Published: 11 June 2013

LONDON - British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday that the UK's spies acted within the law, following revelations that the intelligence agencies had received data collected secretly by the US from the world's biggest internet companies.

British MPs have demanded answers from the government after the Guardian newspaper suggested the US might have handed over phone and internet data about Britons, potentially allowing spies to circumvent current legislation. The information was gathered under a secret US programme code-named Prism.

"I'm satisfied we have intelligence agencies that do a fantastically important job for this country to keep us safe, and they operate within the law," Mr Cameron said. He said it was vital that the intelligence agencies worked within a proper legal framework but said he was happy that was the case.

"They also operate within a framework (in which) they (are) open to proper scrutiny by the intelligence and security committee," he said.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has also said Britain's eavesdropping agency, known as GCHQ, had broken no laws, though he refused to confirm or deny that the UK had received the secretly collected data.

MPs have asked whether British spies might have circumvented a law that demands senior-level approval for intercepting e-mail and internet data about people in the UK, simply by asking for it from the US.

"One of the big questions that's being asked is, if British intelligence agencies want to seek to know the content of e-mails, can they get round the normal law in the UK by simply asking an American agency to provide that information?" Malcolm Rifkind, the chairman of parliament's intelligence and security committee, told BBC Radio 4.

"The law is actually quite clear: if the British intelligence agencies are seeking to know the content of e-mails about people living in the UK, then they actually have to get lawful authority," he said. "Normally, that means ministerial authority, and that applies equally."

- Reuters

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