Representatives of British intelligence agencies will appear in...

Representatives of British intelligence agencies will appear in public hearings next week to respond to a case brought by civil liberties advocates about the legality of British surveillance programs, said a Wednesday news release from Privacy International (http://bit.ly/1neJo3Y). Several groups, including Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union, collectively brought a case against British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) “to challenge the UK government’s insistence that alleged operations involving bulk interception, collection, analysis and use of people’s communications, and related intelligence-sharing arrangements with the US, are lawful,” said Privacy International. Hearings will be Monday to Friday. IPT is a court created to hear cases regarding allegations of legal violations by British intelligence agencies. It will be the first time GCHQ officials have appeared in public to discuss their surveillance programs, Privacy International said.