The European Court of Justice has ruled that the British government’s “indiscriminate retention” of emails, is illegal. The ruling could trigger challenges against the UK’s new Investigatory Powers Act, also known as the snoopers charter, passed into law in November, allowing the sweeping collection and storage of people’s emails, text messages and internet data. RT reports: According to a long-awaited decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, only targeted interception of traffic and location data in order to combat serious crime is justified. The finding came in response to a legal challenge initially brought by the Brexit secretary, David Davis, before he got the role of helping Britain leave the bloc, and Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader. They are concerned over the legality of cyber-spies at GCHQ bulk intercepting call records and online messages. “This ruling shows it is counter-productive to push new laws through parliament without proper scrutiny,” Watson told the Independent. “At a time when we face a real and ever-present terrorist threat, the security forces may require access to personal information none of us would normally hand over. “That’s why it’s absolutely vital that proper safeguards are put in place to ensure this power [...]
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