|
Spies ‘R’ Us
|
|
| 23/6/05 |
Statewatch News Online, 23 June 2005 (24/05)
|
|
Full contents see: www.statewatch.org/news 1. EU: Legislative proposals on SIS II 1. EU: Statewatch analysis: LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS ON SIS II Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex, concludes: “Given the non-existent democratic scrutiny, dubious financial accountability, unjustified extensions of access to data and ambiguous provisions on data protection and the grounds for people to be banned from the entire Schengen area, these proposals represent another step in the construction of a European “surveillance society””: 2. UK: New Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill published: 3. EU: Confusion over the Visa Information System (VIS) continues. A Note (20.6.05) from the EU Presidency of the Council of the European Union calls for an an “additional period of reflection”. First, “certain delegations” want only 2 fingerprints to be recorded (like for the planned EU passport) but a majority want 10 fingerprints. Second, a study carried out in the Netherlands shows that it is very difficult to “capture” fingerprints from small children leading to the question whether there should be a lower age limit – and for EU passports too? Third, having collected fingerprints from visa applicants in their own countries then stored on the central VIS database there is still no agreement on just how and where checks against the data held will be carried out in the EU. Note from Presidency (French, 10222/01/05): See also: Analysis from Statewatch on the linkage between VIS and SIS II: SIS II fait accompli? Construction of EU’s Big Brother database underway: 4. Spain: Court dismisses terrorist charges in Basque youth association trial 5. Spain: Court report on the Gabriele Kanze case – Gabriele Kanze was detained in complete isolation in Switzerland, and in provisional and preventative detention in Spain, for a total of over two years and eight months before being released: 6. USA: General Accountability Office (GAO) Report on RFIDs (radio frequency identificationy) which are used to transmit data from chips holding personal and biometric data: www.statewatch.org/news/2005/jun/us-gao-rfid-rep.pdf 7. Amnesty International reports on: UK: Seeking asylum is not a crime: detention of people who have sought asylum (link): and Europe: Treatment of refugees and asylum seekers (link): 8. EU: European Council, 18 June (press release, pdf). See pages 4-7 on justice and home affairs: 9.. Report from Le Forum des droits sur l‚internet (Forum for Internet Rights) on the national identity card project INES (identité nationale électronique sécurisée): And the LSE Identity Project – draft for public consultation in advance of final report: 10. G8 – Gleneagles Summit, Perthshire, Scotland, 6-8 July 2005: Meet the friendly face of the Gleneagles “bobby” (pdf): Local security information (link) The local impact (link) Taking out insurance cover (link): BOOKMARK News online – full contents: ________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
|