UK spy boss warns of online terror risk
Thursday, 17 September 2015
Advances in technology are allowing terrorists to communicate "out of the reach of authorities" the head of MI5, Andrew Parker has said.
In the first live interview by a serving MI5 boss he told Today that security services could potentially no longer obtain crucial information.
He said internet companies had an "ethical responsibility" to alert agencies to potential threats.
But MI5 was not about "browsing the lives" of the public, he added.
Ministers are currently preparing legislation on the powers for carrying out electronic surveillance.
But Parker said what should be included in new legislation was a matter "for parliament to decide".
"It is completely for ministers to propose, and parliament to decide. It's a fundamental point about what MI5 is. It's for us to follow what's set by parliament, and that's what we do."
He said online data encryption was creating a situation where the police and intelligence agencies "can no longer obtain under proper legal warrant the communication of people they believe to be terrorists".
He said it was a "very serious" issue adding: "It's in nobody's interests that terrorists should be able to plot and communicate out of the reach of authorities," according to BBC.
--Shuvo--