NEWS
http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. EU: PNR + API (Advance Passenger Information): UK pushes for new law to allow the exchange of API on all air travel
2. EU: SMART BORDERS PILOT PROJECT: The pilot will cover entry and exit at all borders: land, sea and air
3. EU: CIA Manual for operatives to enter Schengen area undetected
4. EU: DATA PROTECTION REGULATION: Council of the European Union: Latest position
5. UK: The Jimmy Mubenga case exposed a system in denial over racism
6. SPAIN: Fines to punish participation in demonstrations - Resisting the administrative criminalisation of activists
7. UK: Senior public order police commanders train for future anti-fracking protests
8. EU-ECHR: Accession on the CJEU's terms would reduce the level of human rights protection, particularly in JHA matters
9. UK: Home Office: Intercept as Evidence
10. EU-USA: TISA documents
11. CJEU: EU court takes Hamas off terrorist list
12. EU: European Parliament study: DP regime and inter-agency cooperation in JHA fields
13. EU: European Commission: Work Programme for 2015
14. UK: Police asked university for list of attendees at fracking debate
15. USA: Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on passenger screening
16. IRR News Service: Selling the intolerant nation and Patriot games and culture wars
17. EU: Study proposes giving EU complete control over Schengen borders
18. EU: Key European terrorism legislation may be revised
19. EU: CJEU: The Court clarifies the extent of the right of illegally staying people to be heard
20. EU: European Commission working on new mass surveillance directive
21. EU: Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria prioritised for "pilot initiative on return"
22. EU: Council: Draft Guidelines for EU Strategy combatting radicalisation
23. International Committee of the Red Cross: Children and Detention
24. EU and Greece turn their backs on refugees arriving at Greek islands
25. EU: DP REGULATION: COUNCIL CONSOLIDATED TEXT: Statewatch Analysis
26. EU: EU looks to African dictators for migration solutions and the Khartoum Process
27. EU-USA: Congressional Research Service: USA-EU Cooperation Against Terrorism
28. EU: Council of the European Union: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 4-5 December 2014
29. EU: THE LEGALITY of SURVEILLANCE by NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE & SECURITY AGENCIES: EU Article 29 Working Party
30. UK: Chief Constable warns against "drift towards police state!
31. EU: “eCall” system: Automatic emergency call system for cars
32. EU: Eurosur extended: all participating states now connected to border surveliiance system
33. UK: Shocking video: POlice CS spray protesting Warwick University students
34. EU: AN EXAMPLE OF NEO-COLONIALISM? FRONTEX: Africa-Frontex Intelligence Community report 2014
35. UK-EU: JHA OPT-OUT: UK opts back into European Arrest Warrant
36. EU: Council of the European Union: Friends of the Presidency and CJEU Rules of Procedure
37. EU: Council of the European Union: Council "foreign fighters"
38. EU: Council of the European Union: EU-USA TTIP
39. EU: DEVICE FINGERPRINTING: Article 29 Working Party on data protection
40. News in Brief
EU-UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA SURVEILLANCE
1. USA-UK:"FIVE EYES": SURVEILLANCE: ECHELON STUDY: European Parliament
2. UK spy base GCHQ tapped Irish internet
3. EU-USA-UK: Surveillance: Spying on all of us: UK-GCHQ, USA-NSA, "Five Eyes" and the EU
4. NORWAY: SPYING equipment outside parliament
5. CoE: Mass surveillance "not justified by fight against terrorism"
6. UK: Home Affairs Select Committee report on RIPA 2000
7. UK: GCHQ did not breach human rights
8. USA-NSA: SURVEILLANCE: How the NSA Hacks Cellphone Networks Worldwide
CIA TORTURE-RENDITION Report
1. CIA-UK (MI6): UK should come clean
2. European Parliament: Press releases: Call for investigation
3. CIA torture report
4. CIA torture report: Poland admits black site, human rights groups demand justice
5. USA: Senate Report on detention and interrogation
USING THE STATEWATCH WEBSITE
1. EU: PNR (Passenger Name Record) + API (Advance Passenger Information): UK pushes for new law to allow the exchange of API on all air travel:Meeting Document: From: UK delegation To: JHA Counsellors/COSI Support Group: Subject: Legal framework for intra-EEA API - Discussion document (This is a LIMITE and a "DS" document - which means it is not referenced on the Council's public register, pdf):
"In order for law enforcement agencies to effectively tackle the growing and evolving threat posed to European citizens, in particular from foreign fighters, it is necessary that they have a robust legal framework to access passenger data on intra-EEA routes."
The UK also proposed that flights within the EU should be included in the EU PNR scheme: See: EU-PNR SCHEME: UK seeking to extend Commission proposal to cover intra-EU flights from the start (Statewatch database)
2. EU: SMART BORDERS PILOT PROJECT: Council of the European Union: Smart Borders Package pilot project: political guidelines (pdf). The pilot will cover entry and exit at all borders: land, sea and air and: "The pilot project should in particular test the following aspects:
the impact of biometrics' use on border control processes: testing different biometric identifiers for enrolment in EES (10 fingerprints in combination with facial image; 8 fingerprints in combination with facial image; 4 fingerprints in combination with facial image; facial image only); using several types of biometric devices (existing technology at border posts, last generation of fingerprint scanners, contactless fingerprint scanners, hand-held devices, Automated Border Control (ABC) gates or electronic (e-) gates). The option of the facial image could in particular be tested in case of cruises."
See also: Smart borders: "not sufficient evidence" to justify law enforcement access to proposed Entry/Exit System travel database and Smart borders:fait accompli? (Statewatch database)
3. EU: CIA manual tells agents how to fool EU border guards (euobserver, link). See: CIA Advice for US Government Operatives Infiltrating Schengen(pdf) and CIA Assessment on Surviving Secondary Screening at Airports While Maintaining Cover WikiLeaks release: December 21, 2014 (link)
4. EU: DATA PROTECTION REGULATION: Council of the European Union: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) (LIMITE doc no: 15395-14 (pdf) With 232 pages and 496 Footnotes/Reservations by Member States or the Commission)
"Delegations find attached a revised version of the draft General Data Protection Regulation. This version seeks to take account of the discussions on the draft Regulation that took place in the Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection under the Italian Presidency.... the Presidency had also circulated alternative drafts, which are set out in 16974/14 DATAPROTECT 187.
All changes made to the original Commission proposal are underlined text; where text has been deleted, this is indicated by (…). Where existing text has been moved, this text is indicated in italics. Changes that were not yet fully discussed in DAPIX are marked in bold underlining."
5. UK: The Jimmy Mubenga case exposed a system in denial over racism - The judge could have shown the jury racist texts unearthed by prosecutors. I believe he should have (The Guardian) by Frances Webber
6. SPAIN: Fines to punish participation in demonstrations. Resisting the administrative criminalisation of activists
The Comissión Legal Sol has been providing legal support to participants in social movements and demonstrations and reporting on developments regarding judicial and legislative initiatives to counter widespread resistance to evictions, austerity and political reforms, since the 15 M[ay 2011] camp that was set up, occupying the central Puerta del Sol square in Madrid... The Comisión Legal Sol's administrative law working group has produced a guide to detail how successful appeals against administrative fines imposed in relation to arrests during demonstrations may be filed, because "countless" sanctions and fines are being imposed and their ability to act is limited. Thus, this guide on 'burorresistencia" was produced because "a tool that would be at everyone's service was necessary, so that anyone may defend themselves from 'burorrepresión'".
See also: Spain: Organic Law for the Protection of Public Security: A Threat to Civil Liberties in Spain (OMCT, link)
7. UK: Senior public order police commanders train for future anti-fracking protests (Netpol, link): "A Freedom of Information request submitted by Netpol has confirmed that training for senior police officers on public order strategy now uses a fictional anti-fracking protest based specifically on camps at Balcombe in West Sussex and Barton Moss in Salford." and see: Facilitators Guide (link)
8. EU-ECHR: Accession on the CJEU's terms would reduce the level of human rights protection, particularly in JHA matters: The CJEU and the EU’s accession to the ECHR: a clear and present danger to human rights protection (EU Law Analysis, link):
"At long last, the CJEU has today delivered its ruling regarding the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It’s a complex judgment that raises many legal questions. For now, this post seeks to provide: a summary of the ruling; an assessment of the consequences of the ruling; and an initial critique of the Court’s reasoning. On the latter point, the Court’s ruling is fundamentally flawed. In short, the Court is seeking to protect the basic elements of EU law by disregarding the fundamental values upon which the Union was founded."
See: The Court of Justice delivers its opinion on the draft agreement on the accession of the European Union to the European Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and identifies problems with regard to its compatibility with EU law (Press Release, pdf) and Full-text Opinion (pdf)
9. UK: Home Office: Intercept as Evidence (CM 8989, pdf):
"Interception of communications is one of the most important techniques used in the investigation of terrorism and serious and organised crime. But interception is an intrusive power and is therefore only used by a small number of UK security and law enforcement agencies for a specified range of purposes. While interception supports criminal investigations by providing vital intelligence, the law currently prohibits the use of intercept material as evidence in criminal proceedings."
10. EU-USA: TISA: Il documento della trattativa segreta TISA su privacy e dati (R.it, link): "This was revealed in a leak from the ongoing international negotiations among 23 countries for an agreement on trade in services. The document reveals US demands to break down the national rules relating to the movement, storage, exchange of personal data, e-commerce, net-neutrality" [Google tranlsation)
See document: Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA): New Provisions Applicable to All Services (April 25, 2014): Annex on Professional Services [as at 5 September 2014] (pdf)
11. CJEU: EU court takes Hamas off terrorist organisations list (BBC News, link): "A top court of the European Union has annulled the bloc's decision to keep the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on a list of terrorist groups. The decision had been based not on an examination of Hamas' actions, but on "factual imputations derived from the press and the internet", judges found. The court said the move was technical and was not a reassessment of Hamas' classification as a terrorist group. It said a funding freeze on the group would continue for the time being."
Press release: The Court annuls, on procedural grounds, the Council measures maintaining Hamas on the European list of terrorist organisations(pdf) and Judgment (French, pdf)
12. EU: European Parliament study: The data protection regime applying to the inter-agency cooperation and future architecture of the EU criminal justice and law enforcement area (pdf):
"Upon request by the LIBE Committee, this study aims at identifying data protection shortcomings in the inter-agency cooperation in the EU criminal justice and law enforcement area. Its objective is also to outline, under six possible scenarios, the interplay among the data protection legal instruments currently being discussed, as well as the response each scenario could provide to such shortcomings."
13. EU: European Commission: Draft Work Programme for 2015 (pdf) and Annex (pdf) and: A new Start (COM 910, pdf). See also: Is it different this time? The Commission’s 2015 work programme (EU Law Analysis, link)
European Parliament: Press release: Mixed response to Commission’s "more focused" 2015 work programme (pdf):
"The European Commission’s 2015 work programme, in which it outlines 23 new proposals and lists 80 items of pending legislation for withdrawal or amendment,drew a mixed response from MEPs in Tuesday’s debate with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and first Vice-President Frans Timmermans. Parliament will vote a resolution in January on the "new start" promised by the Commission."
14. UK: Police asked university for list of attendees at fracking debate - Canterbury Christ Church University says it refused to hand over list, and Green party councillor criticises police request (Guardian, link):
"Asked why it had requested the list, the force said: “Kent police assesses the threat and risk for significant public events in the county to allow it to maintain public safety and appropriately allocate resources. Police attendance was not required during the meeting, but the Dover district chief inspector did attend the event as an interested stakeholder.”
They declined to explain why the inspector would be an “interested stakeholder”."
15. USA: Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on passenger screening: AVIATION SECURITY: Rapid Growth in Expedited Passenger Screening Highlights Need to Plan Effective Security Assessments (pdf):
"Since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) implemented its expedited screening program¡Xknown as TSA Pre„TM To assess whether a passenger is eligible for expedited screening, TSA considers (1) inclusion on an approved TSA Pre„Ï¡Xin 2011, the number of passengers receiving expedited screening grew slowly, and then increased about 300 percent in October 2013 when TSA expanded its use of methods to increase passenger participation, such as conducting automated risk assessments of all passengers.
In conducting these assessments, TSA assigns passenger scores based upon information available to TSA to identify low risk passengers eligible for expedited screening for a specific flight prior to the passengers' arrival at the airport." [emphasis added]
16. IRR News Service: Selling the tolerant nation (link) "The emphasis in British Future’s recent report on How to talk about immigration appears to take us back to outmoded and discredited arguments about measuring tolerance and attitudes." and Patriot games and culture wars: the politics of national identity in Europe (link): "Muslims, those of African and African-Caribbean descent and white women speaking out against racism are being targeted in a new culture war now distorting and degrading Europe’s electoral politics."
17. EU: Study proposes giving EU complete control over Schengen borders
Study carried out for the European Commission has proposed that powers for the management and control of the external borders of the Schengen area should be "exercised at EU level on a permanent basis."
18. EU: Key European terrorism legislation may be revised
Justice and Home Affairs Ministers of the EU's Member States have "agreed to assess the need to update" the EU's 2002 Framework Decision on combating terrorism, in order to take into account the requirements of a recent UN Security Council Resolution on "foreign terrorist fighters".
19. EU: CJEU: Press release: The Court clarifies the extent of the right of illegally staying third-country nationals to be heard (pdf):
"The purpose therefore of the right to be heard before the adoption of a return decision is to enable the person concerned to express his point of view on the legality of his stay and on whether any of the exceptions to the general rule are applicable. Similarly, under EU law, national authorities must take due account of the best interests of the child, family life and the state of health of the third-country national concerned and respect the principle of non-refoulement, so that the person concerned must be heard on that subject. Last, the right to be heard implies that the competent national authorities are under an obligation to enable the person concerned to express his point of view on the detailed arrangements for his return(Such as the period allowed for departure and whether return is to be voluntary or coerced)..." [emphasis in original]
Full-text of judgment: Case C-249/13, Khaled Boudjlila v Préfet des Pyrénés-Atlantiques (pdf)
20. EU: European Commission working on new mass surveillance directive
EU: Telecommunications Data Retention: EU Commission is working on new Data Retention Directive (Update) (Netzpolitik, link): "The new EU Commission plans to re-introduce Telecommunications Data Retention, as we learned in Brussels yesterday. A spokesperson of the Commissioner for Home Affairs confirms that it is no longer a question "if" there will be a directive, only "how". But the European Court of Justice ruled: suspicionless mass surveillance is disproportionate and violates fundamental rights."
The 2006 Data Retention Directive was annulled by the Court of Justice of the European Union in April this year. See: ECJ-DATA RETENTION JUDGMENT: European Court of Justice (Statewatch database). For historical context and background see the Statewatch report for the SECILE project:The EU Data Retention Directive: a case study in the legitimacy and effectiveness of EU counter-terrorism policy (pdf)
21. EU: Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria prioritised for "pilot initiative on return"
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria will be the first targets of a "pilot initiative" on deportations that will see national and EU officials apply heavy pressure on selected countries in order to "improve the return rate in a number of specific countries of origin."
22. EU: Draft Guidelines for the EU Strategy for Combating Radicalisation and Recruitment to Terrorism (LIMITE,13469/1/14 REV 1): This 14-page document contains the what', 'how' and 'who' of the EU's radicalisation and recruitment strategy: "The responsibility for combating radicalisation and recruitment to terrorism lies primarily with the Member States. EU efforts may add value to national and local efforts and provide an important framework for cooperation on appropriate responses to be prompted across the EU to effectively respond to radicalisation at both local, national, European and international level.
(...)
"Means and patterns of radicalisation and recruitment to terrorism are constantly evolving. In order to ensure that new and emerging threats are effectively addressed, it is necessary to monitor these guidelines"
The Guidelines are intended to complement the EU Revised EU Strategy for Combating Radicalisation and Recruitment to Terrorism (pdf). See also:"Call it intercontinental collaboration": radicalisation, violent extremism and fusion centres (pdf) by Chris Jones, one of a collection of essays on 'The EU and Uncle Sam'
23. International Committee of the Red Cross: Children and Detention (pdf, link):
"Detention can be stressful and dangerous.It entails physical, emotional and intellectual deprivation, and even resilient adults find it hard to cope with. For children therefore, detention is likely to have a particularly severe and lasting effect. That is why they should be detained only as a last resort and for the shortest possible time."
24. EU and Greece turn their backs on refugees arriving at Greek islands (Medecins sans Frontieres, link) and Greek (link):
"Thousands of refugees arriving on the shores of Greece’s Aegean islands are being welcomed with a dysfunctional reception system and inhumane living conditions, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Greece and the European Union (EU) must urgently improve living conditions for refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, and offer them adequate medical assistance and protection."
25. EU: DP REGULATION: COUNCIL CONSOLIDATED TEXT: Statewatch Analysis: The Proposed Data Protection Regulation: What has the Council agreed so far? (85 pages with 145 footnotes on Member State positions, pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex:
"EU Council (which consists of Member States’ justice ministers) has been adopting its position on the proposed Regulation in several pieces.... For the benefit of those interested in the details of these developments, the following analysis presents a consolidated text of the three pieces of the proposed Regulation which the Council has agreed to date, including the parts of the preamble which have already been agreed. I have left intact the footnotes appearing in the agreed texts, which set out Member States’ comments."
26. EU looks to African dictators for migration solutions (euobserver, link): "The Italian EU presidency had organised and launched the so-called Khartoum Process to try and prevent asylum seekers from going via countries such as Libya to get to the EU."
See: The Khartoum Process (pdf) agreed in Rome on 28 November 2014 agreed by: "Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Tunisia and United Kingdom, and the European and African Union (AU) Commissioners in charge of migration and development, as well as the EU High Representative/Vice-President of the European Commission."
27. EU-USA: Congressional Research Service: USA-EU Cooperation Against Terrorism (pdf)
"In the negotiation of several U.S.-EU informationsharing agreements, some EU officials have been concerned about whether the United States could guarantee a sufficient level of protection for European citizens’ personal data. In particular, some Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and many European civil liberty groups have long argued that elements of U.S.-EU information-sharing agreements violate the privacy rights of EU citizens."
28. EU: Council of the European Union: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 4-5 December 2014 in Brussels: Final press release (pdf)
See: "B" Points agenda (for discussion, pdf) and "A" Points agenda: non-legislative (adopted without discussion, pdf) and: Background Note (pdf) and Council Conclusions: Development of a renewed European Union: Internal Security Strategy (pdf)
29. EU: THE LEGALITY of SURVEILLANCE by NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE & SECURITY AGENCIES: EU Article 29 Working Party on data protection: Working Document on surveillance of electronic communications for intelligence and national security purposes (52 pages, pdf):
"This Working Document contains the legal analysis behind the WP29 Opinion on surveillance of electronic communications for intelligence and national security purposes that was adopted on 10 April 2014. The focus of this Opinion lies with the follow up that is needed after the Snowden revelations. To this end, it contains several recommendations on how to restore respect for the fundamental rights of privacy and data protection by the intelligence and security services, and on how to improve supervision of these entities’ activities while maintaining national security....
none of these instruments contains a provision that would allow for massive, structural or unlimited data transfers. In as far as third country public authorities wish to obtain direct access to personal data under EU jurisdiction, they should make use of the formal means of cooperation, since no explicit possibilities are foreseen in the EU legislation to transfer personal data held by private sector data controllers to third country law enforcement authorities or security services."
30. UK: Chief constable warns against ‘drift towards police state’ - Greater Manchester’s Sir Peter Fahy says it is not the police’s job to define what counts as extremism (Guardian, link):
"The battle against extremism could lead to a “drift towards a police state” in which officers are turned into “thought police”, one of Britain’s most senior chief constables has warned.
Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester, said police were being left to decide what is acceptable free speech as the efforts against radicalisation and a severe threat of terrorist attack intensify.... Fahy serves as chief constable of Greater Manchester police and also has national counter-terrorism roles. He is vice-chair of the police’s terrorism committee and national lead on Prevent, the counter radicalisation strategy."
31. EU: “eCall” system : MEPs back deal with Council on automatic emergency call system for cars (Press release, pdf) and Final-4-col-doc as agreed in trilogue meetings (with Council negotiating position deleted, pdf)
The deal will "require all new car models to be equipped with eCall technology from 31 March 2018" and "preclude tracking of eCallequipped vehicle before the accident occurs" and that "ensure that data gathered by emergency centres or their service partners must not be transferred to third parties without explicit consent of the person concerned, the “data subject”.
The data protection clauses sound good now. But how long will it be before another "reason" emerges and demands are made to track and retain data and hand it over to "third parties"?
32. Eurosur extended: all participating states now connected to border surveillance system
All 30 Schengen states are now connected to Eurosur, the European Border Surveillance System, which officially began operating in December 2013 with the participation of the 19 Schengen states at the EU's southern and eastern borders. The development was noted in the European Commission's recent report on the functioning of the Schengen area, which says: "Frontex was scheduled to connect the remaining 11 centres to the Eurosur communication network by the end of November 2014."
33. UK: Shocking video: Police CS spray protesting Warwick University students (Coventry Telegraph, link)
34. EU: AN EXAMPLE OF NEO-COLONIALISM? FRONTEX: Africa-Frontex Intelligence Community Joint Report (AFIC) - 2014 (4MB, pdf) This version has a different designation (unlike those for 2012 and 2013 which were censored): "Non-classified" This version has 59 pages, the previous ones were 64 and 76 pages which probably means the "sensitive" bits have been left out..
And see: Africa-Frontex Intelligence Community Joint Report (AFIC) - 2013 (4MB, pdf) and 2012 Report (pdf) Parts have been censored. Frontex, the EU Border Agency, under the hat of the external role of internal security, extends its role outside the EU. Is this an example of the EU Member States' post-colonial role in Africa?
35. UK-EU: JHA OPT-OUT: T he UK opts back in to the European Arrest Warrant - and other EU criminal law (EU Law Analyses, link): "After much controversy, the UK today completed the process of opting out of EU criminal law measures adopted before the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, and opting back in to some of them. This blog post looks as the legal framework for this process and the consequences of opting back in. It’s an updated version of a previous Statewatch analysis written this summer"
See: Official Journal: Consolidated texts (pdf)
36. EU: Council of the European Union: Friends of the Presidency and CJEU Rules of Procedure
• FOP: Friends of the Presidency Group "Improving the functioning of the EU": Fourth meeting (1 December 2014) : Other and pending issues1592(LIMITE doc no: 15925-14, pdf) Including the following question: "Do you consider that inter-governmental agreements signed beyond the existing legal framework are answers to the challenges Europe is facing, or should the EU objectives be pursued within the limits of the Treaties?"
• Draft Rules of Procedure of the General Court of the European Union (EU doc no:15628-14, pdf)
37. EU: Council of the European Union: Foreign Fighters and returnees: Implementation of the measures decided by the JHA Council on 9-10 October 2014 (LIMITE doc no: 16002-14, pdf) and EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator To: Council: Foreign fighters and returnees: discussion paper (LIMITE doc no: 15795-14, pdf)
And Directive on LEAs data exchange:
• State of play (15730-14, pdf)
38. EU: Council of the European Union: EU-USA TTIP: Draft Council Conclusions on EU-US TTIP negotiations - Adoption (LIMITE doc no: 15555-14, pdf) and public version: Adopted version (pdf)
39. EU: DEVICE FINGERPRINTING: Article 29 Working Party on data protection: Opinion 9/2014 on the application of Directive 2002/58/EC to device fingerprinting (pdf) The Art 29 WP report asks whether using ways other than cookies to uniquely identify web users for the purposes of tracking comes within the scope of the e-privacy Directive - the short answer: yes, if such 'device fingerprinting' is used for the purposes of advertising:
"Many websites include third-party web-bugs, pixel tags and JavaScript code to enable advertising services. This results in a number of requests for information elements from the user's device. The requests are transmitted to the third-parties providing the advertising services, and allow them to generate a device fingerprint to follow users across websites and over time, and create an interest profile for targeted advertising, even if the user declines cookies. Such processing can technically be undertaken in a covert manner without the knowledge of the user..... device fingerprinting for the purpose of targeted advertising requires the consent of the user."
40. News in Brief: http://www.statewatch.org/news/Newsinbrief.htm
EU-UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA SURVEILLANCE
1. USA-UK:"FIVE EYES": SURVEILLANCE: ECHELON STUDY: European Parliament: The ECHELON Affair: The European Parliament and the Global Interception System (pdf):
"Fifteen years after the events, The Echelon Affair draws on the European Parliament’s archives to describe and analyse a worldwide scandal which had an impact on the history of Parliament and which today is echoed in the revelations of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange and in other cases of spying on a grand scale."
2. UK spy base GCHQ tapped Irish internet cables Snowden documents reveal how British intelligence target Irish internet traffic (Irish Times, link)
3. EU-USA-UK: Surveillance: Spying on all of us: UK-GCHQ, USA-NSA, 'Five Eyes' and the EU (link): Speech by Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, at the Annual Conference of the European Group on Deviancy and Social Control, September 2014:
This paper argues that data protection and privacy abuses by the USA-NSA and UK-GCHQ concerns the "gatherers" (the surveillance agencies) of personal data. What urgently needs to be investigated, studied and exposed are the "users" of mass data surveillance (CIA and FBI in the USA, MI5, MI6, Special Branch and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and the "targets" of the "users" (who and why are people or groups targeted). Account also has to be taken of the "suppliers" to the "users" (multinational companies) - the "suppliers" are part of the security-industrial complex in the EU who develop and provide the technology for surveillance and enforcement.
It argues that our attention should be centred on what is happening in the EU, rather than on the USA - some reforms may happen there but there is as yet no impetus or attention to the ensure openness and accountability of national internal and external agencies and LEAs in EU Member States. What is required is a holistic approach which will take many years of diligent research by academics, journalists and civil society groups."
4. NORWAY: SPYING: Aftenposten Discovers Spying Equipments outside Norway Parliament and Prime Minister Residence (Afterposten, link):"Aftenposten reports they have detected a number of false base stations placed around central Oslo, which can monitor the movements of top politicians and flood of data from mobile phones." And see: Norway seeks answers over mobile bugging (The Local, link)
5. CoE: Mass surveillance exposed by Snowden ‘not justified by fight against terrorism’ - Report by Nils Mui nieks, commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, says ‘secret, massive and indiscriminate’ intelligence work is contrary to rule of law (Guardian, link):
"Mui nieks [the Commissoiner] wrote: “In connection with the debate on the practices of intelligence and security services prompted by Edward Snowden’s revelations, it is becoming increasingly clear that secret, massive and indiscriminate surveillance programmes are not in conformity with European human rights law and cannot be justified by the fight against terrorism or other important threats to national security. Such interferences can only be accepted if they are strictly necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim.”
See: CoE: Commissioner for Human Rights: Report: The Rule of Law on the Internet in the Wider Digital World.(124 pages, pdf), Summary (pdf) andInfographic (pdf)
6. UK: Surveillance law allows police to act in an unacceptable way, say MPs - Select committee chairman Keith Vaz says using Ripa to access journalist phone records must cease (Guardian, link):
"Britain’s surveillance laws, which have recently been used by the police to seize journalists’s phone records in the Plebgate and Huhne cases, are “not fit for purpose” and need urgent reform, a Commons inquiry has found. The Commons home affairs select committee says that the level of secrecy surrounding use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) allows the police to “engage in acts which would be unacceptable in a democracy”.
The committee chairman, Keith Vaz, said the surveillance law was not fit for purpose: “Using Ripa to access telephone records of journalists is wrong and this practice must cease. The inevitable consequence is that this deters whistleblowers from coming forward.” In response Home Office ministers have said they will revise the Ripa rules on communications data requests involving sensitive professions such as journalists and lawyers, and they will launch a consultation on the move before Christmas.
The inquiry found the law enforcement agencies routinely fail to record the professions of those whose communications data records they access under Ripa."
See: Full-text: Home Affairs Select Committee: Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (pdf)
7. UK: GCHQ does not breach human rights, judges rule (BBC, News, link):
"The current system of UK intelligence collection does not currently breach the European Convention of Human Rights, a panel of judges has ruled. A case claiming various systems of interception by GCHQ constituted a breach had been brought by Amnesty, Privacy International and others.
It followed revelations by the former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden about UK and US surveillance practices. But the judges said questions remained about GCHQ's previous activities. Some of the organisations who brought the case, including Amnesty UK and Privacy International, say they intend to appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights."
See Judgment: Full-text (pdf)
and PI comments: Investigatory Powers Tribunal rules GCHQ mass surveillance programme TEMPORA is legal in principle (link) and UK mass surveillance laws do not breach human rights, tribunal rules - Rights groups brought case against GCHQ after Snowden revelations on extent of electronic surveillance in UK and US (Guardian, link)
8. USA-NSA: SURVEILLANCE: Operation Auroragold - How the NSA Hacks Cellphone Networks Worldwide (The Intercept, link):
"The documents also reveal how the NSA plans to secretly introduce new flaws into communication systems so that they can be tapped intoa controversial tactic that security experts say could be exposing the general population to criminal hackers. Codenamed AURORAGOLD, the covert operation has monitored the content of messages sent and received by more than 1,200 email accounts associated with major cellphone network operators, intercepting confidential company planning papers that help the NSA hack into phone networks.,,, The operation appears aimed at ensuring virtually every cellphone network in the world is NSA accessible."
See document: AURORAGOLD overview (pdf)
CIA TORTURE-RENDITION REPORT
1. CIA-UK (MI6): Come clean on British links to CIA torture, MPs tell US Senate - Malcolm Rifkind to demand unredacted report on Britain’s role in CIA’s abduction and torture programm (The Observer, link) and CIA torture report: at least the Americans came clean. In Britain, no one is held to account - This is a cross-party conspiracy to hide the truth about British agents and torture (link)
See also: Spy messages could finally solve mystery of UN chief’s death crash - US urged to hand over intercepts to establish truth of 1961 plane accident in Zambia in which Dag Hammarskjöld died (The Observer, link)
2. European Parliament: Press releases: Torture: MEPs call for investigation into EU countries' role in CIA practices (pdf):
"Waterboarding, chaining people to walls, rectal feeding: the recently published US Senate’s report on CIA interrogation methods makes serious allegations about the agency using torture to extract information from detainees. In a plenary debate about the report on 17 December, MEPs said that trampling fundamental values in the fight against terrorism is unacceptable and that the possible complicity of EU member states in this should be investigated. "
3. CIA torture report
• Not-so-magnificent 7: Nations named & shamed in CIA torture repor t (RT, link): "Fifty-four countries were named in the Senate report into US terror activities around the world. Here are seven governments whose leaders will be having sleepless nights trying to come up with excuses to explain their actions."
• Torture report: CIA interrogations chief was involved in Latin American torture camps (The Telegraph, link): "The CIA officer tasked with interrogating the most important prisoners in America's secret detention programme allegedly abused captives during the agency's covert operations in Latin America in the 1980s, it has emerged."
• Italy complicit in US torture programme (The Local, link): "Italy is among the many countries that was complicit in the US government torture programme, according to a report released on Tuesday, although it is also the only country where officials involved in the CIA programme have been convicted." For an in-depth examination of one aspect of Italy's involvement, see: State secrets in the Abu Omar case: the transatlantic relationship undermines the rule of law in cases involving human rights abuses by intelligence services (pdf) by Yasha Maccanico
• CIA torture report: British spy agencies discussed redactions (The Guardian, link): "Britain's spying agencies did discuss redactions to the CIA torture report on the grounds of national security but not to cover up their own actions, David Cameron's deputy official spokesman has said."
• Five Torturous Steps to Hell by Martin Scheinin (Just Security, link): "In a short and early section of the SSCI's redacted summary of its torture report, we can read about the step-by-step descent from humanity to inhumanity, from the 20th century ideals of constitutionalism and human rights to 21st century reality, the reduction of living human beings to mere means in the hands of those who behave as if possessing absolute power. This descent was fast and short, just five steps in eleven months."
4. CIA torture report: Poland admits black site, human rights groups demand justice
• CIA torture report: Poland admits US used black site on its territory (The Independent, link): "Poland has acknowledged for the first time that there was a CIA "black site" on its soil."
• The Money Behind The CIA's Torture Program (Forbes, link): "In total, the report claims that the CIA's detention and interrogation program cost "well over $300 million in non-personnel costs." One individual associated with the CIA program on the ground level told U.S. government investigators that the program had "more money than we could possibly spend we thought, and it turned out to be accurate.""
• CIA torture report a 'good start,' but child victims of rendition absent (Reprieve, link): "We are still a long way from acknowledging the horrors of the CIA's torture programme, and achieving real accountability"
• CIA report: 'Torture is a crime and those responsible must be brought to justice' (The Guardian, link): "The UN, human rights activists and legal experts have renewed calls for the Obama administration to prosecute US officials responsible for the CIA torture programme revealed in extensive detail following the release of a damning report by the Senate intelligence committee."
• Report: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program (10 MB, link)
• On accountability for the CIA's activities in Europe, see: Piecing together the puzzle: making US torturers in Europe accountable (pdf) by Andreas Schüller and Morenike Fajana
5. USA: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program (10 MB, link).
See Senate report on CIA program details brutality, dishonesty (Washington Post (link), Senate report on CIA torture claims spy agency lied about 'ineffective' program Report released by Senate after four-year, $40m investigation concludes CIA repeatedly lied about brutal techniques in years after 9/11 (Guardian, link) and Waterboarding and sleep deprivation: how the CIA tortured its detainees - Waterboarding, confinement, sleep deprivation – Oliver Laughland takes a look at some of the ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ used by the agency (Guardian, link)
USING THE STATEWATCH WEBSITE
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