ABSTRACT
This chapter contextualises the role of the intelligence and security services in surveillance practice and explores some of the challenges that policymakers face when considering the effectiveness and proportionality of digital surveillance programmes. It predominantly focuses on United States (US) digital surveillance practices for intelligence and security purposes. The debate in the US therefore focuses predominantly on section 215 and whether it is consistent with the statutory authority, whether it complies with the Constitution, and whether it strikes an appropriate balance between national security, privacy and civil liberties. How meta-data is used in section 215 programme is described in detail in January 2013 report by the US Privacy and Civil Liberties Board. The chapters concludes that claims of section 215 bulk surveillance programme preventing terrorist attacks in the US were overblown and even misleading. After the Snowden leaks, it has become clear that the power of intelligence and security agencies to control mass digital data flows should not be underestimated.
