UK surveillance law still full of holes, watchdog warns

The UK's Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (IPA) has several regulatory gaps that must be plugged in future legislative reforms, according to Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPC) Sir Brian Leveson.

In his annual report published this week, the watchdog said the Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Act 2024 (IPAA) failed to plug holes left behind by the original legislation, adding that any future reforms should be enacted by the Home Office.

For example, privileged information shared by foreign partners is currently not overseen by the IPC. It's common practice for national intelligence agencies, such as GCHQ, to receive reports from allies overseas, including from those in the Five Eyes alliance.

These reports often contain the kind of privileged information that, in the UK, would require permission from a judicial commissioner, under the IPA, to acquire. Given that this information is handed to intelligence agencies without such authorization, and stored for later use ...