Snowden slams UK government attempts to secretly pass legislation allowing GCHQ to 'hack anybody's computer'

'They want to be able to target anybody,' says Snowden during live Q&A with Amnesty International UK

Edward Snowden has accused the British government of trying to limit its own citizens' civil liberties by secretly passing legislation that allows GCHQ to "hack anybody's computer".

Snowden, the whistle-blower who revealed the extent to which governments across the globe are illegally monitoring and spying on the public's internet communications, made the claim speaking via online video communication at a live Q&A session hosted by Amnesty International UK.

The accusation comes a week after the Conservative government outlined plans for new legislation, the Investigatory Powers Bill, designed to give the authorities extended powers to "target the online communications" of suspects via bulk collection of personal data.

It incorporates many of the plans initially outlined in the Communications Data Act, dubbed the Snooper's Charter by critics and privacy campaigners.

"The government in the United Kingdom is actually trying to reform the laws in a very negative way," said Snowden, speaking live from Russia.

"Rather than preserving civil liberties and expanding the domain of our rights, they're trying to limit [them] and they're trying to do it in secret without the notice of the public and without the engagement of the press," he claimed.

Snowden cited draft legislation entitled the "equipment interference code" and argued that it amounts to nothing more than the government secretly trying to change the law to allow the authorities to hack the personal computers of citizens.

"Recently there was a draft change of law suggested in the UK on something called the equipment interference code, which is a euphemism for hacking: this is talking about computer hacking," he said.

"The British government decided it wanted to claim this for itself - and this is through a procedural change, not even through an up or down vote," Snowden continued.

"They don't want to have a democratic debate, they simply want to change the law to not only allow them to hack anybody's computer, but to hack people's computers who are not intelligence targets at all," he said.

"They don't want to be constrained to targeting terrorists, they don't want to be constrained to targeting foreign governments [and] agents of foreign governments, they want to be able to target anybody," said Snowden.

"The systems administrator who works at at telecommunications provider, an engineer who works at Google or Facebook, anyone they can access who they think is interesting, regardless whether it is morally or legally appropriate," he stated.

Snowden came to worldwide attention when he revealed the illegal spying practices of the United States National Security Agency, GCHQ and other government bodies.

However, The US has - briefly - lost the ability to mass collect communications data of citizens after the Senate failed to reach a deal to extend legislation on surveillance programmes.