Lorna Woods, Professor of Internet Law, University of Essex
This chamber judgment is the latest in a line of cases that deal with secret surveillance, a topic which seems to be appearing increasingly frequently in a post-Snowden world. This judgment is substantial (over 200 pages in length) and deals with three cases challenging the UK’s now mainly repealed Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) as regards to interception of communications in bulk, the acquisition of communications data and the sharing of intercepted communications and communications data between the UK and the United States of America: Big Brother Watch (app no. 58170/13), Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Alice Ross (app no. 62322/14) and 10 Human Rights Organisations (app. no. 24960/15). It follows in the steps of the Liberty case (app no. 58243/00) against the previous regime and, given the similarity between some aspects of RIPA and the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA), might have relevance for our understanding of that act too. In addition to questions about Article 8, the judgment also deals with the impact of surveillance on freedom of speech under Article 10 ECHR.
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