Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is absolutely now way GCHQ signed off on this.
And yet they are powerless. Back to recording private conversations like the Stasi then. What a wonderful institution. They're useful how, exactly? Not smacking their heads into the table nearly hard enough. Not even close.
Literally copying the literal Stasi approach to spying (not the rest, just spying) would simultaneously improve the quality of the data and reduce the negative side effects relative to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016.