Thread by @BigBrotherWatch

⚠️TOMORROW⚠️

@ECHR_CEDH will deliver its final judgment on the UK intelligence service's bulk interception of communications, disclosed by @Snowden in 2013.

We brought the challenge alongside @OpenRightsGroup | @Amnesty | @privacyint | @libertyHQ | +other trusted rights groups.

Disclosures by @Snowden revealed that GCHQ was conducting “population-scale” interception, capturing the communications of millions of innocent people.

The mass spying programmes included:

❌ TEMPORA, a bulk data store of all internet traffic;

❌KARMA POLICE, a catalogue including a “web browsing profile for every visible user on the internet”;

❌Black Hole, a repository of over 1 trillion events including internet histories, email and instant messenger records, search engine queries and social media activity

+ more

In September 2018 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK’s mass interception breached the European Convention on Human Rights due to inadequate safeguards.

The landmark judgment marked the Court’s first ruling on UK mass surveillance since @Snowden’s revelations.

However, we argued that the judgment did not go far enough in declaring unlawful the mass surveillance practices, pushing the case up to the Grand Chamber.

Tomorrow is an opportunity for the Grand Chamber to deliver a definitive judgment on mass communications surveillance...

*GCHQ still neither confirms or denies these programmes exist*

🤐🤐🤐

But in court, admitted that the purpose of mass surveillance “is not to search for the communications of identified targets” but to gather bulk data and decide “who should be a target”.

🕵️🕵️🕵️

Our Director @SilkieCarlo said:

"This is the last stand in our legal challenge against the UK’s secret mass surveillance practices, revealed by @Snowden

"The rights of millions of citizens to be free from unwarranted state spying hang in the balance. /1

"The outcome of this challenge is critical and will not only affect Brits but will set a precedent across Europe.

"The stakes are incredibly high and the Grand Chamber now has a vital opportunity to protect the future of the right to privacy in Europe." /2

News here tomorrow!🤞