Documents leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowdensay that GCHQ, the British spy agency, is secretly operating a program called Karma Police to record the browsing habits of “every visible user on the Internet.”
The new allegations have been released by The Intercept, which said the classified files reveal that GCHQ has indiscriminately collected data about people’s visits to adult website YouPorn, search engines Yahoo and Google, Facebook, Reddit and news sites operated by CNN, BBC, Channel 4 News and Reuters.
It also said documents show the agency has monitored more than 200,000 people listening to online radio broadcasts and monitored people visiting the New York-based anti-secrecy website Cryptome.
“The Intercept reveals several significant aspects of the British agency’s surveillance operation for the first time, shedding light on how its analysts build profiles from people’s instant messenger conversations, emails, Skype calls, text messages, mobile phone locations and social media interactions,” the site said. “The surveillance is supported by an opaque legal regime that has allowed GCHQ to sift through vast metadata files of the private phone calls, emails and internet of Britons, Americans and anyone else, all without a court order or warrant.”
By 2010, the documents show, GCHQ was collecting 30 billion metadata records per day. By 2012, the collection had grown to 50 billion per day and work was underway to double that capacity to 100 billion. The agency was growing to become what we’re calling the world’s largest surveillance machine.
The data was allegedly stored for months and then retrospectively searched for online behavior that could be linked to terrorism and other criminal activity.
The British government has not yet commented on the report.
The news comes amid a push by the UK government to gain more powers to monitor private communications. Last week, the real-life “M” – the head of MI5 – gave the first live radio interview of a person in the position. Modern-day M, Andrew Parker, has called for more modernised surveillance powers, warning of the scale of the terrorist threat facing the nation.
Home Secretary Theresa May has meanwhile been in contact with phone and internet companies to win support for the Investigatory Powers Bill, also known as the “Snooper’s Charter”, which is expected to overhaul Britain. The legislation would force companies to store their customers’ data for reading on request.
