BIG BROTHER WATCH AND OTHERS V. THE UNITED KINGDOM. App. Nos. 58170/13, 62322/14, 24960/15. Judgment

University of New South Wales Professor Zalnieruiute contends that the European Court of Human Right’s decision in Big Brother Watch represents a “highly permissive approach to government surveillance” despite the contest program being found to be in violation of the Convention on procedural grounds. Argues that the Court has endorsed mass-surveillance as acceptable in principle, by holding that that bulk interception was not per se disproportionate, and that judicial authorization was not a requisite for the legality of bulk surveillance, which “is of vital importance to Contracting States in identifying threats to their national security” (noting only one dissent).