Home Department written question – answered at on 24 April 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department
(1) in what circumstances deep packet inspections undertaken by the Home Office, GCHQ, the police and the intelligence and security agencies can take place without a judicial warrant or a warrant by, or on behalf of, the Secretary of State;
(2) how many deep packet inspections undertaken by the Home Office, GCHQ, the police and the intelligence and security agencies were not covered by a judicial warrant or a warrant from the Secretary of State in each of the last five years.
holding answer
The lawful interception of the content of a communication is governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Whatever technique is used to effect interception, the limited circumstances where access to content may be granted without a warrant, include:
If the sender and recipient of a communication have given their permission.
With the consent of one party, where the surveillance by means of the interception is authorised under Part 2 of RIPA (e.g. a kidnapping case, where the police may wish to record a call to trace the kidnapper).
In terms of the frequency of use of these techniques, as with the practice of previous Governments, we do not comment on security matters.
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