International Law

NO2ID Database State hustings for the Mayor of London election candidates - Tuesday 8th April 2008

Posted on March 28, 2008
The 10 candidates for the Mayor of London election , as well as those representing other groups contesting the Greater London Assembly elections, on May 1st 2008 are now officially listed by London Elects. Interestingly, the broad political spectrum cross-party NO2ID Campaign has organised a campaign hustings meeting, which will give members of the public and the press and media a chance to see how the candidates stack up against each other, in terms of their policies and promises for London, regarding privacy, security, surveillance, data protection, civil liberties etc...

Heathrow Terminal 5 fingerprinting temporarily delayed - bio-safety and computer security worries still remain

Posted on March 26, 2008
It seems that British Airports Authority BAA has temporarily backed regarding Heathrow Terminal 5 mandatory fingerprinting of both domestic and international passengers, See The Daily Telegraph: Heathrow Terminal 5 fingerprint plans 'illegal' The Guardian: Terminal 5 fingerprinting scrapped The Register: BAA grounds Heathrow T5 fingerprinting system A previous article in The Register ICO queries Heathrow T5's huge fingerprint scam scan points to the fact that the fingerprint scanners are being supplied bythe German firm of Dermalog, who, no doubt produce excellent finger printing equipment regarding the optics, and scanning compression algorithms etc...

Danger ! Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill Part 6 tries to remove even the limited constitutional safeguards of the "destroy Parliament" Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006

Posted on March 26, 2008
We were going to comment initially on the Draft Governance of Britain - Constitutional Renewal Bill (.pdf 98 pages) regarding the welcome plan to repeal sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime Act 2005, which has chilled free speech and freedom of assembly in the over large Designated Area around Parliament Square and Millbank and Whitehall etc...

ICO asks BAA to justify mandatory fingerprinting at Heathrow Terminal 5

Posted on March 23, 2008
It is welcome news that the Information Commissioner's Office is asking British Airports Authority to justify, under the Data Protection Act, the plan to force all passengers at the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport to submit to intrusive fingerprint scanning and photography...

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Awaitng publicaton of the National Security Strategy with a sense fear and foreboding

Posted on March 19, 2008
Today should see the publication of Gordon Brown's alleged "National Security Strategy", which he signaled last summer and autumn, you know, the one which was supposed to have been published by Christmas. See previous Spy Blog articles: Gordon Brown's NuLabour "National Security Committee" - a Soviet style KGB or a US style NSC ? Countering terrorism with more quangos - more detail of Gordon Brown's security statement Since we, along with the rest of the public, are never actually consulted about such things, we have little expectation that this document will actually do anything to make us any more secure, or that the the resources available to the Government will actually be directed into the proper areas...

National Security Strategy - bias, omissions and weasel words

Posted on March 19, 2008
The much hyped The National Security Strategy of the United Kingdom - Security in an interdependent world (.pdf 64 pages) is now available online on the Cabinet Office website. Is anyone really clear about exactly how the current plans and policies of the Government actually fit with this National Security Strategy, except in the vague, generalised, non-specific, hand waving political management consultant speak terms ? A flavour of the various biases and omissions in this National Security Strategy document can be gleaned from a simple word count of some keywords and phrases: 2 mentions of "liberty" 4 mentions of "freedom"   5 mentions of "surveillance" 6 mentions of "horizon scanning"   15 mentions of "police" 86 mentions of "national security"   41 mentions of "risks" 34 mentions of "risk"   8 mentions of the "internet" 5 mentions of "cyber attack" 2 mentions of "cyber crime"   2 mentions of "money laundering"   24 mentions of "organised crime" 9 mention of "crime"   51 mentions of "terrorist" 53 mentions of "terrorism"   4 mentions of "flood" 11 mentions of "flooding" 11 mentions of "pandemic" 36 mentions of "climate"   4 mentions of "biological weapons"   37 mentions of "nuclear" 19 mentions of "proliferation"   32 mentions of "energy"   14 mentions of "Middle East" 14 mentions of "Iraq" 14 mentions of "Iraq" 26 mentions of "Afghanistan" 4 mentions of "Pakistan" 4 mentions of "Iran"   5 mentions of "India" 10 mentions of "China"   7 mentions of "Russia" 10 mentions of "United States"   1 mention of "Lebanon"   1 mention of "Irish"   1 mention of "Islam" 1 mention of "Islamic"   The omissions are just as revealing: Zero mentions of "genetics" Zero mentions of "genetic engineering" Zero mentions of "biotechnology" Zero mentions of "Israel" Zero mentions of "Palestine" Zero mentions of "Ireland" These are serious omissions, given the potential and actual threats which they pose...

ACPO spokesman: Eugenics and kiddy printing - incompetence or spin ?

Posted on March 17, 2008
What is the the Association of Chief Police Officers of England Wales and Northern Ireland playing at ? Either they have incompetent internal management systems for developing a consensus view on "policing policy areas", and then for communicating these to the wider public and the mainstream media, or they are guilty of NuLabour style media manipulation and spin, in support of a particular political or commercial agenda, despite claiming that the Police service is apolitical...

Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers - trusted media contact details wanted

Posted on March 14, 2008
The Reporters Without Borders: new updated version of the "Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents" inspired us to get around to revamping what had become a rather too long, but important blog article, which gave Hints and Tips for, initially, Home Office whistleblowers, investigative journalists and bloggers...

Farid Hilali in solitary confinement - voice analysis match of mobile phone intercept done in the United Kingdom

Posted on March 12, 2008
It is still astonishing to us that the UK Government has still done nothing about the insult to our Supreme Court, the Law Lords of the House of Lords, whose Judgment on the extradition to of Farid Hilali to Spain, the first person to be arrested in the UK on a European Arrest Warrant...

Reporters Without Borders: new updated version of the "Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents"

Posted on March 12, 2008
The international press and online freedom group

Security Service MI5 website survey

Posted on March 11, 2008
The Security Service MI5 website has a new user survey online, asking or feedback on the current, quite well designed, but rather limited. in terms of useful information, website. The survey does not ask for any personal details, but it does nag a bit, with most of the Questions being Required ones...

17th Century Bill of Rights attempt to suppress FOIA disclosure ?

Posted on March 08, 2008
Why is the Speaker of the House of Commons helping the Executive branch of Government, to suppress freedom of speech and transparent open government, in a matter of huge public interest, by trying to abuse the Bill of Rights 1689 ? See Government and the Speaker of the House of Commons collude to try to abuse the 17th Century Bill of Rights to suppress the FOIA disclosure of OGC Gateway Reviews of the ID Cards Programme We are astonished and furious, that this Bill of Rights, is being abused in the High Court to try to weasel out of having to disclose the early (and now very out of date) Gateway Reviews of the Home Office's Identity Cards Programme (as it was then, circa 2002 / 2003), by the lawyers for the Government's Office for Government Commerce, supported by, incredibly, lawyers for the Speaker of the House of Commons, in their Appeal against the Decision of the independent Information Tribunal, which ordered full disclosure, in the public interest...

Jacqui Smith and National Identity Register spin, trying to hide the Crosby Report

Posted on March 07, 2008
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has now followed her dismal NuLabour / Old Labour extremist predecessors, by delivering a torrent of weasel words and nonsense in support of the wretched National Identity Scheme. Her speech and the associated National Identity Scheme Delivery Plan 2008 both seem to be designed by the Home Office spin doctors to try to deflect the attention of the media and the wider public from the Crosby Report, publication of which appears to have been suppressed for about a year by Gordon Brown...

HMRC FOIA response regarding the two tier tax return system of Special Categories for Celebs and VIPs etc.

Posted on March 06, 2008
Another less than transparent response to a Freedom of Information Act request arrived by email on Thursday. See HMRC response to FOIA request for general details of the Special Categories of tax returns of Celebrities and VIPs etc. The actual response does address the 11 numbered Questions which were asked, each to a lesser or non-existent degree...

Suspiciously timed Climate of Fear propaganda campaign by the Police in the run up to the Counter-Terrorism Bill debates

Posted on March 05, 2008
The latest "Climate of Fear" 5 week "counter-terrorism"advertising campaign in newspapers and on local radio, is being inflicted on the public in London, Manchester. West Midlands and West Yorkshire i.e. all the major urban city areas in England. See the Metropolitan Police Press Release Can it really be just a coincidence that this vague, "War on Tourism" / "War on Journalism" and "Snoop on Your Neighbours" propaganda will have peaked, in terms of mass media coverage, just before the votes in the House of Commons on the controversial Counter-Terrorism Bill 2008 ? Why exactly could this counter productive propaganda campaign not wait until after the passage of the legislation through Parliament ? This latest campaign is even less specific than the previous one, (see "Trust your instincts" anti-terrorism propaganda - who is NOT under suspicion of terrorism ?) but it still targets perfectly innocent activities like taking photographs or video images as a tourist, or just as an amateur or professional photographer.

Surely the Phorm web page interception scam is illegal ?

Posted on March 03, 2008
The Register has published some diagrams of how the appalling Phorm web advertising scheme will work, Major UK broadband Internet Service Providers British Telecom Retail, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse TalkTalk, all seem to have signed a "commercial suicide pact" contract, to abuse their customer's data privacy, without first obtaining their prior informed consent...

OGC High Court Appeal against FOIA disclosure of ID Cards Programme Gateway Reviews now set to start this Monday 3rd March 2008

Posted on February 27, 2008
Why is the Government wasting public money on this High Court Appeal, which they must surely lose, and then be forced to comply with the rulings of both the Information Commissioner and of the Information Tribunal, to fully disclose to the public, the now out of date Home Office Identity Cards Programme early Gateway Reviews ? All the possible legal arguments were gone into in exhaustive detail, by the barristers and FOIA legal professors, during the 4 day Information Tribunal hearing back in March 2007, which ruled in favour of full disclosure...

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's statement on the Wilson Doctrine

Posted on February 24, 2008
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith made a statement about the report of the Chief Surveillance Commissioner Sir Christopher Rose on the bugging scandal in HMP Woodhill, involving Sadiq Khan MP, Babar Ahmad (see the previous blog article) and also on the Wilson Doctrine and Legally Privileged conversations etc...

"Report on two visits by Sadiq Khan MP to Babar Ahmad at HM Prison Woodhill" - Rt. Hon. Sir Christopher Rose finds no illegality

Posted on February 21, 2008
Today saw the publication of : Report on two visits by Sadiq Khan MP to Babar Ahmad at HM Prison Woodhill - Report of Investigation by the Rt. Hon. Sir Christopher Rose, Chief Surveillance Commissioner (.pdf - 15 pages) See the Office of the Surveillance Commissioners website for more details about role and powers of the Chief Surveillance Commissioner under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and also under the Police Act 1997...

Statement on the Woodhill Prison bugging, Wilson Doctrine etc.

Posted on February 21, 2008
We will comment more fully on the statement by the Home SecretaryJacqui Smith regarding the report by the Rt. Ho. Sir Christopher Rose into the Sadiq Khan Mp / babar Ahmad prison bugging affair, when the transcript becomes available in a few hours. As anticipated, no illegality or wrongdoing has been discovered by the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, but he did not actually speak with the ex-Police Officer who did the actual bugging...

Wikileaks survives a fire, but is under Temporary Restraining Order partial censorship

Posted on February 16, 2008
It looks as if the interesting and controversial, Wikileaks website, which promises "anonymous, untraceable, uncensorable" publication of leaked documents from whistleblowers, and which recently published the devastating No2ID Campaign annotated leaked UK National Identity Scheme document , is weathering some technical hitches and legal litigation attacks...

HMRC intercept, snooping and surveillance powers commence today

Posted on February 15, 2008
Hat tip to Rob Lewis from accountingweb.co.uk who reminds us that "HMRC gets bugging powers" which commence today 15th February 2008. These are under amendments to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), brought in by under the Serious Crime Act 2007 Schedule 12, and brought into force through the The Serious Crime Act 2007 (Commencement No...

Spanish authorities ignore and insult the UK Law Lords over the Farid Hilali extradition

Posted on February 12, 2008
Incredibly, the Spanish authorities, appear to have done exactly what we suspected they might from the press reports last Friday, they have deliberately ignored the Judgment of the UK House of Lords, and charged Farid Hilali with "belonging to a terrorist organisation?", the very offence which the Law Lords explicitly forbad him to be extradited on ! See Farid Hilali finally extradited to Spain - are the Spanish authorities flouting the UK House of Lords judgment ? The Law Lords' Judgments - In re Hilali (Respondent) (application for a writ of Habeas Corpus) clearly state that: [...

Home Office refuses our FOIA request for geographical details of Terrorism Act 2000 Section 44 stop and search without reasonable suspicion Authorisation Notifications

Posted on February 11, 2008
The Home Office has refused our Freedom of Information Act request for geographical and duration details of the Terrorism Act 2000 Section 44 and 46 Authorisation Notifications The Home Office is trying to argue that the Section 44 powers are a deterrent but that even the geographical extent of the Authorisations should be secret...

When will Labour's snooping scandals end ? More widespread Prison bugging allegations

Posted on February 09, 2008
When will the Labour database surveillance state scandals ever end ? The Daily Telegraph has published some more whistleblower revelations , which claim that the abuse of of supposedly confidential client lawyer privilege, through the secret electronic eavesdropping in Prisons, is far more widespread than the Sadiq Khan MP / Babar Ahmad scandal...

Farid Hilali finally extradited to Spain - are the Spanish authorities flouting the UK House of Lords judgment ?

Posted on February 08, 2008
It appears that Farid Hilali, who faces terrorism charges based almost entirely on mobile phone Intercept Evidence and Voice Identification, has at last been extradited to Spain, according to The Daily Telegraph: Hilali, 39, was arrested in June 2004 and was flown out of RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday...

Privy Council Chilcot Review report on Intercept Evidence - more ***

Posted on February 07, 2008
The Government has now published the Privy Council Review of intercept as evidence: report to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary (.pdf 64 pages - censored) produced under Rt. Hon, Sir John Chilcot GCB. This review makes the recommendation. that Intercept Evidence should, vaguely, at some undermined time in the future, be permitted in Courts in England and Wales (but not in Scotland or in Northern Ireland), for terrorism and serious crime cases , but not for Civil cases,...

UK e-Borders excessive Passenger Name Record etc. demands - surely these break several of the Principles of Data Protection ?

Posted on February 06, 2008
Tom Griffin has published the further results of his FOIA request regarding the planned UK e-Borders data rape of personal information which is far in excess of what should be collected to travel across what is supposedly a Passport free border between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland...

BBC News 24: Intercept Evidence to be allowed in court

Posted on February 05, 2008
BBC News 24 reports that the Privy Council Review of Intercept evidence headed by Rt. Hon.Sir John Chilcot, is due to report that such evidence should be allowed in terrorism cases, which is currently forbidden by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 Section 17 Exclusion of matters from legal proceedings What the caveats and provisos are, and whether they recommend that this will apply to other categories of crimes as well, we will have to wait until tomorrow, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to make a Statement, which may not necessarily, of course, accept any of the recommendations of the Review.

Jack Straw's Wilson Doctrine statement -Sir Christopher Rose to inquire into the Sadiq Khan MP / Babar Ahmad eavesdropping affair

Posted on February 05, 2008
Jack Straw made a statement in the House of Commons regarding the apparent breach of the Wilson Doctrine, involving the electronic eavesdropping on conversations which should have been protected by Constituent / Member of Parliament privilege and, perhaps also of client / lawyer privilege which seems to have occurred at Woodhill prison near Milton Keynes...

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