The independence problem¶

An investigation into a surveillance apparatus that is itself under surveillance by that apparatus has a structural problem the MCLU wishes to name clearly.

The undisclosed recipient may know the current state and direction of this investigation, which individuals have spoken to us, what questions we have been asking, and where we have been looking. They knew this, if they knew it at all, before we were in a position to know that they knew it. The MCLU finds the asymmetry uncomfortable and considers transparency the one tool available that the apparatus cannot straightforwardly repurpose.

The approaches we have received¶

During this investigation the MCLU received two separate approaches from intermediaries suggesting a more measured characterisation of events might be in everyone’s interests. Both employed similar framing. Both arrived before we had published the specific findings the framings appeared designed to address. The MCLU is not speculating about whether they were coordinated. We are noting that they occurred, because the record should reflect it, and because the record reflecting it is one of the few responses available to us that costs the MCLU less than it costs the other party.

We have a procedure for approaches of this kind. It involves a form. The form has not produced results, but it has produced documentation, which is the next best thing.