Top 10 surveillance, journalism and encryption stories of 2024

A former detective regarded as a key witness in an investigation into allegations that police unlawfully monitored the phones of journalists has accused their lawyers of seeking “payback” against law enforcement.

Former Durham Police detective Darren Ellis claimed in an email to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal that lawyers and journalists were “riding roughshod over people who ‘dare’ challenge them”.

He claimed in an email to the court that he was unwilling to give evidence to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal as the journalists’ lawyers were unwilling to accept clear explanations and were attempting to “rewrite history”.

“The applicants and their legal teams operate in a community when no-one ever holds them to account,” wrote Ellis. “In a system that simply allows them to ride roughshod over people who ‘dare’ challenge them. For too long, they shout and they brawl and intimidate others. I consider it to be a strategy to frighten and softly intimidate, and hence place a ring of steel around corrupt activity.

Government plans to update the UK’s surveillance laws could divert tech companies away from safeguarding the privacy and security of their customers towards meeting the surveillance needs of government.

The warning from technology companies came in a briefing for government ministers on the risks posed by government plans to modernise the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which governs state surveillance in the UK.

Former bosses at Copeland Borough Council blamed a 2017 ransomware attack for the authority’s failure to submit audited accounts for its final four years of business.

A council source told Computer Weekly that the council “still doesn’t know who did it and what [information] was lost” during the 2017 attack.

Proposed anti-fraud powers were intended to allow the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to monitor the bank accounts of landlords, parents, carers and partners of people receiving state benefits, including the state pension.

The wording of the bill allowed the DWP to ask banks and financial companies for any “information specified” by the DWP, raising concerns that the powers outlined on the face of the bill could be used to obtain intrusive financial information on benefit claimants.

MPs warned in an open letter that the proposals would require banks to sift through tens of millions of bank accounts to identify people in the welfare system, around 40% of the population.

The government has agreed to bring in legislation to require MI5 and GCHQ to seek independent authorisation before accessing confidential journalistic material obtained through the bulk hacking of phones or computer systems.

The Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill, which was debated in the House of Commons, requires the intelligence services to seek independent approval from the investigatory powers commissioner before accessing journalistic material or material that could identify a confidential journalistic source.

The concession follows a seven-year legal challenge brought by human rights organisation Liberty with the support of the National Union of Journalists.

It follows separate warnings from technology companies and rights organisations that proposed changes to the Investigatory Powers Act would disrupt the ability of technology companies to apply security updates and introduce end-to-end encryption.