Saifullah Sani
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The Government's intelligence-gathering agency created a mass surveillance project designed to map every single user on the internet, according to newly leaked documents.
Spy chiefs at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) allegedly set up the tracking mechanism in 2007 - which they named Karma Police in an apparent reference to the hit Radiohead song.
According to The Intercept website - which has been passed documents by NSA leaker Edward Snowden - the service was used to spy on internet radio listeners as an example of its capabilities.
A report prepared for high-ranking intelligence chiefs, published by the website, shows spies building up profiles of web users, making links between the radio stations they listen to, their news sources and the countries with which they can communicate.
Its stated aim, the documents say, is to map 'every user visible to passive SIGINT [singals intelligence] with every website they visit'.
One section sees analysts narrow down their focus to look at connections between the UK and Pakistan - including to Islamic radio services - and speculating whether it could help root out people being radicalised into home-grown terrorists.
A deep dive into one user - whom GCHQ seem to have had no suspicion was a terrorist - showed his browsing history, including social media, Islamic websites and **** site RedTube.
According to The Intercept, the programme was put into action with no explicit approval from Parliament or public scrutiny.
The probe into radio users claimed it recorded data from 224,446 different IP addresses. It is not on what kind of scale Karma Police was subsequently deployed.
As well as producing reports on the internet behaviour of individuals, spies noted that the Karma Police programme also had the ability to build up elaborate profiles of who uses a particular website.
It also suggests that the programme could be combined with 'a wealth of data-mining techniques' to uncover terrorists, organised crime rings and even spies working for hostile powers.
A GCHQ spokesman declined to comment on the programme, but insisted the agency's activities are strictly monitored.
A spokesman told MailOnline: 'It is long-standing policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters.
'Furthermore, all of GCHQ’s work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate, and that there is rigorous oversight, including from the Secretary of State, the Interception and Intelligence Services Commissioners and the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee.
'All our operational processes rigorously support this position. In addition, the UK’s interception regime is entirely compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.'
Read more: GCHQ spooks 'spied on EVERY internet user in Karma Police operation' | Daily Mail Online
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