UK consultation about changing communications environment

The consultation examined how the rapidly changing communications environment means the existing capability of the police, the security and intelligence agencies and other public authorities is declining, and why change is necessary in the UK. It asked for views on options for maintaining vital communications data capabilities. The responses found that the rejection of a [...]

Civil society declaration on global privacy standards

The declaration was presentation at a privacy conference in Madrid and included a call for a moratorium on “the development or implementation of new systems of mass surveillance, including facial recognition, whole body imaging, biometric identifiers, and embedded RFID tags, subject to a full and transparent evaluation by independent authorities and democratic debate.”
More news here.

Campaign against the Belgian transposition of the European directive on the retention of data

By means of a website (www.bewaarjeprivacy.be for the Dutch version or www.preservetavieprivee.be for the French version) and a petition, a wide platform of organisations has launched a campaign against the Belgian transposition of the European data retention directive. These organisations include the Flemish and Walloon League for Human Rights, the Flemish and Walloon Bar, the [...]

New CRS reports and congressional hearings released

Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy (6 Oct. 2009)
Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa (2 Oct 2009)
Removing Aliens from the United States: Judicial Review of Removal Orders (25 September 2009)

The records of several noteworthy congressional hearings that were held in the past two years have been [...]

New Zealand government releases privacy guidelines on the use of CCTV

Commissioner Marie Shroff said the use of CCTV was proliferating, both in New Zealand and overseas.
“It seems that everywhere you look, someone has a camera trained on you.
“This raises questions such as what exactly the images are being used for, how secure they are from misuse or unauthorised viewing, whether the cameras are unnecessarily intrusive, [...]

European Privacy Association issues principles, asks for EU Cybersecurity commissioner

Their guiding principles are as follows:
1. Privacy is an assetIt can be “an instrument for improving the competitiveness of their companies, transforming them into allies of citizens, who are also often their customers.” EPA specifically favours and promotoes ‘privacy by design’ and PET’s.
2. Privacy and cybersecurityWith the advent of “cloud computing”,personal data, security of storage, [...]

Senate committee approves reauthorization of expiring Patriot Act provisions, Supreme Court to review provisons

The US Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 at Thursday’s executive business meeting to approve legislation [S 1692] reauthorizing three provisions of the USA Patriot Act set to expire at the end of the year. The portions of the act to be renewed allow federal authorities to conduct “roving” wiretaps, compel the production of business, medical [...]

Eurodac developments

The European Data Protection Supervisor expresses serious doubts about the legitimacy and necessity of some of the proposed measures.
The analysis leads to the conclusion that the necessity and proportionality of the proposals, which are both crucial elements to legitimate privacy intrusion, are not demonstrated. As a result, the EDPS has serious doubts whether the proposals [...]

UK Supreme Court deals with al-Qaeda financier as first case

In its first ruling, the new court agreed that the media should be able to identify one of four men appealing against orders freezing their assets.Mr al-Ghabra, 29, from Forest Gate, East London, who has British citizenship, has been named by the US as a terrorism recruiter and fundraiser. He is accused of keeping contact [...]

Airport security concerns over new ‘in-body bombs’

The French intelligence service has warned of a new terrorism threat from suicide bombers carrying in-body explosives that can’t be detected by standard airport screening. The method was first used in an al-Qaida attack on the Saudi anti-terrorism chief, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, in late August. The 23-year-old terrorist, Abdullah Hassan al-Asiri, got through security [...]