Anti-Terrorism

Plans for new anti-terrorism controls on websites have led to a government defeat in the Lords – by just one vote. The original plans would have allowed a police constable to decide that information on the internet could be related to terrorism. But peers changed the Terrorism Bill to ensure police have to ask judges before telling ISPs that web pages should be removed.

Stella Rimington asserted “ID cards may be helpful in all kinds of things but I don’t think they are necessarily going to make us any safer.”

The Information Commissioner stated that UK is in danger of ‘sleepwalking into a surveillance society’. See the arguments..

Renewed demands for a full public inquiry into the July 7 London bombings are expected after two official reports fail to identify intelligence blunders or a clear link with British foreign policy. Read the comments of Milan Rai of Justice not Vengeance.

It has been suggested that his detention, on the day of Yasser Arafat’s death, may have been timed to avoid widescale media coverage.

The privacy watchdog organisation Privacy International has filed simultaneous complaints with Data Protection and Privacy regulators in 33 countries concerning recent revelations of secret disclosures of millions of records from the banking giant SWIFT to US intelligence agencies. The disclosures, undertaken on the grounds of counter-terrorism, involve the mass transfer of data from the SWIFT centre in Belgium to the US, and possibly direct access by US authorities both to data held within Belgium and data residing in SWIFT centres worldwide.

Privacy International named a U.S. program to fingerprint foreign visitors as the year’s most menacing project, which has been undertaken “with little or no debate or scrutiny.”

The first biometric immigration controls will go live at Heathrow airport this spring.

A written Home Office response says no Commons statement is necessary.

UK tourists are now to be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in the US.

Amnesty International today published the details of CIA flights that used United Kingdom airfields to refuel just hours after transferring detainees to countries where they risked torture.

“Legislation to introduce national ID cards must not lead to vulnerable groups being denied access to the NHS.”

MPs will debate the ID Cards Bill on 13 February. Liberty have prepared a briefing detailing their support for amendments made by the House of Lords – including those which ensure the scheme will be compulsory.

Two women were arrested at NSA Menwith Hill on 1st April within hours of the new Act being brought into force. More details here.

The EU has taken a step closer to introducing new data retention laws after the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee backed proposals to store details of all Internet usage and telephone calls for up to 12 months.

New passport applicants could still have to provide fingerprints despite the government dropping its ID card plans, the Home Office has confirmed.

They appear to be avoiding confirming or denying the use of the US-UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).

The IBM pilot will track passengers from 10 international routes by April.

The legislation means offenders could be jailed for up to seven years for encouraging or inducing terrorism under the clause. Critics say it will damage free speech. Read the text of the debate.

The CIA is funding federal research into surveillance of Internet chat rooms in an effort to identify possible terrorists.

Academics say thousands of texts within Edinburgh University’s collection of 3.4 million books and journals could be defined as “terrorist publications”, leaving the institution open to prosecution unless they are removed from the shelves.

The Home Secretary has published full details of proposed new anti-terror laws against indirect incitement and “glorification” of terrorism and preparing attacks.

Law lords are hearing a final appeal over whether Britain had the right to impose special emergency measures to hold 12 foreigners indefinitely without charge.

The national ID card bill will not make it through the House of Lords before the election on 5 May.

The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation said the government should revert to its original intention of allowing a select committee of both houses to take evidence on the bill.

Two peace protesters, Maya Evans and Milan Rai, have been arrested opposite Downing Street for organising a peaceful remembrance ceremony comprised of just themselves. They read names of Iraqis and Britons killed in the conflict, and were arrested under the new legislation that criminalises ‘demonstrating’. indymedia report

Brian has kept up a 24 hour peace vigil in Parliament Square since June 2001 to protest about the Government’s foreign policy towards Iraq.

Technology to be incorporated into new UK passports by end 2005 has a 10% failure rate.

Dame Stella Rimington stated “It cannot be right to keep people in complete isolation, denied human contact and denied any access to the courts for an interminable length of time.”

The government has staved off a backbench rebellion to reverse changes imposed on the controversial ID Cards Bill by peers. But the first ID cards are now not expected until 2009 – a year later than originally planned.

Charles Clarke has claimed that opponents of the government’s plans to hold terrorist suspects without charge for 90 days would leave Britain fighting terrorism with “one legal hand tied behind our back”.

The House of Lords accepted the amendment that anyone applying for a new biometric passport before January 2010 could opt out of having an ID card. See the latest on campaigning against ID cards and databases in the UK.

The Passport Service (UKPS) is working with the Home Office on the processes required for integrating the issuing of passports with the planned national identity card scheme.

The debate covered some issues affecting ISPs, and ISPA and LINX continue to push forward with their outstanding concerns.