This article discusses the legal framework for justifying the use of state-surveillance systems such as PRISM and Tempora. Both of these systems were designed (by the U.S. and the U.K. respectively) to intercept packets traveling along deep-sea fiber-optic cables and buffer/compile them for later analysis. The author draws on previous surveillance court rulings and current legislation to determine what contexts the government could legally act on the information in these data packets, and briefly touches on whether these implications are normatively good ones. They continue with further discussion on how closely the U.K. government’s actions might align with the strict legal framework, citing previous cases and engaging in theoretical discussion.
