Their conversations are being listened into.
Ida listened into the room and listened and listened, on the verge of hearing something clear.
Mediapart said: "For almost 10 years, the United States has listened into French presidents … it was all classed top secret or 'special intelligence'.
If a telephone call is going to be listened into that has to be signed off by the home secretary personally.
The whistleblower added that terrorists were not stupid and been aware long before his disclosures that their communications could be listened into.
"I could not stand up in the court next to those parents [of Milly Dowler] who'd lost their daughter and say, 'Yeah they listened into a few messages but no harm was done.' I didn't want to enter that arena.
We need urgently reassuring that this information has not been used for inappropriate purposes, that calls between lawyers and clients aren't also being recorded and listened into and that proper safeguards are in place to make sure there is no repeat in the future".
One strand is "interception", when a warrant is issued for the full content of someone's communications to be listened into.
