State snooping of MPs and lawyers really doesn't help the argument that networks should be more open, Adam Elgar

GCHQ director Robert Hannigan insisted recently that the big social networks are helping terrorists by being their "command and control" structures. This is perhaps true but when faced with the evidence that the British state is listening in to confidential conversations between the British people and their MPs and lawyers, it's hard to feel a lot of sympathy.

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“There are very good reasons why correspondence between MPs and their constituents is confidential, wherever they live and whoever they are. Any breach of the long-held rules must be treated very seriously, which is why we need to get to the bottom of this urgently,” he said. “We need to know how this was allowed to happen for so long. We need urgently reassuring that this information has not been used for inappropriate purposes, that calls between lawyers and clients aren’t also being recorded and listened into and that proper safeguards are in place to make sure there is no repeat in the future.”

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/11/prisoners-phone-calls-mps-monitored-grayling