From Facebook to porn, UK spies see all your online activity

Leaked files have given Mr Cameron some explaining to do

Leaked documents from Edward Snowden has revealed a surveillance program conducted by UK spies that snoops on every individual's online activity.

As it turns out, British spy agencies are just as guilty as America's in the whole Edward Snowden debacle. According to documents obtained by The Intercept, the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) run a program called Karma Police which spies on everyone online.

We're not kidding, either. The purpose of the surveillance program is to "build a web-browsing profile for every visible user on the Internet." This means every man, woman and child across the globe, tracking their visits to social media and news sites, searches and yes, even porn.

Some of the websites that were 'listened in on' were Yahoo, Google, Reuters, Hotmail, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, WordPress, Amazon, as well as sites operated by CNN, BBC, and the UK's Channel 4. And yes fellas, PornHub is also on the list.

On top of that, they also reportedly monitor instant messenger communications, emails, Skype calls, text messages, phone locations as well as keeping tabs on suspicious Google Search and Maps.

The program has been running for more than 5 years and the data collection has increased every year and by 2012, 50 billion metadata records were being collected every day, with plans to double the capacity. Due to the sheer amount of data collected, it's only stored for up to six months, and any suspicious persons are then dealt with by Bond and co over at MI5.

While extensive government surveillance has been well reported, these new documents paint an even more insane picture. Are you surprised at all? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Nathan George

Nathan George is a freelance journalist who has contributed to T3.com in the fields of gaming, social media, streaming services, autonomous vehicles, phones, virtual reality headsets, wireless speakers and future tech. He studied journalism at the University of the West of England and is a holder of the Bronze and Silver The Duke of Edinburgh Award.