Sir David Omand, the former head of GCHQ, says it is “perfectly lawful” for British intelligence to collect metadata from people’s text messages via the secret US database Dishfire.
There are serious questions to be asked after the revelations about the NSA, GCHQ and intercepted text messages. But to get the right answers, let’s be clear what we’re asking.
President Barack Obama says he will put a stop to the US intelligence agency’s mass storage of Americans’ phone records, and orders an end to indiscriminate spying on friendly foreign allies.
Vodafone’s head of privacy tells Channel 4 News the company will be “contacting the government… and challenging them” on interception of text messages.
Exclusive: America’s spy agency created a secret system, Dishfire, to intercept almost 200m text messages a day – a system used by GCHQ to exploit a loophole allowing them to spy on British citizens.
The NSA is facing reform after outrage from lawmakers in the US. But what about Britains own state-sponsored spying? Channel 4 News revisits the revelations about GCHQ and the reaction.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald tells an EU inquiry that the UK’s collection of metadata is the “primary threat” to EU privacy, as the White House publishes a review of the NSA’s surveillance.
The world’s biggest technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple, write to President Barack Obama calling for reform to US surveillance laws.
Amnesty International is taking legal action against British security services, claiming that sensitive emails and calls have been illegally intercepted.
“Do you love your country?” – Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger faces questioning from the home affairs select committee on the Snowden leaks.
Carl Bernstein says MPs should be looking at the conduct of the government over Snowden. But Tory MP Julian Smith says the Guardian has broken the law by releasing information about “our agents”.
You might think that if you live in London and email your mate in Paris, there’s no chance the message will ever go via the US. You’re wrong.
Tooman Hendrik Ilves tells Channel 4 News about his plans for a European cloud server and admits he is not worried about his emails being intercepted.
The inventor of the world wide web talks surveillance, accountability and the future of the internet with Krishnan Guru-Murthy, saying government agencies need to “renegotiate trust” with the public.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, warns that a “growing tide of surveillance and censorship” by UK and US governments poses a risk to democracy and online freedom.