Protecting National Security

This book contends that modern concerns surrounding the UK State’s investigation of communications (and, more recently, data), whether at rest or in transit, are in fact nothing new. It evidences how, whether using common law, the Royal Prerogative, or statutes to provide a lawful basis for a state practice traceable to at least 1324, the underlying policy rationale has always been that first publicly articulated in Cromwell’s initial Postage Act 1657, namely the protection of British ‘national