UK spies violated human rights with bulk intercepts, European court rules

FILE PHOTO: The building of the European Court of Human Rights is seen ahead of the start of a hearing concerning Ukraine's lawsuit against Russia regarding human rights violations in Crimea, in Strasbourg, France, September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency breached fundamental human rights by intercepting and harvesting vast amounts of communications, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday.

Revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden showed that GCHQ and the U.S. National Security Agency were sucking up vast amounts of communications from across the world, including on their own citizens.