MI5 makes 1,061 bugging errors


SA Mathieson writes in Guardian Professional about the reports of the Interception and Intelligence Services commissioners:

Overall, Kennedy reported that public authorities submitted 552,550 requests for communications data during 2010, and the number is increasing by about 5% a year. He could not give a precise reason for the growth, but said “it is indicative of the growth in communications technology,” with “certain police forces” increasing their use.

Nearly two-thirds of requests for communications data, about communications rather than contents, were for subscriber data. This was usually part of an attempt to find the owner of a mobile phone. About a quarter of requests were for traffic data.

Sir Peter Gibson, the intelligence services commissioner, also published his annual report. Having been granted powers under the Identity Cards Act to monitor use of the National Identity Register by intelligence services, he reported that he is “not aware of any acquisition, storage and use made” by such organisations before the register was destroyed earlier this year.

He collected statistics on the number of warrants and authorisations issued to the security and intelligence agencies or armed forces, but these have only been included in a confidential annex. He defended the secrecy by saying publication would “assist those unfriendly to the UK were they able to know the extent of the work” of those agencies.