UK Government human rights watchdog refuses to hold telcos accountable for role in GCHQ mass surveillance

Published on 27 October 2014 in Press releases
Countries: United Kingdom
Campaigns: Eyes Wide Open
Related legal action: OECD complaint against BT, Verizon Enterprise, Vodafone Cable, Viatel, Level 3, and Interoute

A complaint by Privacy International against the six undersea fibre optic cable companies, including BT and Vodafone, that facilitate GCHQ’s mass surveillance practices has been rejected by the UK agency charged with ensuring corporate compliance with human rights obligations, after the companies refused to reveal the extent of their cooperation with GCHQ.

Despite recognising the merits of our complaint the OECD National Contact Point refused to further scrutinise the telecommunications companies, described as “intercept partners” in internal GCHQ documents. The NCP claims that reports based on documents provided by Edward Snowden and published by the Guardian and Suddeutsche Zeitung do not substantiate a sufficient link between the companies and mass surveillance. The NCP also noted that a number of the companies named in the complaint refuted the allegations, with one company asserting that it considered the allegations “false and without foundation in their entirety.”

Privacy International’s complaint asserted that telecommunications companies BT, Verizon, Vodafone, Level 3, Viatel and Interoute, each named in a document leaked by Edward Snowden and revealed by the Suddeutsche Zeitung, had facilitated mass surveillance by allowing British intelligence services to tap into the fibre optic cables that the companies own and manage. The documents provided reveal that BT was codenamed "Remedy", Verizon Business "Dacron", and Vodafone Cable was "Gerontic" as part of GCHQ's Mastering the Internet programme.

[…]

Continua qui: https://www.privacyinternational.org/news/press-releases/uk-government-human-rights-watchdog-refuses-to-hold-telcos-accountable-for-role