The Bureau of Investigation has asked the European Court of Human Rights to stop the UK Government from spying on journalists and their sources.

The legal challenge to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 was prompted by Edward Snowden’s revelations over state mass electronic surveillance.

But curbs on RIPA could also stop UK public authorities using it to secretly obtain the phone records of journalists to identify sources, as highlighted by Press Gazette’s Save Our Sources campaign.