Appellate court judges in the UK have ruled the government’s mass digital surveillance regime unlawful in a case brought by the Labour deputy leader, Tom Watson. The ruling on Tuesday held that the powers in the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014, which paved the way for the so-called Snoopers' Charter legislation, did not restrict the accessing of confidential personal phone and web browsing records to investigations of serious crime, and it allowed police and other public bodies to authorise their own access without adequate oversight.