This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22824379

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
GCHQ Prism spying claims: Agency to report 'shortly' GCHQ Prism spying claims: Agency to report 'shortly'
(about 9 hours later)
GCHQ is to give a report within days to Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee on the listening agency's links to a secret US spy programme. Eavesdropping centre GCHQ will report to MPs within days over claims it secretly gathered intelligence from the world's largest internet companies.
This follows claims, in the Guardian, that GCHQ has been covertly gathering data from top US internet firms via America's Prism surveillance programme. The Guardian claims the UK's listening post accessed data on the internet activity of Britons obtained by a US spying programme called Prism.
Committee (ISC) chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind expects the report by Monday. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee Committee (ISC) expects the report by Monday.
He said he had been "encouraged" by GCHQ's statement that it operated to a "strict legal and policy framework". GCHQ said in a statement it operated to "a strict legal and policy framework".
US spies have been accused of tapping into servers of nine US internet giants including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google in a giant anti-terror sweep. All deny giving government agents access to servers.
The Guardian says it has obtained documents showing that Britain's secret listening post had access to the Prism system, set up by America's National Security Agency (NSA), since at least June 2010.The Guardian says it has obtained documents showing that Britain's secret listening post had access to the Prism system, set up by America's National Security Agency (NSA), since at least June 2010.
The newspaper said that the Prism programme appeared to allow the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to circumvent the formal legal process required to obtain personal material, such as emails, photographs and videos, from internet companies based outside the UK.The newspaper said that the Prism programme appeared to allow the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to circumvent the formal legal process required to obtain personal material, such as emails, photographs and videos, from internet companies based outside the UK.
Sir Malcolm said: "The ISC is aware of the allegations surrounding data obtained by GCHQ via the US Prism programme. ISC chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind said the parliamentary committee would be "receiving a full report from GCHQ very shortly and will decide what further action needs to be taken as soon as it receives that information".
"The ISC will be receiving a full report from GCHQ very shortly and will decide what further action needs to be taken as soon as it receives that information." ISC members will discuss the claims with US security officials during a planned visit to Washington next week.
Responding to the Guardian report on Friday, Commons Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz said it "seems to be the snooper's charter by the back door". Ministers are now under pressure to explain how much they knew of Prism.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper had called on the prime minister to ask ISC to investigate "the UK's relationship with the Prism programme, the nature of intelligence being gathered, the extent of UK oversight by ministers and others, and the level of safeguards and compliance with the law". Labour's Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: "The most chilling aspect is that ordinary American citizens and potentially British citizens too were apparently unaware that their phone and online interactions could be watched.
"It is important for the UK intelligence community to be able to gather information from abroad including from the United States particularly in the vital counter terror work they do," she said. "However there also have to be legal safeguards." "This seems to be the snoopers's charter by the back door."
US spies have been accused of tapping into servers of nine US internet giants including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google in a giant anti-terror sweep. All deny giving government agents access to servers. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has called on Prime Minister David Cameron to launch an investigation into "the UK's relationship with the Prism programme, the nature of intelligence being gathered, the extent of UK oversight by ministers and others, and the level of safeguards and compliance with the law".
The BBC has learned that Twitter was invited to join the Prism programme last year, but rejected the approach from US authorities. US President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has defended the Prism monitoring programme, saying it was closely overseen by Congress and the courts and that his administration had struck "the right balance" between security and privacy.
ISC members make their routine annual visit to Washington next week to meet senior figures in the NSA and Central Intelligence Agency. Richard Aldrich, a professor of international security at the University of Warwick, said he expected Mr Cameron to say "rather as President Obama has said, that you can't have your cake and eat it - you can't have 100% privacy and 100% security".
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said the ISC hoped to receive the report from GCHQ before their departure or at the British embassy on arrival. "What they're not going to say is, actually, we're very rapidly accelerating to a point where we're going to be in a transparent society," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"That will obviously inform their judgements and inform their questions when they speak to senior security and intelligence officials in Washington at the beginning of next week," our correspondent said. "Privacy is effectively a 20th century concept like the steam engine."
'Necessary and proportionate' 'Deeply concerning'
President Barack Obama has defended the Prism monitoring programme, saying it was closely overseen by Congress and the courts and that his administration had struck "the right balance" between security and privacy.
A GCHQ statement did not deny the Guardian's story.
A spokesman for the agency, based in Cheltenham, said: "Our work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the secretary of state, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Intelligence and Security Committee."A spokesman for the agency, based in Cheltenham, said: "Our work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the secretary of state, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Intelligence and Security Committee."
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, said the revelations were "deeply concerning".Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, said the revelations were "deeply concerning".
"Unwarranted government surveillance is an intrusion on basic human rights that threatens the very foundations of a democratic society. "Unwarranted government surveillance is an intrusion on basic human rights that threatens the very foundations of a democratic society." he said.
"I call on all web users to demand better legal protection and due process safeguards for the privacy of their online communications, including their right to be informed when someone requests or stores their data." Meanwhile, the BBC has learned that Twitter was invited to join the Prism programme last year but rejected the approach from US authorities.