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.”
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Report of UN Special Rapporteur on Counterterrorism on his mission to Egypt

An advanced edited version of the UN Special Rapporteur’s report on Egypt is out now. (A/HRC/13/37/Add.2, 14 October 2009). It will be discussed at the Human RIghts Council’s Thirteenth Session in March 2010.

In this report the Special Rapporteur examines the emergency law, criminal law provisions on terrorist crimes, and amended article 179 of the Constitution [...]

Shubert et. al v. Obama and the invocation of the state secrecy principle

Georgetown SLB reports that the Department of Justice asserted the state secrets privilege to prevent the National Security Agency from having to disclose information about its domestic collection activities after the disclosure of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, or TSP, in 2005.  The plaintiffs allege they were caught up in a “dragnet” of NSA surveillance that [...]

UK: Thousands of activists monitored on network of overlapping databases

The Guardian reports that UK Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases.The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor “domestic extremists”, the Guardian stated. Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored [...]

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, [...]

Indonesia plans surveillance drone launch

Indonesia plans to launch a drone plane called “Puna” next year to support national defence and monitor extremist activity, an official said.”Puna, an unmanned small aircraft, can safely observe hard-to-reach areas. It has been tested and we’ll launch it next year,” said Mr Surjatin Wiriadidjaja, deputy chairman of the government’s Agency for the Assessment and [...]

U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets

In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media, Wired reports. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in [...]

Airport stops scans on children

Security staff at Manchester Airport have been banned from using body scanners on passengers aged under 18. The scans have been temporarily stopped for young people while legal advice is sought, said the airport. Action on Rights for Childen (Arch) claim the Rapiscan equipment could break the Protection of Children Act 1978, under which it [...]