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Ars Technica reports:
The UK government has quietly passed new legislation that exempts GCHQ, police, and other intelligence officers from prosecution for hacking into computers and mobile phones.
While major or controversial legislative changes usually go through normal parliamentary process (i.e. democratic debate) before being passed into law, in this case an amendment to the Computer Misuse Act was snuck in under the radar as secondary legislation. According to Privacy International, "It appears no regulators, commissioners responsible for overseeing the intelligence agencies, the Information Commissioner's Office, industry, NGOs or the public were notified or consulted about the proposed legislative changes... There was no public debate."
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday May 19 2015, @08:42PM
There is a clear intelligence need to control the enemy's use of the the electro-magentic spectrum. The law as passed specifically mentions GCHQ and the intelligence services as needing the ability to access and control threat systems covertly. In the UK, the police conduct very little in the way of intercept and hacking operations. However, before the new law was past, all those agencies and organisations were committing an offence in the UK whenever they conducted covert hacking operations irrespective of whether they had been tasked to conduct such operations by the government of the day on behalf of its citizens. The new law has recognised the need to provide protection to those conducting their lawful duties from facing a court accused of committing an offence. Note that I said 'lawful duties' - any other application of such powers remains illegal.
Again, and as you have admitted, your view is very American. We do not suffer the same excesses of the police force (although I am not claiming that such things never happen) because our legal system is entirely different, as is the way our police operate. They have only minor roles (comparatively speaking) when conducting covert intercepts of network traffic. The task is usually done by GCHQ after receiving the appropriate legal authorisation to conduct such operations in support of the civil power.
The police usually rely upon ISPs to provide the data that they use for criminal prosecutions, which always require a warrant. They do not have the technical means to conduct significant intercept operations on their own nor can they decrypt data, tap into fibre communications or whatever else might be depicted in popular TV series. The 'fishing' attempts that you are describing are not a common occurrence in the UK because the structures and authorities of the various organisations would require a significant amount of criminal collusion by multiple organisations to conduct. To be honest, if you genuinely believe that that is actually the case in the UK currently, then you are rather more paranoid than is perhaps good for you. And, should you be correct, then the USA ought to be breaking all ties the the UK immediately.