GCHQ is to give MPs full details of its links to controversial US internet spying programme



NSA's Prism program launched in 2007 to mine personal data from 9 firms



Includes Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Skype, AOL

GCHQ has secret deal with America's NSA to share intelligence



Piles pressure on David Cameron as he attends top-secret Bilderberg meet



Anonymous leak US government documents, including various from Prism



Details of data collection were outlined in classified 41-slide PowerPoint presentation that was leaked by intelligence officer

GCHQ will provide a parliamentary committee full details of links with Prism

MPs from an intelligence watchdog will seek reassurances from Washington on a visit next week



The Government's eavesdropping agency GCHQ is to give a parliamentary committee full details of its links to a controversial US internet monitoring programme, it has been revealed.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) will receive a report on claims that it received material through the secret Prism scheme 'very shortly', according to chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind.



He said: 'The ISC is aware of the allegations surrounding data obtained by GCHQ via the US Prism programme.



'The ISC will be receiving a full report from GCHQ very shortly and will decide what further action needs to be taken as soon as it receives that information.'

MPs from the ISC will also seek reassurances from Washington that US spies are not snooping on the emails of British webs users on a trip to the US next week.



Sinister powers: Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, based in Cheltenham, Gloucs., is largely responsible for monitoring the phone calls and emails of terror suspects

The ISC is going on a week long tour of the US and will meet senior figures from US intelligence agencies.



The development comes after it was claimed yesterday that British spies had access to the Prism system.



Secret documents published yesterday suggest the US National Security Agency (NSA) has direct access to data held by internet giants including Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube, Skype and Apple.

The documents – which appear to be slides from a 41-page training presentation for intelligence agents – suggest the agency can access email, photographs, social network information, chat records and other ‘stored data’ held by the companies, as part of its ‘Prism’ project.

They also suggest the British government’s listening centre, GCHQ, has had access to the system since at least June 2010.



The project generated nearly 200 intelligence reports in the 12 months to May 2012, a 137 per cent increase on the previous year.



It is unclear whether other agencies, such as MI5 and MI6, were also involved, meaning the true extent of the snooping could be higher.

A GCHQ spokesman said ‘we do not comment on intelligence matters’, but added: ‘Our work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework.’

Privacy campaigners warned that the revelations suggested the creation of a ‘Snooper’s Charter by the back door’.



They come after a proposed plan to pay internet companies to collate user data from UK computers was dropped only last month in the face of opposition from Tory backbenchers and Liberal Democrats.

Pressure: The disclosure will pile pressure on David Cameron to explain how much he knew about the intrusion as he prepares to attend the secretive Bilderberg conference today, a closed-door meeting that conspiracy theorists already believe is where leaders plot world domination

I know what you're doing this summer: The Obama administration defended the order on Thursday, calling it 'a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats'

'Reprehensible': Director of National Intelligence James Clapper branded the program 'reprehensible' and said it risks Americans' security

Last night Labour called on David Cameron to come clean to MPs on the extent of Britain’s role.



Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'It is important for the UK intelligence community to be able to gather information from abroad including from the United States, particularly in the vital counter-terror work they do.



'However, there also have to be legal safeguards in place, including proper protection for British citizens' privacy, proper oversight and checks and balances to make sure intelligence powers are not misused.



'And the public need confidence that their privacy is being properly respected and protected.



'That is why the Prime Minister, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, and all the intelligence agencies should provide full information to the Intelligence and Security Committee as swiftly as possible, and the ISC should have full support to pursue this and report.'

The Guardian said it obtained the slides from a whistleblowing intelligence officer worried about invasions of privacy.

According to the newspaper, the Prism programme appeared to allow GCHQ to circumvent the formal legal process required to obtain personal material, such as emails, photographs and videos, from internet companies based outside the UK.



Reports by the paper and The Washington Post suggested the FBI and the NSA can tap directly into the central servers of nine leading internet companies.



But a number of them, including Google, Apple, Yahoo and Facebook denied the government had ‘direct access’ to their servers.

Microsoft said it does not voluntarily participate in any government data collection and only complies ‘with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers’.

Yet one slide appears to be a timeline of when the companies began to participate in Prism, starting with Microsoft in September 2007 and ending with Apple in October 2012.

According to the reports, Prism was established under President Bush in 2007 and has grown ‘exponentially’ under President Obama.

Bombshell: NSA and FBI have been extracting audio, video, photos, e-mails, documents and other data from Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Skype, AOL and PalTalk

Key source: PRISM has been described by NSA officials 'as the most prolific contributor to the president's Daily Brief,' providing analysts with a wealth of 'raw material'

Classified: The particulars of the PRISM data-mining program have been outlined in a top-secret PowerPoint presentation for senior intelligence analysts, which ended up being leaked

Participants: This graph shows when each of the nine tech companies joined PRISM, with Apple being the latest addition in October 2012

Spying: The NSA has been getting millions of phone records from Verizon on a daily basis for months without any justification for the order, that was only revealed today

Plundered: The NSA and FBI have been pulling personal data directly from the mainframes of top US tech giants, including YouTube, Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Verizon for the past six years

The Director of US National Intelligence said that the law ensures that only ‘non-US persons outside the US are targeted’, raising the likelihood that Britons are among those captured in its net.

Emma Carr, of Big Brother Watch, said: ‘We already have laws which allow law enforcement officials to request information about British citizens using American services.

‘If these laws are being circumvented by using these NSA spying arrangements then that would be a very serious issue.’

Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: 'These reports suggest a breach of trust on the grandest scale with the US Government, Internet Service Providers and our own UK intelligence community showing contempt for privacy, legality and democracy itself.



'Don't we still believe that spies should be accountable to the public they serve and protect?



'This is the kind of arrogance behind the attempted "snoopers' charter". Have those who failed to persuade in the Parliament chamber decided to smuggle blanket surveillance in through the back door?'



Revelations about the snooping programme follow separate reports about the NSA being allowed to collect all telephone user data from Verizon, one of the largest telephone firms in the US, for three months.