How bad is GCHQ's totalitarian surveillance? This comment in the Guardian from a UK intelligence source says it all:
The source claimed that even the conventional warrant system has been distorted – whereas police used to ask for a warrant before intercepting a target's communications, they will now ask GCHQ to intercept the target's communications and then use that information to seek a warrant.
The UK's spies are being used to do an end-run around laws properly restricting police surveillance. And if the GCSB gets the new powers it wants, this will undoubtedly happen here too.
