Data Retention

Amnesty International UK and Open Net Initiative (ONI), an Internet surveillance monitoring organisation, have claimed that several large technology companies are guilty of collaborating with “repressive” governmental regimes. Together with The Observer, Amnesty and ONI have launched the Irrepressible.info campaign to urge people to take a stand against repression.

Thanks to the innovative and open source Frontline SMS system, pro-democracy e-activists at Kubatana have managed to

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

The government has succeeded in its latest bid to overturn the Lords’ move to keep ID cards voluntary, as senior minister accused peers of frustrating “the will of the people”. Meanwhile, a Home Office minister has confirmed that the cards could be issued with PINs, which would make it easier and cheaper for firms to use the system.

The Home Affairs Select Committee say details are too thin and there are potential risks to personal freedom.

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.

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

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.”

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

earlier this year. This states that any mandatory retention regime would be violate European law. The UK government initially plan to implement a voluntary code of practice, a move which PI believe to be a violation of the Data Protection Act.

The Open Rights Group (Org) will serve as a hub for other cyber-rights groups campaigning on digital rights issues. Org emulates US’s Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) digital rights group.
ZDNet reports that Org has centred its focus on the proposed draft EU framework on data retention for ISPs and telecommunications companies which it believes could contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.

The idea of forcing ISPs to record their customers’ online activities for future police access is gaining ground in US state capitols and in Washington DC. The European Parliament’s vote in December for a data retention requirement seems to have attracted broad interest.

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

as part of a secret trial to analyse the web traffic of its broadband customers, and then serve selected adverts on a number of selected websites. Report from the Guardian.

Business leaders today voiced support for an identity card scheme for the first time, but warned that the proposed scheme would not be robust enough.

The People’s Republic of China has passed a new law aimed at curbing spam that makes it a crime to own an unregistered mail server. Businesses and ISPs must inform the government at least 20 days before an email server is built and must keep all email for a minimum of 60 days.

The Ukrainian secret police (SBU) have bid to take over management of the national domain name “.ua” and propose legalising e-mail monitoring.

European Justice Ministers have agreed not to immediately force through plans for an EU-wide data retention scheme, but opted to negotiate with the European Parliament instead.

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.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is concerned about implications of this seizure for free speech and privacy, and improper and unconstitutional silencing of independent media.

Over 20 sites are now unavailable – Indymedia seeks to know how and why a server outside US jurisdiction can be seized by US authorities.

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

Google has been accused of being the “biggest threat to genetic privacy” for its alleged plan to create a searchable database of genetic information. They were presented with an award as part of the Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy in Curitiba, Brazil.

Google’s recently launched news service in China doesn’t display results from websites blocked by that country’s authorities, leading to accusations of Google cooperation with Chinese censorship.

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.

as we remain deeply concerned that the voluntary code laid before parliament is not compliant with data protection principles and Human Rights standards.
GreenNet calls on other UK ISPs not to subscribe to the voluntary code of practice under the Home Office’s data retention proposals. This is in line with with ISPA’s (Internet Service Providers Association) recommendations.

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.

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

Help stop the 2011 census being run by an arms company with close links to the United States government.

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

A Commons Science and Technology Committee report finds that Home Office consultation on its proposed biometric identity cards programme has been too restricted and its cost estimates may be unreliable.

Repressive regimes are taking full advantage of the net’s ability to censor and stifle reform and debate, reveals a report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to mark Press Freedom Day.

The Home Secretary is seizing the opportunity of the London bombing to
push the EU for mandatory retention of internet logs by ISPs. GreenNet believes that blanket retention would be a serious
infringement of privacy, and would inevitably be used to trace minor
offences and political activity, rather than being useful against
a serious terrorist threat. The measures had already been rejected by
the ISP industry on the grounds of cost and
practicality. GreenNet urges you to express your opposition to your
MEPs, Charles Clarke, and EU Commissioners

a good introduction to issues of security in email communications from Indymedia. See how the UK ranks in a 347=x-347-545224”>recent study by Privacy International looking at how well countries protect the privacy rights of their citizens.

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

Reporters Without Borders expressed concern at a new decree governing registration of websites, put forward by the Ukrainian Ministry of Transport and Communication.

Reporters Without Borders have asked the Vietnamese authorities for information about three Internet users who were arrested at their home on Nguyen Kiem Street in Ho Chi Minh City on 19 October.

The DPP yesterday backed a call by the attorney general for the removal of the ban on using phone-tap evidence in court. He said: “It’s very, very important we do everything we can to achieve this because we’ve got a big prize in prospect if we manage this. The big prize is public safety – convicting dangerous criminals.” Liberty welcomes phone-tap evidence use in criminal cases.

The Proposal for a Directive on the retention of communications traffic data would see internet data held for six months, phone data held for one year, and ISPs and telcos compensated for their compliance costs. But it needs the support of the European Parliament and Council of Ministers to become law.

European Council of Ministers proposals appear to mean the EU will tell ISPs what data to collect and store as well as defining how long it must be kept.

Privacy International release their report on privacy in 2007. The UK is highlighted as one of the worst countries, described as “endemic surveillance societies”.