UK mass surveillance laws have been ruled illegal under EU law.
A ruling by the EU's top court Tuesday morning dealt a serious blow to the prospect of digital information being able to flow freely across the Channel after Brexit.
From January 1, the United Kingdom will lose its automatic status as a safe destination for EU data because it falls out of the EU's legal system. To keep the data taps flowing after Brexit, the U.K.'s data protection regime needs to get a stamp of approval from the European Commission in what is known as an "adequacy decision."
The chances of that happening slimmed considerably Tuesday when a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union deemed the U.K.'s bulk data collection regime illegal under EU law.
In its decision, the bloc’s highest court said that legislation like Britain’s Investigatory Powers Act — rules that give local national security agencies significant powers to harvest people’s information — fall afoul of the bloc’s fundamental rights.
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This wouldn’t be a problem if the UK was a member of the EU. Both France and Belgium fall foul of this ruling but as part of the EU the court can’t stop the data flow to them. They will have to comply at some point though.
If the UK ever regains safe status it will be because it has found a way to access the data secretly.
