UK police, spy agencies have automatic access to call records
Britain’s mobile phone companies have made customers’ call records available to the country’s police and spy agencies through automated systems, media reports say. ● A Guardian investigation revealed on Friday that phone companies EE, Vodafone, and Three delivered customer’s data to intelligence agencies and security forces at the click of a mouse and without the involvement of any phone company staff. The British law requires mobile operators to store a year of call records of all customers. Security forces and intelligence agencies can then access this data without any warrant, using the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). RIPA is the same interception law that provides the authority for much of mass spying activities by Britain’s eavesdropping agency, the GCHQ. Britain’s Home Office has repeatedly claimed that its use of RIPA was “necessary and proportionate.”
The Guardian: EE, Vodafone and Three give police mobile call records at click of a mouse