbBEydxXFirIvBZ+xfeVr86jYz iOf5k6chhQ2uVRpO0G0JYmlgeLDE8url1XoxVqztvOmX/z99cErYv+OWSYfsfPrh Uw+QxaXnlPclOdYPFjWHmNpgQzzEUHv2mDTHLJit048MG+7KCJbbEZ02ZKyA4rPO PClXx8eRClZP1xkelyrQOZ+NCgWBbEsoKtb71VyLiuRs6U/jstHf2KHPIBmpvKac oout9JcLKNSH12XwH1cKizy/YeUbiATDt4776q0ZO5sH/3FLFRPGvUeljp6ioOEr H37yNlCK3jThEF4RQfX1ot5eaOkEfmbxEClmwwRHP2lc6oEhAyKMG67FrIwZrSSP 1DcUtEWkQH+3thGZM8l3akZwC+cizY6Ns+abFdehwCD9ghKD88+icJuYHu0s929a RzVh1TPTzG8wQrMn7EF2xbAbEHAt+gPo2KW2m1HYImBU5ArR0pQ0LyFgDBg0t4Vr MI4v9v6uAVY2Y9ip8XSwYAh8FzyMEIEv0KmOcCczdrhMgspAVtZTfsMhKaxKocDG FrPUjALp4N9Qf/zlYFZRKHeGdkjQwSMWEVq+BQvbFfOZfv4/GPDnb6AbW0MKb7nH qas= =zbVL -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
I don't understand the mention of judicial review - please could you elaborate a little? Thanks
I mean, traditionally law enforcement officials require a warrant from a judge in order to tap into private communications of citizens. This means they require various things, like evidence-based suspicion, and reason to believe that such surveillance will aid in the prevention or conviction of specific crime. With this new flavour, people are surveilled en masse, without oversight, warrant, or even suspicion — just because they can be. The judicial oversight, which is lacking in the case of GCHQ, acts as a check and balance on the powers and whims of law-enforcement, and I think that's a good thing.