Make me your Homepage
    left corner left corner
    China Daily Website

    UK: eavesdropping is legal, defends US spy links

    Updated: 2013-06-13 12:34
    (Agencies)

    LONDON - Britain said eavesdropping by its GCHQ security agency was legal and no threat to privacy but would not confirm or deny reports it received data from a clandestine US intelligence program.

    British and US newspapers have suggested that the US National Security Agency handed over information on Britons harvested by a secret program called PRISM.

    In his first remarks on the subject, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the two countries did share intelligence but that GCHQ's work was governed by a very strong legal framework.

    "The idea that in GCHQ people are sitting around working out how to circumvent a UK law with another agency in another country is fanciful," Hague told BBC TV on Sunday.

    "It is nonsense".

    Promising he would give a statement on the subject to the lower house of Britain's parliament on Monday, Hague said there was no threat to privacy or people's civil liberties.

    He was limited in what he could disclose, he said.

    "Of course we share a lot of information with the United States," he said, adding that the two countries enjoyed "an exceptional intelligence sharing relationship".

    "But if information arrives in the UK from the US it's governed by our laws."

    Britain's two-party coalition government is under pressure to reveal more details of how Britain and the United States share intelligence after the reports, based on a leak, suggested such cooperation ran much deeper than was previously known.

    "SNOOPERS' CHARTER BY THE BACK DOOR"

    Critics said the collaboration amounted to a "snoopers' charter by the back door", accusing the security services of having much greater access to Britons' phone and electronic communications than they are allowed to under British law thanks to the clandestine US program.

    But Hague said such fears were misplaced.

    "Intelligence gathering in this country, by the UK, is governed by a very strong legal framework so that we get the balance right between the liberties and privacy of people and the security of the country."

    Any intelligence gathering was "authorised, necessary, proportionate and targeted," he added, saying he personally authorised GCHQ intercepts "most days of the week".

    The fuss coincides with a public debate in Britain about giving the security services more powers to eavesdrop after a British soldier was brutally killed in London last month in an incident the government described as a "terrorist" attack. ? ? ?

    Douglas Alexander, the opposition Labour party's spokesman for foreign affairs, welcomed Hague's promise to address parliament on the subject, but said he needed to be more open.

    "I will be asking the Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons tomorrow to clarify the role of his Department in overseeing those legal frameworks," Alexander said in a statement.

    "It is vital that the Government now reassures people who are rightly concerned about these reports."

    Britain's parliamentary intelligence and security committee has demanded a report from GCHQ on the subject. By coincidence, its members are due in Washington on Monday to conduct talks with lawmakers and officials in the US intelligence community.

    Hague said most Britons had nothing to fear.

    "If you are a law-abiding citizen of this country ... you'll never be aware of all the things those (intelligence) agencies are doing to stop your identity being stolen or to stop a terrorist blowing you up tomorrow," he said.

    "But if you are a would-be terrorist or the centre of a criminal network or a foreign intelligence agency trying to spy on Britain you should be worried because that is what we work on and we are on the whole quite good at it."

     
    Hot Topics
    Scholars from Beijing and Moscow called for emerging economies to make their voice heard more at the G20 summit, as they exchanged views in a telephone conversation.
    ...
    ...
    a中文字幕1区| 中文字幕日韩三级片| 精品无码成人片一区二区98| 国产精品无码免费播放| 国精品无码一区二区三区在线蜜臀| 中文字幕亚洲男人的天堂网络| 亚洲精品色午夜无码专区日韩| 日本中文字幕网站| 中文字幕无码免费久久| 国产成人午夜无码电影在线观看| 无码人妻丰满熟妇区BBBBXXXX| 中文字幕精品亚洲无线码二区| 蜜臀av无码人妻精品| 日韩精品无码一本二本三本| 亚洲日韩精品A∨片无码 | 国产亚洲?V无码?V男人的天堂| 亚洲精品色午夜无码专区日韩 | 国产aⅴ无码专区亚洲av麻豆| 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕一区 | 最近中文字幕mv免费高清在线| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码APP| 人妻一区二区三区无码精品一区| 精品国产a∨无码一区二区三区| 日韩AV片无码一区二区不卡电影 | 国产精品无码国模私拍视频| 日韩精品无码一本二本三本| 无码国产精品一区二区免费vr | 免费无码专区毛片高潮喷水| 国产亚洲3p无码一区二区| 国产午夜无码精品免费看动漫| 无码国产精品一区二区免费模式| 国产成人无码AV一区二区| 亚洲日韩av无码| 精品国产a∨无码一区二区三区| 日日麻批免费40分钟无码| 黄A无码片内射无码视频| 国产免费无码AV片在线观看不卡| 精品久久久无码中文字幕| 天堂无码在线观看| 日韩中文字幕免费视频| 亚洲国产午夜中文字幕精品黄网站 |