Tempora

The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) operates "Tempora"[1]
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Tempora is the codeword for a formerly-secret computer system that is used by the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). This system is used to buffer most Internet communications that are extracted from fibre-optic cables, so these can be processed and searched at a later time.[2] It was tested from 2008 and became operational in late 2011.[3]

Tempora uses intercepts on the fibre-optic cables that serve as the backbone of the Internet to gain access to large amounts of Internet users' personal data, without any individual suspicion or targeting. The intercepts are placed in the United Kingdom and on the UK military base at Ayios Nikolaos in the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. The intercepts are placed with the knowledge of companies owning either the cables or landing stations.[4][5]

The existence of Tempora was revealed by Edward Snowden, a former American intelligence contractor who leaked information about the program to former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald in May 2013 as part of his revelations of government-sponsored mass surveillance programs. Documents Snowden acquired showed that data collected by the Tempora program is shared with the National Security Agency of the United States.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference bump was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ GCHQ report on the technical abilities of the powerful spying program TEMPORA, which allows for a "full take", released by Der Spiegel on 18 June 2014
  3. ^ Shubber, Kadhim. "A simple guide to GCHQ's internet surveillance program Tempora". Wired. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  4. ^ Obermaier, Frederik (5 November 2013). "NSA und GCHQ auf Zypern - Insel der Spione". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  5. ^ Ball, James (25 October 2013). "Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  6. ^ Ewen MacAskill; Julian Borger; Nick Hopkins; Nick Davies; James Ball (21 June 2013). "GCHQ taps fibre-optic cables for secret access to world's communications". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 June 2013.