Have you ever wondered if the UK's intelligence agency, GCHQ, has been interfering in your life? If so, you can find out today, thanks to an online campaign launched by Privacy International (PI). PI's campaign is apparently aimed at making life very difficult for some people..
The Privacy Protection Agency has created a website where you can provide your personal information (your name, email address, IP address, MAC address, etc.) to submit an application to the Investigation Powers Tribunal (IPT).
The IPT oversees the security services, and asks them to confirm whether your personal details are included in a huge database of information held by the UK's security services.
According to Privacy International, the court has a legal obligation to inform you whether these details are included in the intelligence services' databases.
The aim seems broadly to be to demonstrate that GCHQ's dragnet does not only include terrorists who are subject to government espionage.
There are two caveats: one, by filing the lawsuit that the PI will conduct on your behalf, you should be prepared to engage in a lengthy process, and second, even if you are not on any list, you are handing over your information to the security services yourself.
However, Privacy International's move will burden all relevant and involved services with a lot of bureaucratic work, indicating that data collection should not be done so recklessly and without any limits.
https://privacyinternational.org/illegalspying
