The UK's version of the NSA, the GCHQ, was found by the EU Court of Human Rights to be in violation of freedom of expression and the right to privacy on a national surveillance scale.
Through a loophole, UK citizens could have metadata about their communications accessed without any court or administrative approval. UK law enforcement could request the metadata of your communications WITH NO OVERSIGHT.
Metadata is essentially who you're calling and e-mailing, where you are, what websites you're accessing. They could not see the content of your emails, for example, but knowing where you are and who you're in contact with is as important if not more important than the content.
The UK government even said that the human right to privacy only applies AFTER they've collected and processed your information, not before or during, which is an absolutely ridiculous claim. eff.org/deeplinks/2018…
