

Snowden leaks: GCHQ 'spied on Facebook and YouTube' - f_salmon
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25927844

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DanBC
Of course they spied on YouTube and Facebook.

What's more important is whether they obeyed the law; and whether we know what
the law actually means; and if the peoe doing the oversighting know what the
law says.

One example is the debate about granting access to metadata. GCHQ was involved
in that debate and lots of reporters wrote articles. But no one noticed that
the existing laws exempt GCHQ and that they had been slurping this data all
along.

All the data collected by squeaky dolphin appears to be publicly posted
information, and used in bulk, so it's less troubling than privately posted
information or individual's identified data.

I'm not sure if the "identify and target for propaganda" programme was ever
created or was just a proposal.

The Interceptions of Communications Commissioner has reports about mistakes in
information interception, and GCHQ does report mistakes to that office. But
oversight still needs to be improved.

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f_salmon
> An earlier GCHQ operation [...] to identify users and target them with
> propaganda

I like how the UK gov thinks of "democracy".

> However, the prime minister has previously said that: "I'm satisfied that
> the work these agencies do is not only vital but is properly overseen."

Ok, we can go back to sleep then. Thanks a lot, Mr. Cameron.

