Secret Global Surveillance Networks

Intelligence Sharing Between Governments and the Need for Safeguards

Secret Global Surveillance Networks’ is a major PI report, based on an unprecedented international collaborative investigation carried out by 40 NGOs in 42 countries.

Secret Global Surveillance Networks: Intelligence Sharing Between Governments and the Need for Safeguards

Intelligence sharing is one of the most pervasive, and least regulated, surveillance

practices in our modern world. It is facilitated by rapidly changing technology that

has allowed for the collection, storage and transfer of vast amounts of data within

and between countries. The privacy impacts of these developments are significant.

In this report, Privacy International offers a set of recommendations aimed at

addressing the legality and oversight gaps of intelligence sharing arrangements.

What Do We Mean by Intelligence Sharing?

Intelligence sharing is one form of intelligence cooperation between states, which

may also include operational cooperation, facilities and equipment hosting, training

and capacity building, and technical and financial support.

Governments share intelligence in various ways. Pursuant to an intelligence sharing arrangement, a government might, inter alia:

Access “raw” (i.e. unanalysed) information, such as internet traffic intercepted

in bulk from fibre optic cables by another government;

Access information stored in databases held by another government or jointly

managed with another government;

Receive the results of another government’s analysis of information, for

example, in the form of an intelligence report.

All forms of intelligence sharing raise concerns for privacy and other human rights.

But the risks posed to these rights is particularly acute where a government can

directly access information acquired or held by another government. Those risks

are amplified by the increasing scope and scale of surveillance conducted by

intelligence agencies, which has also given rise to a new scope and scale of sharing,

discussed here.

Originally published at Aneddotica Magazine — Collaborative Blog since 2012.