The Green fight to protect digital rights continues with a procedural hearing in the legal case brought by London Assembly Member Baroness Jenny Jones and Caroline Lucas MP.
Yesterday’s hearing at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), is the first since the two Green Parliamentarians began legal proceedings in May this year following email monitoring revelations by Edward Snowdon.
Lawyers for the two Green politicians argue that there is a strong likelihood that both Lucas and Jones’ communications are being still intercepted as part of the “Tempora programme” exposed by the whistle-blower.
The Tempora programme, operated primarily by GCHQ, monitors and collates, on a blanket basis, the full range of electronic communications data produced in, or transiting through, the United Kingdom and numerous other countries. The communications it intercepts includes emails and other internet traffic as well as telephone calls.
Th lawyers claim that the surveillance of the Parliamentarians’ communications was unlawful, being in breach of the Doctrine implemented by the then Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, in 1966 which provides that no Member of Parliament’s telephone shall be tapped (updated in 1997 to include email).
“Greens are strong advocates for the protection of digital rights” London’s Green MEP Jean Lambert, left, with Green MEP for the South East Keith Taylor during their successful campaign against ACTA
Speaking about the importance of the issue of digital rights to the Green Party, London’s Green MEP commented:
“Greens are strong advocates for the protection of digital rights from vested commercial interests, and the safeguarding of our data and privacy from mass e-surveillance, as exposed by Edward Snowden’s revelations.
“Green MEPs led the initiative within the European Parliament which successfully stopped ACTA, the controversial international “anti-counterfeiting trade agreement” which would have undermined digital freedoms. We are also one of the only parties opposing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which includes e-commerce provisions that could undermine the protection of EU citizens’ private data.”
On the first day of the hearing, tribunal President Mr Justice Burton judged that the proceedings should not be carried out in secret – a rare move opposed by the intelligence agencies – to avoid criticism that the IPT operated in a “Kafkaesque fashion”. The government’s lawyers say they will neither confirm nor deny the existence of the interception programmes that were disclosed by Snowden.
Baroness Jones said:
“It is extremely important that when complaints such as mine are made to the Tribunal, the evidence and legal arguments involved, as far as possible, are heard and considered in public. The Tribunal must adopt a presumption of openness and transparency and only when issues of real national security arise, should an exemption to this presumption be considered.
“The Wilson Doctrine recognises a fundamental principle of our democracy; that the country’s intelligence agencies should not bug or spy on any Members of Parliament.
“This Doctrine is crucial to the work of all those sitting in both our Houses of Parliament and I hope the government will now take the summer to consider its position carefully and confirm in September that it intends to uphold this important right which protects parliamentary correspondence.”
The hearing has now been adjourned until October 2014.