Big Brother State

ID cards: mistaken identity

2009-07-02T15:50:00.001+01:00

Less a climbdown, more of a stumble. A glance at some of the papers yesterday [1st July 2009] might have led you to believe that something truly momentous had happened: Alan Johnson, the shiny new home secretary and sometime last-resort leadership hope of desperate Labour MPs, had finally rid the government of its self-imposed policy millstone and binned the ID card scheme.
If only. What Mr Johnson did instead was something much more modest, but which nevertheless erodes yet further the government's case for the identity database. In the face of tremendous trade-union opposition, this former full-time union official called off plans to trial the compulsory ID card among workers at two airports. It is as little and as significant as that. Little, because only 30,000 airport staff were affected by the announcement. Significant, because one of the ragbag of reasons for the introduction of the wretched ID register was that it would enhance airport security. This is not just a pilot scheme that has been scrapped; yet another big hole has been knocked in the justification for the entire project. What was originally dreamed up as a compulsory item to help combat terrorism and benefit fraud is now being sold as an entirely voluntary accessory to be toted by thirsty teens who want to prove to barmen that they can legally buy a pint.
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If you want a passport then you will be added to the ID Card database - whether you 'volunteer' to carry a physical ID Card or not. It has never been about the card itself.
The government's skewed logic is that nobody is required by the state to apply for a passport, therefore forcing people who apply for a voluntary document to go onto the ID database is not compulsion, it's just complying with regulations required to obtain the voluntary document. Such semantic gymnastics can be found in George Orwell's fictional language Newspeak.
Only when this database is dropped will we be free from the spectre of the national identity register.

Climbdown on compulsory ID cards?

2009-06-30T15:37:00.000+01:00

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has dropped plans to make ID cards compulsory for pilots and airside workers at Manchester and London City airports.
The cards were due to be trialled there - sparking trade union anger.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said that the reverse in policy was "an absurd fudge" and "symbolic of a government in chaos".
But Mr Johnson said the ID card scheme was still very much alive - despite Tory and Lib Dem calls to scrap it.
He said the national roll-out of a voluntary scheme was being speeded-up - with London to get them a year early in 2010 and over-75s to get free cards.
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Once more government spin has triumphed and much of the media has got it wrong. The new Home Secretary Alan Johnson has not made any significant changes to the scheme. Compulsion by stealth is still the order of the day, just as it always was. Someone joining the ID scheme 'voluntarily' will still be placing control of their identity in the hands of the IPS for life.
The Home Office line remains the same. No compulsion (as the Home Office defines it) was going to be applied until almost everyone had 'volunteered' and then it was only a matter of rounding up a minority of resisters and marginalised people.
The Home Office's idea of "voluntary" is not the same as yours and mine.
Since 2004 the scheme was (and it still is) to proceed by "designating" one-by-one under the Identity Cards Act 2006 other documents issued by official bodies -- in the first place passports.
Once a document has been designated, you won't be able to apply for one without also applying to be entered, for life, on the national identity register. If you don't agree to be registered it won't be that you are refused (say) a passport; you'd have voluntarily decided not to apply.
There's no compulsion to have a passport. It is useful for travelling. But you aren't compelled to travel.
Or (say) to drive. Or to work as a security guard. Or with children. Or in healthcare. To get parole from prison. To practice as a lawyer. ...
Any official licence, registration certificate or permit can be designated, and -- in the home office's skewed logic -- handing control of your identity to the Home Office's Identity and Passport Service will still be entirely voluntary.
That they were due for a confrontation with the airside worker's unions over designating new passes at Manchester and City Airports is an illustration of just how voluntary "voluntary" really is. But the fact they have now ducked that fight for political convenience suggests saying no does work - if you say it loudly enough.

EU Stockholm programme and the Database State

2009-06-29T13:58:00.005+01:00

According to Statewatch, "The 'Stockholm Programme', the next 5-year plan for Justice and Home Affairs, is expected to be adopted in autumn 2009".
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, points out that the Stockholm programme contains: "An 'information system architecture' to bring about the sharing of all data across the EU. The use of 'security technologies' to harness the 'digital tsunami' to gather through mass surveillance personal data on peoples' everyday activities through public-private partnerships." Bunyan goes on to warn that: "What is new is the clear aim of creating the surveillance society and the database state".
The European Civil Liberties Network (ECLN) has published a statement calling on civil society groups and individuals to voice their opinions on the programme.
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Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number

2009-06-23T12:21:00.005+01:00

The Guardian has obtained police footage of Emily Apple and Val Swain being arrested by surveillance officers after asking for their badge numbers at the Kingsnorth climate camp last year. The two women speak to Paul Lewis about their arrest, 4-day imprisonment and official complaint. All charges were dropped.
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Truely shocking. Nothing else I can say really.

First trial without jury approved

2009-06-18T13:22:00.000+01:00

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a criminal trial can take place at Crown Court without a jury for the first time in England and Wales.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, made legal history by agreeing to allow the trial to be heard by a judge alone.
It is the first time the power has been used since it came into force in 2007.
The case concerns four men accused of an armed robbery at Heathrow Airport in 2004. The judge said jury "tampering" was a "very significant" danger.
Lord Judge told the court the cost of the measures needed to protect jurors from potential influence, such as the services of police officers, was too high and that such measures may not properly insulate them.
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Terror watchdog in search warning

2009-06-17T13:18:00.000+01:00

The UK's terror law watchdog says people are being stopped and searched to racially balance official figures.
In his annual report, Lord Carlile QC warned of "poor or unnecessary" use of the special Section 44 powers.
He said there was ample anecdotal evidence of officers searching people not connected to terrorism.
Lord Carlile also warned there was little or no evidence that blanket use of Section 44 searches had the potential to prevent a terror attack.
Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows police to stop and search someone without suspicion that an offence has occurred.
The powers can only be used in specific areas on the orders of a police chief, with later approval by the home secretary.
Supporters say such powers can make it harder for extremists to carry out reconnaissance in public areas, such as near important tourist attractions.
The Metropolitan Police used them 170,000 times during 2008, according to figures previously obtained by BBC London.
But in the strongest criticisms Lord Carlile has ever made of the use of the powers, the peer said that none of the stops in London or elsewhere had led to a conviction.
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Database of all children launched

2009-05-18T12:46:00.000+01:00

A controversial database which holds the details of every child in England has become available to childcare professionals for the first time.
ContactPoint, a response to Lord Laming's report following the death of Victoria Climbie, is beginning its national roll-out in the north west.
But the system, costing £224m, has been delayed twice amid data security fears.
The government says it will enable more co-ordinated services for children and ensure none slips through the net.
It will hold the details of 11 million children and young people aged up to 18 years.
The delays were prompted by concerns over access to the database. In 2007, a report into the project by auditors Deloitte and Touche said it could never be totally secure.
Last summer ministers delayed the database, admitting there were some "issues" identified in testing.
It says 390,000 people will have access to the database, but will have gone through stringent security training.
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DNA data plan comes under fire

2009-05-07T12:38:00.006+01:00

Campaigners have criticised plans to hold DNA profiles of almost a million innocent people on a database for up to 12 years.
Civil rights groups say it is an insult to a legal ruling that the UK database - apart from Scotland - breaks the law.
DNA profiles of up to 850,000 innocent people will, however, be removed from the database of 4.5m, following last year's European Court ruling.
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Retailers reject ID security fear

2009-05-06T12:44:00.001+01:00

High Street retailers have rejected security fears about giving them the job of fingerprinting and photographing people applying for identity cards.
The Home Office has axed plans to set up ID card enrolment centres and instead wants pharmacies, post offices and photographic shops to do the work.
Trade bodies representing chains such as Boots and Snappy Snaps told the BBC they can be trusted with the data.
It came as it was confirmed that ID cards would be piloted in Manchester.
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Manchester launch for ID cards

2009-05-06T12:42:00.000+01:00

Manchester will this autumn become the first city where people can sign up for an ID card, Jacqui Smith has said.
Anyone over 16 in the city with a UK passport will be able to apply for a card from the Home Office.
The home secretary's speech signals her determination to push ahead with the cards, which will initially cost £30, despite opposition.
The Tories and Lib Dems want the £5bn scheme scrapped, while some Labour MPs have expressed doubts about its cost.
People in Manchester who want an ID card can register their interest on the Directgov website.
They will then be told later in the year how to get their card, which will probably involve a visit to the Manchester passport office to be interviewed and have their fingerprints and photo taken.
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Surveillance fears for the UK

2009-05-05T13:29:00.000+01:00

Computer security veteran Phil Zimmermann warns about the seductive nature of technology.
The UK is risking sliding unwittingly into a police state because of the growing use of surveillance technology, says security guru Phil Zimmermann.
"When you live in that society and it changes incrementally over time you are less likely to notice the changes," he told the BBC. "But if you come from outside the picture as it stands is more abruptly visible as something wrong."
For him, the wholesale use of surveillance systems has gone too far in the UK.
The coupling of CCTV cameras with face-recognition algorithms that can track people through crowds, read registration plates and fuse all the sources of data was, dangerous, said Mr Zimmermann.
"It adds up to something that I think is able to undermine democratic institutions," he said.
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Former Home Secretary rejects ID cards

2009-04-29T12:37:00.001+01:00

David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, has said that the Government should abandon plans for ID cards and make biometric passports mandatory instead.
It was Mr Blunkett who first introduced the idea of ID cards in 2001, when he was Home Secretary.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne said:
"When even the father of ID cards spurns them, the idea is truly an abandoned orphan.
"There is no face-saver with passports, which were becoming biometric in any case. It would be ridiculous to insist that people pay for new passports whether they need them or not."
“The Government should remember that the British state belongs to the British people and not the other way around.”
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Plan to monitor all internet use

2009-04-27T14:53:00.002+01:00

Communications firms are being asked to record all internet contacts between people as part of a modernisation in UK police surveillance tactics.
The home secretary scrapped plans for a database but wants details to be held and organised for security services.
The new system would track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites.

Guy Herbert of campaign group NO2ID said: "Just a week after the home secretary announced a public consultation on some trivial trimming of local authority surveillance, we have this: a proposal for powers more intrusive than any police state in history.
"Ministers are making a distinction between content and communications data into sound-bite of the year. But it is spurious.
"Officials from dozens of departments and quangos could know what you read online, and who all your friends are, who you emailed, when, and where you were when you did so - all without a warrant."
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Support the "Freedom Bill"

2009-04-19T21:31:00.014+01:00

The Freedom Bill would reverse the many attacks on civil liberties and democratic rights that UK citizens have suffered. The Liberal Democrats want to get it passed through Parliament - and for that they need your help. Please sign the petition and ask your friends to do the same to help build up the pressure to make the Freedom Bill become the Freedom Act.
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Journalists on the G20 front line

2009-04-17T12:35:00.002+01:00

Who needs section 76 when you have a baton? Back in February Marc Vallee wrote how terror legislation had been increasingly used by this government, and brutally enforced by the police, to criminalise not only those who protest but also those who dare to give the oxygen of publicity to such dissent.
In the aftermath of the G20 protests, with the death of a man trying to get home, it is right and proper that the press shine a light beyond the headlines and get to the truth of what took place not only to Ian Tomlinson but also to the hundreds of protesters who now know what a police baton or for that matter the back of a heavy protected police hand feels like.
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Council 'spying' to be restricted

2009-04-17T12:23:00.002+01:00

Councils in England and Wales face new restrictions on the use of surveillance powers for minor offences such as dog fouling and littering.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) allows public authorities to intercept phone and e-mail data and use CCTV to spy on suspected criminals.
But Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has launched a review after fears it was being used for "trivial" offences.
The Tories and Lib Dems say Ripa has become a "snooper's charter".
But the government has resisted opposition calls for the use of the powers to be authorised by magistrates, arguing that the decision to use them should be left with councils and police.
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It is good that the issue of spying on citizens is being highlighted and challenged, but without a requirement for judicial approval these powers will always be an affront to civil liberties.
The need for a warrant obtained from an independent judiciary is an important protection against authoritarianism, and the reluctance of any government to agree to this is reason alone to question the motives and/or judgement of that government.

Policeman Assaults Protester at G20

2009-04-16T14:08:00.000+01:00

EU Net firms start storing user data

2009-04-06T16:54:00.004+01:00

Details of user e-mails and net phone calls will be stored by internet service providers (ISPs) from Monday [06/04/2009] under an EU directive.
The plans were drawn up in the wake of the London bombings in 2005.
ISPs and telecoms firms have resisted the proposals while some countries in the EU are contesting the directive.
Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, said it was a "crazy directive" with potentially dangerous repercussions for citizens.
All ISPs in the European Union will have to store the records for a year. An EU directive which requires telecoms firms to hold on to telephone records for 12 months is already in force.
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Extent of council spying revealed

2009-03-26T08:57:00.000Z

Councils in England and Wales have used controversial spying laws 10,000 times in the past five years, figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) was designed to fight serious crime.
But officials have been using it to spy on suspected dog fouling, littering and other minor offences.
The government has promised curbs on its use but the Lib Dems warn it could still become a "snoopers' charter".
The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal for the first time how widespread the use of Ripa is among council officials in England and Wales.
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Social network sites 'monitored'

2009-03-25T14:23:00.001Z

Social networking sites like Facebook could be monitored by the UK government under proposals to make them keep details of users' contacts.
The Home Office said it was needed to tackle crime gangs and terrorists who might use the sites, but said it would not keep the content of conversations.
It is part of a plan to store details of all phone calls, e-mails and websites visited on a central database.
Civil liberties campaigners have called the proposals a "snoopers' charter".
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Call to scrap 'illegal databases'

2009-03-23T12:49:00.000Z

A quarter of all government databases are illegal and should be scrapped or redesigned, according to a report.
The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust says storing information leads to vulnerable people, such as young black men, single parents and children, being victimised.
It says the UK's "database state" wastes billions from the public purse and often breaches human rights laws.
But the government says the report contains "no substantive evidence" on which to base its conclusions.
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Camp protesters 'sleep-deprived'

2009-03-12T14:18:00.001Z

Police have been accused of using sleep-deprivation to intimidate climate change protesters in Kent.
Activists at last year's Climate Camp gathering at Kingsnorth were woken up by The Clash's I Fought The Law and the Hi-de-Hi! theme, a report claimed.
The Liberal Democrats, who presented the study to Parliament, renewed their calls for an inquiry into the policing.
Kent Police said the team responsible for playing loud music inappropriately was from another police force.
About 1,000 demonstrators attended the camp in August to protest against plans for a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth.
The Lib Dems said policing was disproportionate and outrageous.
"The camp started with searches carried out on a massive scale - in my view all unlawful," said Francis Wright, a co-author of the report and lawyer for Camp for Climate Action.
"Everybody was searched, essentially under the 'sus' law for which you are supposed to have reasonable grounds to suspect that individual.
"It was stereotyping on a massive scale. We were all treated as criminals."
The report claims psychological operations were used by police, including frequent dawn raids, low-flying helicopters at night and the unnecessary massing of police officers and vans.
Legal observers at the demonstration were denied access to individuals requesting their support, the report claimed.
Officers were also accused of using threatening behaviour to compile a systematic database of the names and addresses of attendees.
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The Tech Lab: Bruce Schneier

2009-02-26T14:12:00.000Z

Bruce Schneier is the chief security technology officer at BT and a celebrated writer and speaker on privacy, cryptography and security issues.

"Welcome to the future, where everything about you is saved. A future where your actions are recorded, your movements are tracked, and your conversations are no longer ephemeral. A future brought to you not by some 1984-like dystopia, but by the natural tendencies of computers to produce data."

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Ministers 'using fear of terror'

2009-02-17T14:09:00.000Z

A former head of MI5 has accused the government of exploiting the fear of terrorism and trying to bring in laws that restrict civil liberties.
In an interview in a Spanish newspaper, published in the Daily Telegraph, Dame Stella Rimington, 73, also accuses the US of "tortures".
The Home Office said it was vital to strike a right balance between privacy, protection and sharing personal data.
It said any policies which impact on privacy must be "proportionate".
Dame Stella, who stood down as the director general of the security service in 1996, has previously been critical of the government's policies, including its attempts to extend pre-charge detention for terror suspects to 42 days and the controversial plan to introduce ID cards.
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Anti-terror tactics 'weaken law'

2009-02-16T14:06:00.000Z

Anti-terror measures worldwide have seriously undermined international human rights law, a report by legal experts says.
After a three-year global study, the International Commission of Jurists said many states used the public's fear of terrorism to introduce measures.
These included detention without trial, illegal disappearance and torture.
It also said that the UK and the US have "actively undermined" international law by their actions.
It concluded that many measures introduced to fight terrorism were illegal and counter-productive.
It called for justice systems to be strengthened and warned that temporary measures should not become permanent.
The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is a non-governmental organisation which promotes the observance of the rule of law and the legal protection of human rights.
The panel of eminent lawyers and judges concluded that the framework of international law that existed before the 9/11 attacks on the US was robust and effective.
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Government plans travel database

2009-02-08T08:53:00.000Z

The government is compiling a database to track and store the international travel records of millions of Britons.
Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years.
The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism.
But opposition MPs and privacy campaigners fear it is a significant step towards a surveillance society.
The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details of travellers.
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Warning over 'surveillance state'

2009-02-06T12:51:00.000Z

Electronic surveillance and collection of personal data are "pervasive" in British society and threaten to undermine democracy, peers have warned.
CCTV cameras and the DNA database were two examples of threats to privacy, the Lords constitution committee said.
It called for compensation for people subject to illegal surveillance.
The government said CCTV and DNA were "essential" to fight crime but campaign group Liberty said abuses of power mean "even the innocent have a lot to fear".
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Whitehall departments to share personal data

2009-01-15T16:59:00.000Z

Controversial fast-track powers to remove the barriers to the widespread bulk sharing of personal data across Whitehall departments and throughout the public sector were unveiled yesterday [14/01/2009] by the justice secretary, Jack Straw.
The powers in the coroners and justice bill will reverse the fundamental data protection principle that information provided to one government agency for one purpose should not normally be used by another for a different purpose.
Straw insisted that the powers would come with "very strict controls" on who will get access to personal data and what it can be used for, but the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties warned that the bill represented "yet another building block of the surveillance state".
The bill also includes concessions over the revived plans for some inquests involving national security to be held without a jury and partly in secret. Straw said a high court judge would hear such controversial cases. Bereaved families would be able to challenge a home secretary's decision to hold part of an inquest behind closed doors through judicial review.
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UK e-mail law 'attack on rights'

2009-01-09T12:41:00.001Z

Rules forcing internet companies to keep details of every e-mail sent in the UK are a waste of money and an attack on civil liberties, say critics.
From March all internet service providers (ISPs) will by law have to keep information about every e-mail sent or received in the UK for a year.
Human rights group Liberty says it is worried what will happen next.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said ISPs already kept the information on a voluntary basis.
"The thing we have to worry about is what happens next because the government is already mooting plans not just to leave this stuff with the providers but to create a central government database where they hold all the information.
"I'm afraid we just don't trust any government or any organisation to keep that much very sensitive information about us all and to keep it safe."
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Police 'encouraged' to hack more

2009-01-05T12:32:00.000Z

The Home Office has signed up to an EU strategy against cybercrime that "encourages" police across Europe to remotely access personal computers.
The plan has sparked fears that the government is looking to increase police powers to hack into people's computers without a court warrant.
British law already allows police to remotely access computers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which allows surveillance to "prevent or detect serious crime".
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Take Jane

2008-12-19T11:23:00.001Z

DNA database 'breach of rights'

2008-12-04T12:02:00.002Z

Two British men should not have had their DNA and fingerprints retained by police, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.
The men's information was held by South Yorkshire Police, although neither was convicted of any offence.
The judgement could have major implications on how DNA records are stored in the UK's national database.
The judges said keeping the information "could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society".
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was "disappointed" by the European Court of Human Rights' decision.
The database may now have to be scaled back following the unanimous judgement by 17 senior judges from across Europe.
Under present laws, the DNA profiles of everyone arrested for a recordable offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are kept on the database, regardless of whether they are charged or convicted.
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Police to get power to demand ID in the street

2008-12-03T16:18:00.001Z

State officials are to be given powers previously reserved for times of war to demand a person's proof of identity at any time.
Anybody who refuses the Big Brother demand could face arrest and a possible prison sentence.
The new rules come in legislation unveiled in today's Queen's Speech.
They are presented as a crackdown on illegal immigration, but lawyers say they could be applied to anybody who has ever been outside the UK, even on holiday.
The civil rights group Liberty, which analysed clauses from the new Immigration and Citizenship Bill, called them an attempt to introduce compulsory ID cards by the back door.
The move would effectively take Britain back to the Second World War, when people were stopped and asked to 'show their papers'.
Liberty said: 'Powers to examine identity documents, previously thought to apply only at ports of entry, will be extended to criminalise anyone in Britain who has ever left the country and fails to produce identity papers upon demand.
'We believe that the catch-all remit of this power is disproportionate and that its enactment would not only damage community relations but represent a fundamental shift in the relationship between the State and those present in the UK.'
One broadly-drafted clause would permit checks on anyone who has ever entered the
UK - whether recently or years earlier.
Officials, who could be police or immigration officers, will be able to stop anyone to establish if they need permission to be here, if they have it, and whether it should be cancelled.
No reasonable cause or suspicion is required, and checks can be carried out 'in country' - not just at borders.
The law would apply to British citizens and foreign nationals, according to Liberty's lawyers. The only people who would be exempt are the tiny minority who have never been abroad on holiday or business.
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'Stalinesque' Arrest of Opposition MP

2008-11-28T15:45:00.003Z

The Lib Dems have called shadow immigration minister Damian Green's arrest a "mayday warning" for democracy amid cross-party anger over the move.
Mr Green was held for nine hours by Special Branch on Thursday and had his two homes and offices searched as part of a Home Office leak inquiry.
Tory leader David Cameron called the police operation "alarming" and said the government had questions to answer.
Mr Green was not charged with any offence but was released on bail until February, when he could face further questioning.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said democracy was "in danger" when events such as Mr Green's arrest could take place.
"This is something you might expect from a tin-pot dictatorship, not in a modern democracy," he said.
He called on the prime minister to "rule out any further use of anti-terrorism powers in cases that have nothing to do with terrorism" and to "confirm when the home secretary was informed of the police raids".
David Cameron condemned the "heavy-handed" way in which nine anti-terrorism officers were sent to arrest Mr Green and search his home.
"What do they think about in Britain today, counter-terrorism police are spending their time searching an MP's office, arresting him, holding him for nine hours, all on a day when British citizens are being killed on the other side of the world and all because, as far as I can see, he made public some information that was in the public interest that the government found uncomfortable."

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You can run... but can you hide?

2008-10-27T14:23:00.003Z

As the CCTV capital of the world and with more data being held on us than ever before, Britain has been called a surveillance society. For Panorama's programme You Can Run... But Can You Hide? reporter Simon Boazman set out to find out just how much privacy exists in Britain today, how much data is held about him as an individual, if that information is secure and if he could cut his data trail.
"Before making this film, privacy is something that I just assumed I had. When I closed my front door at night and relaxed it was in the belief that my private life was just that, private.
I soon started to learn otherwise.
Nearly all aspects of my everyday life are being monitored. The things I buy, the websites I visit, the phone calls I make and even the journeys I take are all being documented."
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Panorama: You can run... but can you hide? On Monday 27 October at 8.30pm on BBC One.

Giant database plan 'Orwellian'

2008-10-16T19:08:00.000+01:00

Proposals for a central database of all mobile phone and internet traffic have been condemned as "Orwellian".
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the police and security services needed new powers to keep up with technology.
And she promised that the content of conversations would not be stored, just times and dates of messages and calls.
But the Lib Dems slammed the idea as "incompatible with a free country", while the Tories called on the government to justify its plans.
Details of the times, dates, duration and locations of mobile phone calls, numbers called, website visited and addresses e-mailed are already stored by telecoms companies for 12 months under a voluntary agreement.
The data can be accessed by the police and security services on request - but the government plans to take control of the process in order to comply with an EU directive and make it easier for investigators to do their job.
Information will be kept for two years by law and may be held centrally on a searchable database.
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Sleepwalk - Say 'No' to 42 Days!

2008-10-15T18:40:00.001+01:00

Another mis-use of anti-terrorism laws

2008-10-10T13:45:00.000+01:00

We have become familiar with this government introducing “anti-terrorism” laws with dire warnings of what will happen if they aren’t passed. We have then seen these laws used in a non-terrorism situation to restrict free speech and legitimate protest. Walter Wolfgang, the heckler arrested under anti-terrorism laws at the 2005 Labour Party conference is a frivolous but famous example.
This week Gordon brown has used anti-terrorism laws to freeze Icelandic assets here following the collapse of Icelandic banks which has hit UK councils, businesses and private individuals who had taken advantage of the high interest rates on offer. Does this now mean Iceland will now be added to the so-called “axis of evil”?
This case (and history in general) shows that once a law is on the statute books, it is often applied in situations where it was not originally envisaged.

How to introduce ID cards: target a weak group who have no political voice in the UK

2008-09-25T21:57:00.003+01:00

That's the warning from Liberal Demorat leader Nick Clegg following yesterday's unveiling by Labour of the design for mandatory ID cards:
"ID cards for foreign nationals are the thin end of the wedge, whatever they look like – and the home secretary, who unveiled their design today, knows it. Here's how it goes:
"Step 1: Target a weak group who have no political voice in the UK and who benefit from little public backing or support, and make them the guinea pig for a deeply unpopular policy.
"Step 2: Once the sacrifice of their rights has embedded as "standard procedure", pick off the next target – airport workers perhaps – or a group similarly small and likely to fly under the public radar.
"Step 3: Involve other public service workers in "sensitive" positions, followed next by students, and so it will go until we have all had our privacy surrendered to Labour's surveillance state."
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Foreign national ID card unveiled

2008-09-25T20:43:00.000+01:00

The first identity cards from the government's controversial national scheme have been unveiled.
The biometric card will be issued from November, initially to non-EU students and marriage visa holders.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would allow people to "easily and securely prove their identity".
Critics say the roll-out to some immigrants is a "softening up" exercise for the introduction of identity cards for everyone.
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Younger teens 'to get ID cards'

2008-09-22T20:48:00.000+01:00

Identity cards could be handed out to children as young as 14, a home office minister has suggested.
The first ID cards are due to be offered to 16 and 17-year-olds from 2010 as part of a plan to introduce the controversial scheme in stages.
But Meg Hillier said the age range was still "up for grabs" and could be lowered "if they prove popular".
She also said the scheme might be too far advanced for the Tories to "unpick" if they came to power in 2010.
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Police expand surveillance project

2008-09-15T21:26:00.002+01:00

The police are to expand a car surveillance operation that will allow them to record and store details of millions of daily journeys for up to five years.
A national network of roadside cameras will be able to "read" 50m licence plates a day, enabling officers to reconstruct the journeys of motorists.
Police have been encouraged to "fully and strategically exploit" the database, which is already recording the whereabouts of 10 million drivers a day, during investigations ranging from counter-terrorism to low-level crime.
But it has raised concerns from civil rights campaigners, who question whether the details should be kept for so long, and want clearer guidance on who might have access to the material.
The project relies on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to pinpoint the precise time and location of all vehicles on the road. Senior officers had promised the data would be stored for two years. But responding to inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act, the Home Office has admitted the data is now being kept for five years.
Thousands of CCTV cameras across the country have been converted to read ANPR data, capturing people's movements in cars on motorways, main roads, airports and town centres.
Local authorities have since adapted their own CCTV systems to capture licence plates on behalf of police, massively expanding the network of available cameras. Mobile cameras have been installed in patrol cars and unmarked vehicles parked by the side of roads.
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Child protection database 'will be used to prosecute young people'

2008-08-26T21:14:00.001+01:00

A flagship database intended to protect every child in the country will be used by police to hunt for evidence of crime in a "shocking" extension of its original purpose.
ContactPoint will include the names, ages and addresses of all 11 million under-18s in England as well as information on their parents, GPs, schools and support services such as social workers.
The £224 million computer system was announced in the wake of the death of Victoria Climbié, who was abused and then murdered after a string of missed opportunities to intervene by the authorities, as a way to connect the different services dealing with children.
It has always been portrayed as a way for professionals to find out which other agencies are working with a particular child, to make their work easier and provide a better service for young people.
However, it has now emerged that police officers, council staff, head teachers, doctors and care workers will use the records to search for evidence of criminality and wrongdoing to help them launch prosecutions against those on the database - even long after they have reached adulthood.
It comes amid growing concern about the increasing criminalisation of Britain's youth and the extent of the country's surveillance society.
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NHS database awaits legal diagnosis

2008-08-12T21:11:00.000+01:00

Government IT projects have a pretty poor reputation. They turn up late, cost twice as much you expect, and don't work when they arrive. But the NHS looks set to go one better. Legal experts are warning that its £6bn database could actually breach your human rights.
The idea of the database sounds sensible enough. Each patient will have a single record, detailing their medical history, allergies and any medication they're on. Doctors should thus have all the information they need to treat them, whether they're in Plymouth or Penrith.
It's a nice theory, but critics are fretting about data security. Tens of thousands of NHS staff will have access to the database. It would only take a couple of them to create data losses of tabloid headline proportions. "The real test will be whether Leo Blair's vaccination records ever go on," says healthcare IT expert Richard Gunn. "Because 30 seconds later the papers will know whether he had the MMR."
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Scots schoolchildren to be fingerprinted

2008-08-10T21:04:00.001+01:00

More than 8000 pupils are to have their fingerprints taken so they can be tracked by teachers.
Controversial biometric fingerprinting will be introduced to eight secondary schools in the biggest experiment of its type in Scotland.
But parents yesterday attacked the scheme, saying there are few controls over who can access the fingerprint database.
Officials behind the scheme say schools can use electronically collected thumb prints to monitor attendance, the buying of school meals and borrowing of library books.
But Scottish Parent Teacher Council spokeswoman Judith Gillespie said: "I have concerns about it and it does raise the spectre of Big Brother."
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Home Office building universal DNA database by stealth?

2008-08-03T21:20:00.000+01:00

A Tory MP fingerprinted after the murder of his 80-year-old uncle claimed last night that he is an innocent victim of Labour’s ‘Big Brother’ surveillance state.
Police visited the Commons to take fingerprints and a DNA sample from London MP Greg Hands after the killing last year.
But Mr Hands, 42, is now demanding to know why, one year on and despite repeated requests, his details have not been removed from the national DNA database.
He said that he and hundreds of thousands of other innocent Britons were being ‘stigmatised’ by the database, which is estimated to contain the records of more than four million individuals, including about 900,000 not convicted of any crime.
‘I accept it is helping to solve crimes,’ Mr Hands added, ‘but it seems to me the Home Office and police are building up a national, universal DNA database by stealth. They are trying to get all 60million of us by hook or by crook on to it.
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DNA records 'criminalise people'

2008-07-30T20:39:00.000+01:00

DNA profiles of those not convicted of a crime should be removed from the database in England and Wales, a government-funded inquiry has said.
Control of the database should be taken from government and police and given to an independent body, the inquiry urged.
Javed Aslam, one of the 30 panel members on the Citizen's Inquiry, said keeping the records would be "the first step towards a totalitarian state".
But the Home Office said the database helps to secure convictions.
The UK has the largest police DNA database in the world - with more than four million people on file.
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All air passengers to give their fingerprints

2008-07-27T20:56:00.000+01:00

Millions of passengers flying from British airports will be fingerprinted from next year under the latest controversial Government anti-terror plans.
The measures, which will apply to both domestic and international passengers, are being introduced despite opposition from the Information Commissioner, Britain’s privacy watchdog.
The Commissioner forced Heathrow to abandon a similar plan earlier this year after warning that it was potentially illegal under data protection laws.
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Warning over phone calls database

2008-07-15T20:50:00.000+01:00

A central database holding details of everyone's phone calls and emails could be a "step too far for the British way of life", ministers have been warned.
Plans for such a database are rumoured to be in the Communications Data Bill.
But Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said "lines must be drawn" to defend "fundamental liberties".
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CCTV cameras 'taught to listen'

2008-06-24T20:34:00.000+01:00

CCTV cameras which use artificial intelligence software are being developed to "hear" sounds like windows smashing, researchers have revealed.
University of Portsmouth scientists are working on adapting the software so it can also react to crowd noise.
Crimes would be captured on camera faster and response times improved.
The news comes after the BBC learned councils in southern England routinely used powers brought in to fight terrorism and crime to spy on people.
Figures obtained by BBC South showed the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) was used more than 750 times by the councils in 2007/08.
Dr David Brown, from the University of Portsmouth, said: "The visual-recognition software will be able to identify visual patterns but for the next stage we want to get the camera to pivot if it hears a certain type of sound.
"The longer artificial intelligence is in the software the more it learns."
He added: "Later versions will get cleverer as time goes on, perhaps eventually being able to identify specific words being said or violent sounds."
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Councils warned over spying laws

2008-06-23T20:27:00.001+01:00

Councils in England have been urged to review the way they use surveillance powers to investigate suspected crime.
Under laws brought in to help fight terrorism, councils can access phone and e-mail records and use surveillance to detect or stop a criminal offence.
But Local Government Association chairman Sir Simon Milton has written to councils warning overzealous use of the powers could alienate the public.
They should not be used for "trivial offences" such as dog fouling, he adds.
Concerns have been raised about the way some councils have used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
Recent examples include a family in Dorset followed for several weeks to see if they really did live in a school catchment area.
Other uses have included examining rubbish to monitor household waste.
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David Davis is Still Right

2008-06-17T19:57:00.001+01:00

Gordon Brown's speech on security and liberty today shows no understanding of the crisis of liberty in Britain.
Those who doubted the effectiveness of David Davis's resignation last week, saying it was a one-day stunt that would be quickly forgotten, have only to read Gordon Brown's speech to the IPPR today to see how big an impact Davis has had. The prime minister responded to all the main charges made by Davis from the steps of the House of Commons last week on 42-day pre-charge detention, ID cards, CCTV cameras and the DNA database.
With the Ipsos Mori poll showing support growing for Davis, particularly among young people, Brown has produced a speech that insists that the government protects individual liberty with all the fervour that it addresses security issues. This is simply not true. The trend in both Brown and Blair's administrations is of power being remorselessly focused at the centre of national life and of individual liberty being steadily reduced to suit the demands of this over-mighty state. Davis has taken a brave stand against this pattern and nothing in Brown's speech reassures us about actual measures to control state power.
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Brown Wins Crunch Vote on 42 Days

2008-06-11T19:39:00.003+01:00

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has narrowly won a House of Commons vote on extending the maximum time police can hold terror suspects to 42 days.
Thirty-six Labour MPs joined forces with Conservatives and Lib Dems to vote against the proposals.
But that was not enough to defeat them - although the government still faces a battle in the House of Lords.
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ID Cards Could be Used to Spy on the Public

2008-06-09T20:00:00.001+01:00

THE UK government's controversial national identity card scheme could be used to mount surveillance operations on members of the public, a powerful committee of MPs has warned.
The home affairs select committee has voiced fears that the way the authorities use sensitive data gathered in the multi-billion-pound programme could "creep" to include spying.
The all-party committee also urged ministers to make plans on how to deal with the theft of personal details from the National Identity Scheme, which will build a massive database on every person aged over 16 in Britain.
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A Picture of Something Chillingly Orwellian

2008-05-22T19:26:00.001+01:00

Imagine a world where the government knows where you are all the time. Imagine a world where a man you've never met knows you are about to get married before your beloved has even popped the question. Imagine a world where you can be refused a mortgage or life insurance because someone has mislaid or sold your personal details.
In November 2006, Richard Thomas, the UK Information Commissioner, gave a speech in which he warned the British public that we were "sleepwalking into a surveillance society". Now we're waking up to find we're already there.
The year 2008 may not have quite the same ring as 1984 but many of us are starting to think that the only thing George Orwell got wrong was the date. Not quite, because, unlike Big Brother, the government has no malign intent when it starts collecting, storing and cross-referencing more and more personal details about its citizens. It's always done in the interests of "efficient service delivery", "avoiding duplication", or, increasingly, "keeping us safe".
This week we hear that in drawing up the forthcoming Communications Data Bill, Home Office officials are seriously suggesting a database holding details of every phone call made and e-mail or text message sent in the UK.
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‘Big Brother’ Database for Phones and E-Mails

2008-05-20T19:22:00.000+01:00

A massive government database holding details of every phone call, e-mail and time spent on the internet by the public is being planned as part of the fight against crime and terrorism. Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecoms companies would hand over the records to the Home Office under plans put forward by officials.
The information would be held for at least 12 months and the police and security services would be able to access it if given permission from the courts.
The proposal will raise further alarm about a “Big Brother” society, as it follows plans for vast databases for the ID cards scheme and NHS patients. There will also be concern about the ability of the Government to manage a system holding billions of records. About 57 billion text messages were sent in Britain last year, while an estimated 3 billion e-mails are sent every day.
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Why the Police Now Have to Ask Teenage Muggers: 'Do you eat chips?'

2008-05-17T19:24:00.000+01:00

Imagine a country where strangers have the right to ask intrusive questions and store the answers on a database.
Where everyone from police officers to leisure-centre staff can demand: "Tell me who you feel close to?"
They will also have been trained to ask questions about sexual behaviour, family life, religion, secret fears, weight and "sleeping arrangements" at home.
Incredibly, thousands of Government and council apparatchiks in Britain became entitled on April 1 to ask such questions of anyone under 19.
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Bust-up with the boss?

2008-05-08T20:24:00.000+01:00

Workers accused of theft or damage could soon find themselves blacklisted on a register to be shared among employers. It will be good for profits but campaigners say innocent people could find it impossible to get another job.
To critics it sounds like a scenario from some Orwellian nightmare.
An online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which bosses can access when vetting potential employees.
But this is no dystopian fantasy. Later this month, the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is expected to go live.
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Secret Pact Allows the US to Spy on UK Motorists

2008-04-21T19:11:00.001+01:00

THE UK Home Secretary secretively signed a "special certificate" last year that gives foreign security agencies real-time access to traffic camera images and related data monitoring British motorists on highways throughout the UK.
Opposition politicians and civil liberties advocates yesterday accused Gordon Brown's government of attempting to hide from Parliament its covert plans to facilitate international surveillance of UK citizens in violation of privacy laws.
Under the authorisation signed last July 4 by Jacqui Smith, video feeds and still images captured from roadside TV cameras, along with personal data derived from them, can be transmitted out of the UK to countries such as the US, that are outside the European Economic Area.
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5,000 Children a Month Added to DNA Database

2008-04-07T19:03:00.000+01:00

One in four people being added to the DNA database is a child, it emerged yesterday.
The figure provides further evidence that the Government's "Big Brother" national database is increasingly targeting young people before they are old enough to vote.
Data obtained by the Liberal Democrats from Parliamentary Questions shows that the proportion of children being added is rising, with 5,000 being included every month.
Between October and January, 25 per cent of those added were 18 or younger, compared with less than 11 per cent of those already listed on it.
In total, 152,066 people were put on the database between October and January - 37,818 of whom were 18 or under.
Forecasts suggest that by next year one in 10 children will be included. The Daily Telegraph revealed last month that 44 children under 10 were on the database.
The news has prompted concerns from civil liberties campaigners that Britain is a "surveillance state".
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Child database will ‘pry into family life’

2008-04-06T18:37:00.000+01:00

A NEW national children’s database will contain details of relatives with drinking problems and of relationship difficulties between parents.
The register is intended to identify and help youngsters felt to have problems holding them back at school. It is not designed for children at risk of harm but for those with any health, learning or general wellbeing problems.
The highly personal data will be gathered as part of the common assessment framework, a key part of the government’s commitment to “early years” intervention.
Critics have attacked the move towards a computerised database - which will begin next year - as an unjustified intrusion into family life.
Liz Davies, a former social worker and senior lecturer in social care at London Metropolitan University, said: “It’s state intrusion that’s not warranted.
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MI5 Seeks Powers to Trawl Records

2008-03-29T16:01:00.000Z

Millions of commuters could have their private movements around cities secretly monitored under new counter-terrorism powers being sought by the security services.
Records of journeys made by people using smart cards that allow 17 million Britons to travel by underground, bus and train with a single swipe at the ticket barrier are among a welter of private information held by the state to which MI5 and police counter-terrorism officers want access in order to help identify patterns of suspicious behaviour.
The request by the security services, described by shadow Home Secretary David Davis last night as 'extraordinary', forms part of a fierce Whitehall debate over how much access the state should have to people's private lives in its efforts to combat terrorism.
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The Taxman at Your Door

2008-03-28T11:23:00.002Z

Landlords, online traders and other people who work from home could find the taxman turning up on their doorstep unannounced demanding their records, as the government seeks a big increase in the Revenue’s powers.
The radical move, planned for April 2009, will allow tax inspectors to pounce on businesses with no warning to inspect “records, assets and premises”.
Accountants warn that many ordinary taxpayers who don’t necessarily think of themselves as running a business – including up to 650,000 buy-to-let landlords and tens of thousands of traders who make money from websites such as eBay – could be targeted...
In December, the Revenue was granted Customs-like powers to arrest people where they have suspicions of criminal activity. They can also bug people’s homes and their phone calls, and intercept e-mails and letters.
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Heathrow Fingerprint Plan on Hold

2008-03-26T18:56:00.001Z

Plans to fingerprint passengers travelling from Heathrow's new Terminal 5 have been suspended, less than 24 hours before it is due to open.
Airport operator BAA claims the measure is needed to distinguish domestic passengers from international ones.
But the data protection watchdog said the plan may breach British law.
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CCTV in the Classroom

2008-03-18T14:55:00.001Z

Schools are becoming "Orwellian" societies where CCTV cameras in classrooms monitor pupil behaviour and staff performance, teachers will warn today [18th March 2008].
They are relying on "Big Brother-style" tactics to crack down on assaults on staff and fellow children, it is claimed.
Many of the Government's semi-independent academies have installed cameras and two-way mirrors to let senior staff monitor pupils, they say.
But the 160,000-strong Association of Teachers and Lecturers fears that the systems are being used by heads to monitor staff performance, putting teachers' ability to work independently at risk.
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Attempt to Gag Reports on Failing ID Card Scheme

2008-03-08T19:07:00.000Z

Commons speaker Michael Martin is using a 319-year-old law designed to protect freedom of speech to try to stop the publication of Home Office reports on the failing ID card scheme.
Lawyers for Mr Martin appeared unexpectedly at a High Court hearing last week aiming to prevent potentially damaging internal assessments being published under the Freedom of Information Act.
And onlookers were astonished when they argued that the Home Office documents should be kept secret under "parliamentary privilege" – a law created in the 1689 Bill of Rights to protect MPs from prosecution over anything they say or do in Parliament.
The latest twist in the dispute over ID cards occurred as the Government was appealing against an Information Commissioner's Office decision to publish the 'gateway' reviews, which monitor and assess the ID scheme's chance of success.
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Heathrow Airport First to Fingerprint

2008-03-08T19:03:00.001Z

Millions of British airline passengers face mandatory fingerprinting before being allowed to board flights when Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opens later this month.
For the first time at any airport, the biometric checks will apply to all domestic passengers leaving the terminal, which will handle all British Airways flights to and from Heathrow.
The controversial security measure is also set to be introduced at Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow’s Terminal 1, and many airline industry insiders believe fingerprinting could become universal at all UK airports within a few years.
All four million domestic passengers who will pass through Terminal 5 annually after it opens on March 27 will have four fingerprints taken, as well as being photographed, when they check in.
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Rethink on ID Card Plans

2008-03-06T19:14:00.001Z

The government has set out changes to its planned identity scheme - including allowing people to use passports or driving licences instead of ID cards.
Most people will not now have to give their fingerprints when getting a passport until 2011/12 - three years later than had previously been planned.
And plans to force passport applicants to get an ID card have been dropped.
The exception will be airport and other workers in security-sensitive jobs who will need an ID card from 2009.
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Pair in DNA Database Legal Battle

2008-02-27T16:06:00.002Z

Two British men are due to appear before Strasbourg's European Court of Human Rights to try to get their DNA removed from the UK national database.
Both were arrested and DNA samples were lawfully taken. But the men were later cleared and have no criminal record.
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The Most Spied Upon People in Europe

2008-02-27T15:29:00.000Z

Germany's highest court has ruled that spying on personal computers violates privacy, but governments across Europe are under pressure to help their security services fight terrorism and organised crime.
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Every Child in School Numbered for Life

2008-02-13T16:03:00.000Z

All 14-year-old children in England will have their personal details and exam results placed on an electronic database for life under a plan to be announced tomorrow [14 February 08].
Colleges and prospective employers will be able to access students’ records online to check on their qualifications. Under the terms of the scheme all children will keep their individual number throughout their adult lives, The Times has learnt. The database will include details of exclusions and expulsions.
Officials said last night that the introduction of the unique learner number (ULN)was not a step towards a national identity card. But it will be seen as the latest step in the Government’s broader efforts to computerise personal records.
Last night teachers’ leaders, parents’ organisations, opposition MPs and human rights campaigners questioned whether this Big Brother approach was necessary and said that it could compromise the personal security of millions of teenagers.
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Who Watches the Watchers?

2008-02-06T17:20:00.000Z

The recent spate of reports on bugging and intercepting communications has revealed how little people really know about the level of surveillance they are under.
Even MPs, it seems, are unsure whether they can be bugged or not, or what the rules exactly are.
It is widely known that Britain is the most watched Western society, but what does that actually mean? Who does it and how? And who keeps track of this - or to put it another way, who watches the watchers?
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Britain is Slithering Down the Road Towards a Police State

2008-02-06T15:27:00.000Z

The machine is out of control. Personal surveillance in Britain is so extensive that no democratic oversight is remotely plausible. Some 800 organisations, including the police, the revenue, local and central government, demanded (and almost always got) 253,000 intrusions on citizen privacy in the last recorded year, 2006. This is way beyond that of any other country in the free world.
The Sadiq Khan affair has killed stone dead the thesis, beloved of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, that any accretion of power to the state is sustainable because ministers are in control. Whether this applies to phone tapping, bugging devices, ID cards, NHS records, childcare computer systems, video surveillance or detention without trial, it is simply a lie. Nobody can control this torrent of intrusion. Nobody can oversee a burst dam.
Khan, an MP and government whip, was allegedly targeted by the police for having been a "civil rights lawyer" and thus a nuisance, though the recording of his meetings with a constituent in prison was supposedly directed at the inmate. Either way, the bugging destroyed the "Wilson doctrine", that MPs cannot be bugged. It appears that they can if ministers, or the police, so decide.
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Our State Collects More Data than the Stasi Ever Did

2008-01-31T15:23:00.000Z

This has got to stop. Britain's snooper state is getting completely out of hand. We are sleepwalking into a surveillance society, and we must wake up. When the Stasi started spying on me, as I moved around East Germany 30 years ago, I travelled on the assumption that I was coming from one of the freest countries in the world to one of the least free. I don't think I was wrong then, but I would certainly be wrong now. Today, the people of East Germany are much less spied upon than the people of Britain. The human rights group Privacy International rates Britain as an "endemic surveillance society", along with China and Russia, whereas Germany scores much better.
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Big Brother is Not in the Public Interest

2008-01-31T15:17:00.000Z

The news that more than 1,000 requests a day are made to "intercept" our phone calls, post and email should come as no surprise to anyone observing Britain's rapid descent into mass surveillance. What may be more of an eye-opener is the extent to which the Government has systematically embedded secrecy, incompetence and spin into the process.
The state can intrude into our communications in three distinct ways. It can bug our phone lines, it can open our mail and it now has the ability to access our phone and email records, discovering everything about our calling patterns, email usage and our networks of friends and colleagues. This latter innovation has become an epidemic.
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Extended Detention Plans Revealed

2008-01-24T15:18:00.000Z

The government has unveiled plans to let police hold terror suspects for up to 42 days without them being charged.
The Counter Terrorism Bill also proposes "full use of DNA" in investigations and greater the use of post-charge questioning.
It also proposes greater monitoring of convicted terrorists.
Some senior police officers support extending terror detentions beyond the current 28 days, but it is opposed by Lib Dems, Tories and rebel Labour MPs.
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A Small Victory: Britons' ID cards 'to be delayed'

2008-01-23T13:25:00.000Z

Plans for a wider roll-out of identity cards to British nationals appear to have been delayed for two years.
Foreign nationals will have ID cards this year and it was intended to introduce them in "significant volumes" for UK citizens from 2010.
But documents leaked to the Tories suggest it has been put back to 2012.
The Tories say the ID card scheme is "in the intensive care ward" but the government said the plan had always been to introduce them "incrementally".
The timetable for ID cards to start being given to UK citizens over 16 has already slipped and the first ones are not expected to start being issued until next year.
From January 2010 everyone getting a passport will have to get an identity card as well, according to existing plans.
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FBI Wants Instant Access to British ID Data

2008-01-23T13:17:00.000Z

Senior British police officials are talking to the FBI about an international database to hunt for major criminals and terrorists. The US-initiated programme, "Server in the Sky", would take cooperation between the police forces way beyond the current faxing of fingerprints across the Atlantic. Allies in the "war against terror" - the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - have formed a working group, the International Information Consortium, to plan their strategy.
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Generation ID: Lessons in Kiddyprinting

2008-01-13T13:23:00.000Z

Thousands of children across the UK have had their fingerprints and DNA taken without explicit informed parental consent. Tamanna Kalhar speaks to Terri Dowty of Action on Rights for Children
The innocuous term ‘kiddyprinting’ refers to the controversial practice of routinely fingerprinting schoolchildren. Many parents are unaware of it because they have not been asked for their explicit consent, or in many cases even notified that it is taking place.
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Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'

2008-01-13T13:12:00.000Z

Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails.
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PM Re-commits to ID Cards

2008-01-09T13:04:00.000Z

The Prime Minister is insisting the ID card plan will "move ahead" despite Tory protests following the scandals involving lost personal data by his government.
Speaking at his first Prime Minister's Questions session of 2008, Gordon Brown said the a parliamentary vote on making the card compulsory would take place after the voluntary system has been put in place, depending on the success of the initial scheme.
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Note: This often repeated line about voluntary ID cards is misleading, because even with the current legislation they will be compulsory for anyone applying for or renewing a passport. So they will be effectlively compulsory.

Debating Ethics of DNA Database

2008-01-09T11:41:00.000Z

The scientist who pioneered genetic fingerprinting says he's concerned that the personal data of innocent people is being wrongly held by police.
Professor Alec Jeffries told the BBC the retention of thousands of innocent people's DNA raised "significant ethical and social issues".
He was speaking as the government launched an inquiry into the way the national DNA database is used.
Per capita, it is the world's largest database, with the DNA of 4.5m people.
When first launched in 1995, only the DNA of convicted criminals were kept by police. But following a change in the law in 2001, all DNA collected by forensics - for whatever purpose - can be stored permanently.
That ranges from people who voluntarily give police a DNA swab in order to eliminate themselves from investigations - to convicted rapists and murderers.
Since 2004, the data of everyone arrested for a recordable offence in England and Wales - all but the most minor offences - has remained on the system regardless of their age, the seriousness of their alleged offence, and whether or not they were prosecuted.
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UK is an "Endemic Surveillance Society"

2008-01-07T13:43:00.000Z

Privacy International, together with the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, has released its latest survey of global privacy. The report described as "probably the most comprehensive single volume report published in the human rights field" is over 1,100 pages long and includes 6,000 footnotes. The US is the worst ranking country in the so-called democratic world. In terms of overall privacy protection the United States has performed very poorly, being out-ranked by both India and the Philippines and falling into the "black" category, denoting endemic surveillance. The worst ranking EU country is the United Kingdom, which again fell into the "black" category along with Russia and Singapore.
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Proposal to Tag Dementia Sufferers

2007-12-27T11:12:00.000Z

Elderly people with dementia could be tagged to make it easier to track their movements, a minister has proposed.
Science Minister Malcolm Wicks told the BBC the satellite technology could enable them to lead fuller lives and would reassure their families.
He said it would give sufferers, who often experience memory loss, "freedom to roam around their communities".
The charity Help the Aged said the technology could have "potential" in helping care for people with dementia.
Kate Jopling, of Help the Aged said: "Although when we first hear this it smacks of 'Big Brother', we shouldn't dismiss the possibility of some new technologies to help us in providing better care for people with dementia and care that potentially allows them to stay within their communities for much longer while minimising some of the risk.
"It is a real balancing act but for me the crucial issue is, is the care better for the person with dementia or is it just about our convenience?"
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A slight variation on the usual sort of stories I post, but it is interesting because it is the first time that I can remember where there has been a suggestion to tag non-criminal members of the public. It would be a dangerous step to take as experience warns us to be aware of feature creep - and that assumes that the reason for the tagging is genuinely to help sufferers, rather than make life easier for carers and authorities.

Permit to Travel?

2007-11-23T10:18:00.000Z

Travellers face price hikes and confusion after the Government unveiled plans to take up to 53 pieces of information from anyone entering or leaving Britain.
For every journey, security officials will want credit card details, holiday contact numbers, travel plans, email addresses, car numbers and even any previous missed flights. The information, taken when a ticket is bought, will be shared among police, customs, immigration and the security services for at least 24 hours before a journey is due to take place.
Anybody about whom the authorities are dubious can be turned away when they arrive at the airport or station with their baggage. Those with outstanding court fines, such as a speeding penalty, could also be barred from leaving the country, even if they pose no security risk.
By 2014 every one of the predicted 305million passenger journeys in and out of the UK will be logged, with details stored about the passenger on every trip.
The scheme will apply to every way of leaving the country, whether by ferry, plane, or small aircraft. It would apply to a family having a day out in France by Eurotunnel, and even to a yachtsman leaving British waters during the day and returning to shore. The measure applies equally to UK residents going abroad and foreigners travelling here.
The information will be stored for as long as the authorities believe it is useful, allowing them to build a complete picture of where a person has been over their lifetime, how they paid and the contact numbers of who they stayed with.
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I really don't see how this is going to be workable - it will almost certainly be hugely unpopular. Putting to one side the moral/liberty implications for a moment, are they really suggesting that you have to give the government at least 24 hours notice before you travel abroad? Last minute holidays and short notice business trips would be impossible.
This plan means that you are effectively asking the state for permission to leave the country. This sounds like something from the old Soviet Union and would have been completely unthinkable just a couple of years ago.

Data Lost by Revenue and Customs

2007-11-21T11:31:00.000Z

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has lost computer disks containing confidential details of 15 million [25 million people's personal details] child benefit recipients.
The organisation says it does not believe the records - names, addresses, dates of birth and bank accounts - have fallen into the wrong hands. This is not the first time it has lost sensitive information.
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Who decided to post two discs with personal and financial details of 25 million people by unregistered delivery?
What has become of the missing discs and could they have fallen into the hands of fraudsters?
Why did the Government wait 10 days before telling the public what had happened?
Where will the buck stop after the revenue chief's resignation?
When can the British people be sure once again that their money is safe in their bank accounts?
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Could the fiasco of the lost child benefit records spell the end for the Government's ID Card project?
MPs have questioned how the Government could be entrusted with the details of every adult in the land when it is so cavalier with personal data.
Alistair Darling said that the biometric identifiers that would be entered on to the ID database would make such blunders less likely.
But it does not matter how secure the technology is. It is only as effective as the people who look after the information.
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Government Agency to use Phone-line Lie Detector

2007-11-20T10:47:00.000Z

Lie detection technology will be used for the first time on telephone calls of unemployment benefit claimants.
The system analyses speech patterns to identify callers who may be telling lies over the phone.
Those who are identified as suspicious or high risk will then be interviewed more closely by Job Centre staff.
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Detention Without Charge is 'longest' in UK

2007-11-12T11:43:00.000Z

Britain detains suspected terrorists without charge for longer than many other comparable countries, human rights group Liberty has said.
Currently the UK has a 28-day limit, but the government is considering extending that, with ministers suggesting it could be doubled to 56.
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The human rights group Liberty today [12 Nov 2007] releases a comprehensive study of terrorist pre-charge detention powers in 15 countries, including the United States, Spain, Russia, France and Turkey.
Contrary to some misleading reports of investigations in Italy, Italian law only permits pre-charge detention for a maximum of four days. The study, based on advice and assistance from lawyers and academics around the world, demonstrates that the existing 28-day limit already far exceeds equivalent limits in other comparable democracies.
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Peer 'Ready to Defy ID Card Law'

2007-11-10T12:00:00.000Z

The Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Williams has said she would rather go to prison than carry an identity card.
Baroness Williams said the cards would seriously undermine individual liberty so people were entitled to refuse their co-operation, using non-violent means.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions, she described the plans as "a Big Brother scheme of the most terrifying kind".
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Clegg Vows to Defy ID Cards Law

2007-11-09T14:38:00.000Z

Nick Clegg, the odds-on favourite to become Liberal Democrat leader, yesterday announced that he will break the law and refuse to provide details of his identity if the government presses ahead with plans to make ID cards compulsory.
Drawing a parallel with resistance to the poll tax, he said he would also urge his fellow MPs and Lib Dem councils not to cooperate.
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Poet Found Guilty of Terrorism

2007-11-08T14:17:00.000Z

A 23-year-old who called herself the "Lyrical Terrorist" has become the first woman in the UK to be convicted under the Terrorism Act.
Samina Malik from Southall, west London, has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of owning terrorist manuals.
The jury heard Malik had written extremist poems praising Osama Bin Laden, supporting martyrdom and discussing beheading.
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Where does freedom of speak end and terrorism begin? When the law was changed to make the "glorification of terrorism" illegal, there was fear expressed that it this represented an attack on the principles of free speach.
Samina Malik has DONE nothing, she has not carried out any terrorist activity, nor has she planned any terrorist activity. She wrote poems that expressed a point of view and had documents that could have been useful to a potential terrorist, but which could also have been research for her poetry. If she had bean Joan Smith instead of Samina Malik, would the ownership of these materials been so contoversial?
We may not like what someone says, indeed we may find it incomprehensible and abhorant, but does that mean someone can't say it?
To be honest, I know little about this case, certainly not enough to hold any sort of opinion on whether she was dangerous or not. But on first reading there seems little to suggest that she was a threat and much to worry about regarding the status of free speach in this country.
Indeed, my friends have expressed concern that by expressing such views, then I too may become "of interest" to the security forces. Personally I think that is extremely unlikely (does anyone even read this stuff?), but do we really live in a society where to express an unpopular (i.e. non-state sponsored) opinion is perceived as dangerous?

Government and Councils to Spy on ALL Our Phones

2007-09-30T12:19:00.000+01:00

Officials from the top of Government to lowly council officers will be given unprecedented powers to access details of every phone call in Britain under laws coming into force tomorrow [1st October 2007].
The new rules compel phone companies to retain information, however private, about all landline and mobile calls, and make them available to some 795 public bodies and quangos.
The move, enacted by the personal decree of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, will give police and security services a right they have long demanded: to delve at will into the phone records of British citizens and businesses.
But the same powers will also be handed to the tax authorities, 475 local councils, and a host of other organisations, including the Food Standards Agency, the Department of Health, the Immigration Service, the Gaming Board and the Charity Commission. The initiative, formulated in the wake of the Madrid and London terrorist attacks of 2004 and 2005, was put forward as a vital tool in the fight against terrorism. However, civil liberties campaigners say the new powers amount to a 'free for all' for the State snooping on its citizens.
And they angrily questioned why the records were being made available to so many organisations. Similar provisions are being brought in across Europe, but under much tighter regulation.
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It is incomprehensible how the state has acquired the power to gain access to out personal telephone records without the need for a warrent issued by a Judge. Instead, police requests for phone records will need the approval of a superintendent or inspector, while council officials must get permission from the authority's assistant chief officer. Thousands of staff in other agencies will be legally entitled to retrieve the records once the request is approved by a senior official.

LibDems: Stopping the Surveillance Society

2007-09-21T10:11:00.000+01:00

The Liberal Democrats today reaffirmed at our Brighton conference their strong opposition to ID cards and demanded the immediate repeal of the Identity Cards Act 2006.
This was part of a wider set of proposals for rolling back the legislation that
has turned Britain into a ‘surveillance society.’
Other proposals backed by the party conference included:

The destruction of all DNA samples taken from those not charged or convicted of an offence

Updating the Data Protection Act to reflect the nature of the modern
surveillance society

Greater regulation of CCTV

Stronger powers for the Information Commissioner

Allowing individuals to see any information held on them by public and private sector bodies and correct any errors they find

Strengthened scrutiny of privacy implications of new laws by Parliament

In his leader’s speech to conference, also today, Menzies Campbell reminded people that David Cameron and the Conservatives had originally supported ID cards, before changing their minds and deciding they were against them.
The Liberal Democrats will make the protection of traditional British liberties and personal privacy a major line of attack in the run up to the next general election. This country needs a champion of liberty now more than ever.
Britain has long distinguished itself by its liberal belief in the rights of the individual against the powers of the state. By stealth, this Government has given the state unprecedented snooping powers that affect each and every one of us. It is time that these powers were rolled back.
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All UK 'must be on DNA database' Claims Judge

2007-09-05T12:18:00.000+01:00

The whole population and every UK visitor should be added to the national DNA database, a senior judge has said.
Lord Justice Sedley told BBC News the current England and Wales database, which holds DNA from crime suspects and scenes, was "indefensible".
He added it would be fairer to include "everybody, guilty or innocent" on it.
The Home Office said the database of four million profiles had helped solve criminal cases, but to expand it would raise logistical and ethical issues.
The DNA database - which is 12 years old - grows by 30,000 samples a month taken from suspects or recovered from crime scenes.
There has already been criticism of the database - the largest in the world - because people who are found innocent usually cannot get their details removed.
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Beware of the database...
Last autumn, Tony Blair - then prime minister - called for the national DNA database to be expanded to include every UK citizen.
When the national DNA database went live in 1995, only the DNA of convicted offenders could be held on it.
Samples taken by the police during an investigation had to be destroyed if the suspect was acquitted or the charges dropped.
A law change in 2001 allowed the profiles of those acquitted of certain crimes to be kept.
In 2004, fresh legislation permitted the taking of samples from anyone arrested for a recordable offence and detained at a police station.
The government is now seeking to lower the threshold of offences for which a DNA sample can be required by the police. Some agree with the father of DNA, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, that we are witnessing "mission creep".
By the end of 2005, 200,000 samples which would have been destroyed before 2001 were being retained, and figures recently published by the Liberal Democrats suggest that more than half a million profiles were added in 2006.
With more than four million samples on the database, Britain holds DNA profiles on a higher proportion of its population - 5.2% - than any other country. By comparison, the figure for the USA is just 0.5%.

‘Surveillance society’ Warning on Data Sharing

2007-08-31T16:41:00.000+01:00

Confidential personal data – gleaned from sources as diverse as driving licences, medical records and store loyalty cards – is now often shared without people’s knowledge, the information commission will warn on Tuesday, in its latest salvo against what it calls the “surveillance society”.
The commission says the increasingly complex web of information sharing – involving the public and private sectors, and bodies ranging from hospitals to credit reference agencies – can make it hard for people to assert their legal rights to view information held about them.
The commission does not name specific organisations, but its comments echo a growing debate over the increasingly widespread and sophisticated use of information gathered by official agencies and businesses.
The data can be gleaned from sources such as supermarket loyalty cards and Transport for London’s Oyster plastic travel ticket.
Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said there was “almost zero awareness” among the public of the detail of how data was shared, meaning that in some organisations sharing of information was becoming the “default”.
“Very soon, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to stop the data sharing juggernaut,” he said.
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Habius Corpus Under Attack Again

2007-07-25T10:18:00.000+01:00

Gordon Brown is considering doubling to 56 days the period terrorism suspects can be detained without charge.
He is expected to try to extend the 28-day limit, when he unveils his strategy on counter-terrorism.
New powers may also allow for the seizure of suspects' passports as part of plans to improve airport security.
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The limit on the amount of time someone can be held without charge is central to habius corpus which prevents a person being interned by the state. It is a basic requirement for any free society, and is a important part of the 'innocent until proven guilty' principle. Any plan to remove the passport of suspects - these are people who are not being held for any charge - is even more alarming. At the very least there should be safeguards:

A time limit during which the suspect must be charged with a terrorism related offence or his passport returned

The order to withdraw a passport must come from a court

Recourse to a court of appeal

I personally feel that it is inherently wrong to curtail the freedom of someone who is not charged with any crime. It's a matter of principle - we either live in a free society or we don't.

Schools to Fingerprint Infants

2007-07-24T13:53:00.000+01:00

Children as young as five can be fingerprinted at school without their parents' consent under plans unveiled yesterday.
Official guidance published for the first time says that head teachers have the right to collect biometric data for security reasons. Information can also be used to monitor attendance, pay for food or allow pupils to take a book out of the library.
Schools should destroy personal data when children leave and information cannot be shared with third parties.
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Heathrow to Introduce Fingerprint Checks

2007-07-20T13:35:00.000+01:00

From next year all passengers travelling on domestic BA flights from Heathrow will have to give their fingerprint and have their face scanned as part of the security check prior to take off.
The new biometric techniques, which will be introduced at Terminal 5 when it opens in March, were being implemented as a result of "recent security threats," airports operator BAA said. Similar procedures are already in force in other countries, such as the US.
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The "need" for this has come about because of pretty fundermental flaw in the design of the new Terminal 5. The design flaw should be fixed rather than patched by a process that infringes on my privacy.
As ever, there is no information on who will have access to the information and how long it will be stored for. There is no need to store the information for more than 24 hours after a flight has left, but for all we know the information is being stored indefinitely.
The government is openly attempting to integrate muliple databases to form the back-bone of its ID Card scheme, and no doubt this information will (eventually at least) form part of that. This information will then be openly available to muliple government departments, agencies, and even private companies - and 1000's of individuals who work for them. The police's DNA/figureprint database is already the largest in the world with the details of hundred's of thousands of innocent adults and childrens.
Trains are the future.

Police Given Direct Access to C-Charge Data

2007-07-17T13:28:00.000+01:00

Police are to be given live access to London's congestion charge cameras - allowing them to track all vehicles entering and leaving the zone.
Anti-terror officers will be exempted from parts of the Data Protection Act to allow them to see the date, time and location of vehicles in real time.
They previously had to apply for access on a case-by-case basis.
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When you open the door an inch, it will inevitably be pushed open that bit more, and a bit more, and a bit more... and the feature creep has started already with the leak that ministers are considering a plan to allow police in England and Wales to use traffic cameras when investigating all forms of crime.

Police Call for Indefinite Detention Without Charge

2007-07-16T13:23:00.000+01:00

Senior police officers say their calls to be allowed to hold terror suspects for longer without charge would not mean any kind of "internment".
Ken Jones, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said the police needed more flexibility over the current limit of 28 days without charge.
Shami Chakrabarti, of campaign group Liberty, attacked the police proposal.
"We elect politicians to determine legislation and we expect chief constables to uphold the rule of law, not campaign for internment," said Ms Chakrabarti, director of Liberty.
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Home Office figures show that less than 20% of the 1228 people arrested under terrorism laws since 2001 have been convicted of terrorism offenses - and over half were released without any charge at all. It is important we remember this when we hear calls for indefinite detention of terrorism suspects.