UK Encro chat users have a greater chance of the hack being deemed unlawful on multiple grounds. Article 31 is a great argument but the principles of UK law is… The only time an agency such as M15/6 and NCA can intercept telecommunications is in the event of national security or with the authorisation of the AG with a TI warrant. Anything short of this is deemed unlawful.  French and Dutch law allows ‘LIVE’ interception before the data reaches its final destination or in transmission. Well take time to read this. Then just wonder why Priti Patel the former Home Office secretary has distanced herself from Encro chat like it never happened. Surely this would be her greatest ever achievement, 52m cash found, millions pounds of drugs . No, she went from front bencher to Tory leader candidate to backbencher so far back her buttocks blocks the fire exit. In the case of EncroChat, the law enforcement agencies did not hack the servers themselves, but rather, they infiltrated the handsets of users. The core method involved a “man-in-the-middle” attack on the devices, rather than directly breaching the servers.

Here’s a breakdown of the process:
1.Infiltration of Handsets: In 2020, French and Dutch authorities were able to compromise the encryption system used by EncroChat on its users’ handsets. This was done by deploying malware (often referred to as a “spyware” or “trojan”) onto the phones. Once the malware was installed, it allowed law enforcement to read the messages, access data, and track the communications of users.Breach of EncroChat’s Servers: The actual servers used by EncroChat were located in France and the Netherlands, but authorities didn’t hack into those servers directly. Instead, they intercepted the data being transmitted from the users’ phones to the servers, giving them access to encrypted messages before they were sent to the server.Impact: This operation was coordinated between multiple countries, and the data collected from compromised devices led to numerous arrests across Europe. The authorities were able to gather millions of messages, which provided insights into criminal activities, including drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering.

The method of targeting the endpoints (handsets) rather than the servers themselves is important because it raises significant legal questions about privacy and due process. As seen with the Berlin court ruling, some jurisdictions may view this as an unlawful breach of privacy, questioning whether such evidence should be admissible in court.

Now get back around that big oval table @No10, get a large bowl and fill it with humble pie and slowly eat it whilst you sign off on hundreds of releases or retrials minus the venetic data packs. Then you can blame the French for not informing the method of the hack…. #slowlybutsurely