Kennedy v. the United Kingdom, No. 26839/05, ECtHR (Fourth Section), 18 August 2010

Right to privacy and a private life. Secret surveillance measures on the civil population and remedies against illegitimate interference in one’s private communications.

Art. 8 ECHR

The Court observes that in order to assess, in a particular case, whether an individual can claim an interference as a result of the mere existence of legislation permitting secret surveillance measures, the Court must have regard to the availability of any remedies at the national level and the risk of secret surveillance measures being applied to him. Where there is no possibility of challenging the alleged application of secret surveillance measures at domestic level, widespread suspicion and concern among the general public that secret surveillance powers are being abused cannot be said to be unjustified, and a violation of the right to private life under article 8 of the Convention can be found.