It's just putting a little meat on the bones of what we already knew, or at least suspected. Don't worry, though, the Guardian is a responsible newspaper and is unlikely to publish anything that would put lives at risk, and rightly so.
Later in the report, a GCHQ memo notes that telcos "feared damage to their brands" if the extent of their over-cooperation was revealed. You know how they could have dealt with that? By not going so far above and beyond the law. But, once again, it seems like the telcos have been incredibly willing to screw over their own customers' privacy at every opportunity.


That is what really concerns them. MI5, MI6 and GCHQ can always squirm out of "dirty deeds" using such reasons as "we need to protect our overseas operatives" but telecom companies have no such defense. Their only "defense" is that they were asked to do it by a government agency. That drops the government agency right into the shit because;
  • They had no right to demand such action from the telecoms companies.
  • They did not have a legitimate reason that would stand up to public scrutiny.
  • They could not justify their actions in law.

Just because a government agency asks a communications company to do something, doesn't mean they have to do it. A court order would be required to force a company to take action contrary to customer privacy policy and that would probably only happen on a one-off ad hock basis. As a side note, has anyone else noticed the number of online services that are "changing" their privacy policies to allow them more flexibility in the use of our information?

The UK dirty-tricks brigade are every bit as bad as the US or MOSSAD. And I don't mean "bad assed".