Investigation into US, UK Surveillance Laws to be conducted by UN CT Official

 

Ben Emmerson, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Counterterrorism announced that he and a team will launch an investigation into the surveillance activities and laws of the National Security Agency of the United States and the UK’s GCHQ. According to Emmerson, the UN has many questions it needs answered and these were “too important to ignore”.

According to Emmerson, the United Nations wants to know if Edward Snowden, who revealed everything regarding the operations of the NSA and the GCHQ, is deserving of the legal protection given to whistleblowers or his efforts only weakened the US/ UK counterterrorism defense systems. Another question will be if there was parliamentary oversight regarding surveillance. The investigation will also include a series of recommendations to the UN General Assembly in 2014.

Edward Snowden’s revelation of the US and UK surveillance operations had left the world debating and had become one of the biggest controversies in modern times. The American Civil Liberties Union had called on the US administration to pipe down the surveillance activities of the country’s intelligence-gathering bodies.

Meanwhile, eight technology companies have sent an open letter to the US president Barack Obama regarding the need for sweeping reforms in surveillance laws as it will affect the trust developed by people towards new technology.