No, it is not the title of a fiction novel. It is the name of a five-member alliance for the sharing of signals intelligence between the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
It’s origins trace back to WWII when Britain and the US were exchanging intelligence. The cooperation continued after the war and resulted in the UKUSA agreement of 1946.
Initially, the main source of signals was high-frequency radio. Later, they were replaced by satellite or microwave relay communications. Intelligence gathering developed even more with the advancements in mobile telephones and digital communication systems.
The original UKUSA agreement stipulated that information gathered would be on "foreign intelligence.’’ However, the leaks of Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) of the US has been able to retain vast amounts of data-information on ordinary citizens from the other 5-Eyes nations. According to a 2005 draft directive “[The March 1946 UKUSA agreement] has evolved to include a common understanding that both governments will not target each other's citizens/persons. However, when it is in the best interest of each nation, each reserved the right to conduct unilateral […] action against each other's citizens/persons.’’[1]
Now, the Privacy International argues that the capabilities of the 5-Eyes “include directly accessing internet companies’ data, tapping international fibre optic cables, sabotaging encryption standards and standards bodies, hacking the routers, switches and firewalls that connect the internet together.”[2]
It appears that the limitations on the information the 5-Eyes partners can gather from their partners, has changed over time. Yet, the extent to which they have been conducting surveillance to each other is not known because the agreement and the treaties that govern the alliance are secret. Such practices could very well oppose the rule of law and the human right to privacy[3].
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/02/history-of-5-eyes-explainer
[2] https://www.privacyinternational.org/projects/eyes-wide-open
[3] https://www.privacyinternational.org/sites/privacyinternational.org/files/file-downloads/eyes_wide_open_v1.pdf