2015 first sign that all was not right with our Glorious Leader, Queen @NicolaSturgeon .
Documents revealing Scottish police had access to a GCHQ spy programme which collects information on individuals’ communications, use of social media and movements have been passed on to
The Ferret.

The documents, revealing the existence of GCHQ’s project MILKWHITE, come from US whistleblower and former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden and also reveal the existence of a surveillance unit – the Scottish Recording Centre (SRC) – which
was granted access to the project.

The SRC had access to metadata regarding phone calls as well as emails. GCHQ defines metadata widely and it includes, among other things, passwords and website browsing histories.

MILKWHITE also retained information on individuals’ use
of phone apps including WhatsApp, Viber and Jabber.

Established without any safeguards on civil liberties, MILKWHITE gave the authorities powers which the UK government now seeks to put on a statutory footing through the Investigatory Powers Bill, which was passed by 444
votes to 69 in the House of Commons.

If the House of Lords passes the bill, also known as the Snoopers’ Charter.

It is unknown whether MILKWHITE is still in operation, however it was active between September 2009 and was still running in 2014
The project allowed police to sift through masses of metadata in order to find “selectors” for targets. These included usernames and/or IP addresses.

The documents were passed to The Intercept by Mr Snowden, who lives in exile in Russia following his 2013 revelations about
the NSA’s mass spying programmes.

Speaking to Scottish Legal News, Dr Nick McKerrell, lecturer in law at Glasgow Caledonian University, called the revelations an “outrage”.

He added: “Day after day there are new revelations about two aspects of the state which should
cause concern to Scottish citizens.

“One is the blanket surveillance of people and their communications which these papers show has been going on for as long as seven years. The right to privacy is not just an empty phrase here.

“Secondly it shows the continued lack of
accountability of Police Scotland - although this monitoring predates the formation of the single force it has continued under their auspices.

“Further, the lack of proper scrutiny means the Scottish government can dismiss it as an operational matter and Scottish people will
have no remedy or route to raise their concerns at this outrage.”

Nicola Sturgeon refused to have public or any other inquiry into the spying. Not only were SNP MSP/MPs spied on but Yes groups and individual yessers too.
2015 was the year that alarm bells began ringing, for me.
''However, the Snowden documents about MILKWHITE indicate that Scotland’s police forces — through the Recording Centre — have been accessing bulk data for years, presumably with sanction from top Scottish government ministers.''
June 2016 - “In the House of Commons last week, [former Scottish first minister] Alex Salmond voted with the Liberal Democrats against Tory moves that would see our internet histories recorded and made available to the intelligence services,”

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