Hague: Snooping claim 'baseless'
The Foreign Secretary has dismissed claims that spy centre GCHQ used private data from US security agencies to circumvent British laws are "baseless."
World Wide Web inventor: 'US spying' 'deeply concerning'
World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee said today's revelations that the US government is "spying" on web users are "deeply concerning" as he called for greater legal protections for privacy online. He said:
"Unwarranted government surveillance is an intrusion on basic human rights that threatens the very foundations of a democratic society.
"I call on all Web users to demand better legal protection and due process safeguards for the privacy of their online communications, including their right to be informed when someone requests or stores their data.
"Over the last two decades, the Web has become an integral part of our lives. A trace of our use of it can reveal very intimate personal things. A store of this information about each person is a huge liability: whom would you trust to decide when to access it, or even to keep it secure?"
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Government insists British spies operate within the law
The Foreign Secretary said British intelligence would never use its partnership with the United States to get around UK laws.
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GCHQ: From Cromwell to the internet
GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) is one of three UK intelligence agencies that form the UK's security and intelligence system.
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US spy programme claims raises privacy fears in the UK
Facebook, Google and Microsoft have all denied claims that they cooperated with US intelligence agencies to gather data on foreign users.