Britain outlines new powers allowing security services to bypass encryption and hack computers
The plan is for the country's security services to bypass encryption by attacking computers
Britain's security services have acknowledged they have the worldwide capability to bypass the growing use of encryption by internet companies by attacking the computers themselves.
The Home Office release of the innocuously sounding "draft equipment interference code of practice" on Friday for the first time put into the public domain the rules and safeguards surrounding the use of computer hacking outside the UK by the security services.
The publication of the draft code follows David Cameron's speech last month in which he pledged to break into encryption and ensure there was no "safe space" for terrorists or serious criminals which could not be monitored online by the security services with a warrant.
Privacy campaigners said the powers outlined in the draft guidance detail the powers of intelligence services to sweep up content of a computer or smartphone, listen to phone calls, track locations or even switch on the microphones or cameras on mobile phones. The last would allow them to record conversations or snap pictures near the phone or laptop.
The code spells this out by saying the new rules give the security services the power to use hacked computers to "enable and facilitate surveillance activity".
Eric King of Privacy International said: "They hack their way, remove and substitute your hardware and software and enable intelligence collection by turning on your webcams and mice and shipping the data back to GCHQ [intelligence headquarters] at Cheltenham."