Edward Snowden and his disclosures have raised the level of awareness about government surveillance in the digital age. The stories that used to get unnoticed or very little press are being highlighted, and most people around the world now have a keen interest to what extent their government will go to violate their privacy, with or without consent. As reported by The Washington Post, "The British want to come to America — with wiretap orders and search warrants." The title pretty much sums up the intentions of U.S. and British negotiators looking to give MI5 access to American companies such as Facebook, Google (News - Alert) and others.
The UK government is continuing to pass surveillance laws that have further reach than the ones in the U.S. This includes the ability for ministers to issue secret surveillance orders without judicial reviews, such as The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called the FISA Court). The Snoopers Charter the country passed highlights the broad range the government has when it comes to forcing companies to make personal data available.
According to Ellen Nakashima and Andrea Peterson, who broke the story on the Washington Post, said American companies can have MI5 come to them with a wiretap order for the online conversations British suspects are having as part of counterterrorism investigations.
The negotiations, which are ongoing, will include live intercepts of its citizens when they are part of a criminal and national security investigations.
As it currently stands, it only applies to U.K. citizens. The Post went on to say, if a U.S. citizen is involved in an investigation the British government is conducting, they will have to follow the same rules as other law enforcement agencies in the country by getting the necessary warrants. And the final agreement will need action from different bodies in congress as well as review of existing laws.
The paper said the White House gave the State and Justice departments the go-ahead to start formal negotiations, with assurance from officials the agreement will protect civil liberties. The agreement goes both ways, which means U.S. officials will be able to request information for Americans that are being investigated that use companies in the U.K.
The Director of New America’s Open Technology Institute put it best when he said, "The idea that the U.S. government would allow wiretapping inside the United States by a foreign country’s national security authorities, under legal standards that are far lower than what is required of our own police, is a horrible betrayal of our constitutional principles. I can only expect that our founders, who led a revolution against the British and wrote the Constitution that this deal disregards, are rolling in their graves."