MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to The Guardian newspaper, the authorities used the government’s Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which could be applied only in criminal cases, to spy on ordinary citizens.
Separate surveillance operations were reportedly revealed in a huge freedom of information exercise carried out by the Liberal Democrats.
In July, media reported about ongoing non-justifiable secret surveillance on UK top officials.
In November, the UK parliament adopted the Investigatory Powers Bill, which forced Internet companies to retain user details for 12 months and raised serious concerns about privacy from civil liberty groups.
Apart from data retention, the new surveillance law enables the UK security services and police to hack into phones and computers as well as gives police a new power to view call and web records of journalists.
