Privacy International To Challenge UK's GCHQ Over Net User Surveillance

[engine]

This is always the problem with invasive techniques in that someone could abuse it.

British privacy advocates introduced a legal challenge on Tuesday against one of the country’s intelligence agencies, saying the agency illegally hacked personal computers.

The case follows revelations that Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, or G.C.H.Q., developed so-called malware that allowed the government to turn on computer microphones and cameras without the owners’ consent.

The activities allowed the British intelligence agency to collect information like gender, marital status and the education level of individuals, according to Privacy International, the group filing the complaint. Privacy International To Challenge UK's GCHQ Over Net User Surveillance [bits.blogs.nytimes.com]

[graeme_p]

The activities allowed the British intelligence agency to collect information like gender, marital status and the education level of individual

The first two are a matter of public record! The third is hardly a secret either, although the records are more dispersed and less easily accessible.

Now, location tracking is a real problem so I hope this is just lazy journalism rather than a real reflection of the meat of Privacy International's case.