10 January 2014 — Statewatch.org e-mail: office@statewatch.org
1. UK: Interception Commissioner fails to report on Section 8(4) certificates authorising GCHQ’s mass data collection
2. UK: Mark Duggan family reacts with fury to inquest verdict of lawful killing
3. Italy: RAI 3 programme lifts the veil on police beatings leading to deaths and their aftermath
4. EU-UK-NSA: European Parliament: REPORT on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States
5. EU: MANDATORY DATA RETENTION: EU anti-terror law puts German coalition to the test
6. CYPRUS: Refugees say death is their only option now
7. EU recognises need for INTERPOL talks
8. EU: DELAY IN APPOINTING NEW EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISORS (EDPS):
9. UK: Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee: Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill
10. EU: DATA PROTECTION DIRECTIVE ON LEA DATA EXCHANGE: Latest “state of play” in the Council of the European Union
11. France jumps EU law and follows UK with mass surveillance of air travellers
12. EU: European Council: DEFENCE POLICY: European Council, 19-120 December 2013
13. EU: Council of the European Union: Greek Council Presidency: Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings
14. UNHCR-UK: UK immigration bill could create ‘climate of ethnic profiling’ – UNHCR
15. Italy: ASGI statement over Lampedusa video highlights
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. USA: NSA-ACLU: ACLU will appeal ruling that NSA bulk phone record collection is legal
2. USA-NSA: Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit
3. USA-NSA: New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data
4. UK-USA: Surveillance: complacency, secrecy – Britain’s great vices
5. UK-USA: GCHQ and NSA targeted charities, Germans, Israeli PM and EU chief
6. USA: Obama review panel: strip NSA of power to collect phone data records
7. EU-US: European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs working documents
8. USA: NSA-ACLU: ACLU will appeal ruling that NSA bulk phone record collection is legal
9. EU-UK-NSA: European Parliament: REPORT on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States
1. UK: Interception, Intelligence and Surveillance reports: Interception Commissioner fails to report on Section 8(4) certificates authorising GCHQ’s mass data collection: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/uk-interception-reports.htm
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments: “The government claims that GCHQ’s interception of fibre-optic cable telecommunications traffic (and of satellite communications) is lawful under under RIPA 2000 Section 8(4) certificates issued by the Foreign Secretary. These certificates grant sweeping general powers which are meant to be overseen by the Interception Commissioner who is responsible reporting on Sections 1-11 of RIPA 2000. His Report is silent on this crucial issue – this is yet another reason for a wholesale review of the role and accountability of the security and intelligence agencies in a democratic society.”
• Interception warrants and modifications at all-time high • Collection of communications data (“metadata”) at all-time high • Surveillance Commissioner unable to monitor all undercover police as Home Office fails to provide details of exactly which units are to be overseen
2. UK: Mark Duggan family reacts with fury to inquest verdict of lawful killing – Jury decides Duggan was lawfully killed despite concluding he was not holding gun when police shot him (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/08/mark-duggan-lawfully-killed-inquest/print
and: JURY IN MARK DUGGAN INQUEST CONCLUDES HE DID NOT HAVE A GUN IN HIS HAND WHEN HE WAS SHOT (INQUEST, link):
http://www.inquest.org.uk/media/pr/jury-in-mark-duggan-inquest-concludes-he-did-not-have-a-gun-in-his-hand-whe
” In a statement, the family of Mark Duggan said: “We are shocked by the jury’s conclusion given the evidence we have heard over the past few months. We will continue to fight for justice for Mark.” Deborah Coles, co-director of INQUEST said: “The jury’s conclusion is both perverse and incomprehensible. We cannot have a situation where unarmed citizens are shot dead on the streets of London and no-one is held to account.”
See: Inquest jury verdict – full-text: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/uk-duggan-jury-determination-and-conclusion.pdf
3. Italy: RAI 3 programme lifts the veil on police beatings leading to deaths and their aftermath:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/01italy.htm
On 6 January, Rai 3 television channel broadcast the first episode of Presa Diretta, an information programme directed by Riccardo Iacona, for 2014. Its title was Morti di Stato (State Deaths) and it recounts a catalogue of cases (many of them well known) in which police officers attacked people with whom they came into contact, generally in the exercise in their duties, several of whom died as a result of these encounters and the beatings that followed. Statewatch has reported on several of these cases over the years (including Stefano Cucchi, Federico Aldrovandi and others). The programme is in Italian, lasts for two hours, and is visible on the RAI Replay service until Monday 12 January 2014.
4. EU-UK-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: European Parliament: DRAFT REPORT on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental rights and on transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Rapporteur: Claude Moraes MEP:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/ep-draft-nsa-surveillance-report.pdf
5. EU: MANDATORY DATA RETENTION: EU anti-terror law puts German coalition to the test (euractiv, link)
http://www.euractiv.com/print/infosociety/data-retention-puts-german-coali-news-532626
6. CYPRUS: Refugees say death is their only option now (Cyprus Mail, link):
http://cyprus-mail.com/2014/01/04/refugees-say-death-is-their-only-option-now/
“TWO Iranian-born citizens, who have been on a hunger strike for 46 days, informed Interior Minister Socratis Hasikos in an open letter that as of Tuesday they would stop taking liquids, unless they are granted citizenship so they can leave Cyprus.” and See: Open Letter to the Minister of Interior (KISA, link)
7. EU recognises need for INTERPOL talks (Fair Trials International, link):
http://www.fairtrials.org/press/commission-recognise-need-for-interpol-talks/
“The EU Commission has acknowledged Fair Trials’ report on INTERPOL, committing to raise with the international policing organisation the existing procedures for issuing INTERPOL notices and to consider whether further action is needed to strengthen the organisation’s mechanisms to avoid politically-motivated cases.” and: Answer given by Ms Malmström on behalf of the Commission (link):
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2013-011457&language=EN
See also: Letter from MEPs to Commission: Political abuse of INTERPOL systems:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/eu-interpol-letter-meps-red-notices.pdf
and INTERPOL’s computer systems wide open to abuse by states trying to persecute refugees, journalists and political activists, says new report (Statewatch): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/nov/interpol-red-notices.htm
8. EU: DELAY IN APPOINTING NEW EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISORS (EDPS): Letter from EDPS, Peter Hustinx, to LIBE Chair:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-new-edps-letter-hustinx.pdf
See: Pressure grows over EU data watchdog replacement (euractiv, link):
http://www.euractiv.com/print/euro-finance/commission-asked-explain-lack-da-news-532657
9. UK: Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee: Legislative Scrutiny: Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill (second Report): “Intrusive powers over travellers at ports and airports require greater safeguards, says Human Rights Committee”: Dr Hywel Francis MP, the Chair of the Committee, said concerning Schedule 7 detentions: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/uk-jhrc-anti-social-behaviour-inc-sch-7-report.pdf
“We understand that there is a need for a without suspicion power to stop, question and search travellers at ports and airports. We have considered the Independent Reviewer’s recommendation that a subjective suspicion threshold be required to be met before the powers to detain and to download data from mobile phones and laptops can be exercised. However , we believe that reasonable suspicion is the absolute minimum that is required to qualify as a safeguard because it opens up the possibility of independent scrutiny and review.”
See also: At last, a law to stop almost anyone from doing almost anything – Protesters, buskers, preachers, the young: all could end up with ‘ipnas’. Of course, if you’re rich, you have nothing to fear (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/06/law-to-stop-eveyone-everything/print
10. EU: DATA PROTECTION DIRECTIVE ON LEA DATA EXCHANGE: Latest “state of play” in the Council of the European Union: Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Discussions on its negotiating position regarding the Directive for Member State law enforcement agencies exchanging data and intelligence:
– Draft Council position: 11624-rev1-13 (88 pages) Council Presidency report on re-drafting of the Council’s position with Member State positions:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/oct/eu-council-lea-data-exchange-dir-11624-rev1-13.pdf
– Compilation of Member State responses to the above Council Presidency draft (14901-rev-2-13, 121 pages)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/eu-council-dp-lea-data-exchange-chp-IV-14901-rev2-13.pdf
With the positions of: Germany, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Finland and Switzerland (This is a Mixed Committee proposal) and Sweden’s position (14901-add5-13) 5 pages
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/eu-council-lea-data-exchange-dp-directive-sweden-14901-add5-13.pdf
– UK position (14901-add-4-13, 17 pages). The UK “opposes” or strongly opposes eight points in the Commission proposal and the supports the “removal” of 21 points in the Commission proposal. The UK proposes or opposes a large number of proposals for rights of access and mechanism for accountability. In general the UK feels that: “the text does not reflect the move towards privatisation of law enforcement activity”.
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/eu-council-lea-data-exchange-dp-directive-UK-14901-add4-13.pdf
– Commission proposal: Proposal for a Directive on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and the free movement of such data (COM 10-12): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/eu-com-dir-dp-leas-com-10-12.pdf
11. France jumps EU law and follows UK with mass surveillance of air travellers (Mediapart, link)
http://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/international/261213/france-jumps-eu-law-and-follows-uk-mass-surveillance-air-travellers
12. EU: European Council: DEFENCE POLICY: European Council, 19-120 December 2013: Conclusions on common security and defence policy:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/eu-council-defence-policy.pdf
Includes Battle Groups deployment, migration, the development of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), role of the European Defence Agency, the European defence technological and industrial base (EDTIB), Research – dual-use:
“The European Council calls on the Member States to deepen defence cooperation by improving the capacity to conduct missions and operations and by making full use of synergies in order to improve the development and availability of the required civilian and military capabilities, supported by a more integrated, sustainable, innovative and competitive European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). This will also bring benefits in terms of growth, jobs and innovation to the broader European industrial sector.”
“The numerous civilian and military crisis management missions and operations throughout the world are a tangible expression of the Union’s commitment to international peace and security. Through CSDP, the Union today deploys more than 7000 staff in 12 civilian missions and four military operations.”
See also: Preparing the December 2013 European Council on Security and Defence Final Report by the High Representative/Head of the EDA on the Common Security and Defence Policy: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/oct/eu-eeas-military-plan.pdf
13. EU: Council of the European Union: Greek Council Presidency: Justice and Home Affairs Council meetings, January-June 2013: Draft Agendas:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/eu-council-greece-pres-prog-jha-items-jan-jun-2014.pdf
14. UNHCR-UK: UK immigration bill could create ‘climate of ethnic profiling’ – UNHCR: UN refugee agency condemns bill which seeks to restrict access to benefits and force temporary migrants to pay for services (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/26/uk-immigration-bill-climate-ethnic-profiling-unhcr/print
15. Italy: ASGI statement over Lampedusa video highlights: Following the shocking images of naked migrants being sprayed with disinfectant that was aired on the Rai 2 evening news programme, ASGI has issued a statement (translation):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/asgi-lampedusa.pdf
“Associazione studi giuridici sull’immigrazione (A.S.G.I.) expresses its disdain for the practices – documented by the national media – that migrants from both sexes were subjected to in the first aid and reception centre (CPSA) in Lampedusa. They are inhuman and degrading treatments, forbidden by the Convention for the protection of human rights and which constitute possible criminal offences that, beyond their judicial categorisation, are symbolic of living conditions in the administrative detention centres: they are a further reason to forcefully call for their immediate closure.”
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. USA: NSA-ACLU: ACLU will appeal ruling that NSA bulk phone record collection is legal (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/02/aclu-appeal-nsa-bulk-phone-record-collection/print
• Appeal is against verdict by New York federal judge
• Federal appeals courts drawn into controversy
And see: NSA statement does not deny ‘spying’ on members of Congress
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/04/nsa-spying-bernie-sanders-members-congress/print
• Agency responds to questions from Senator Bernie Sanders
• Statement cites ‘same privacy protections as all US persons’
2. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Inside TAO: Documents Reveal Top NSA Hacking Unit (Der Spiegel, link):
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-nsa-uses-powerful-toolbox-in-effort-to-spy-on-global-networks-a-940969-druck.html
“The NSA’s TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency’s top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors in electronics ordered by those it is targeting.”
Cited document: COTTONMOUTH: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/nsa-tao-ant.pdf
See also: Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox (Der Spiegel, link)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/catalog-reveals-nsa-has-back-doors-for-numerous-devices-a-940994-druck.html
and: NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy malware (The Verge, link):
http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/29/5253226/nsa-cia-fbi-laptop-usb-plant-spy
“The report indicates that the NSA, in collaboration with the CIA and FBI, routinely and secretly intercepts shipping deliveries for laptops or other computer accessories in order to implant bugs before they reach their destinations. According to Der Spiegel, the NSA’s TAO group is able to divert shipping deliveries to its own “secret workshops” in a method called interdiction, where agents load malware onto the electronics or install malicious hardware that can give US intelligence agencies remote access.“
And: NSA Spying on Europe/Asia SEA-ME-WE-4 Undersea Telecom Cables (including document, link)
http://leaksource.wordpress.com/2013/12/30/nsa-spying-on-europe-asia-sea-me-we-4-undersea-telecom-cables/
3. USA-NSA: New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data (Washington Poost, link):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/10/new-documents-show-how-the-nsa-infers-relationships-based-on-mobile-location-data/?print=1
“Everyone who carries a cellphone generates a trail of electronic breadcrumbs that records everywhere they go. Those breadcrumbs reveal a wealth of information about who we are, where we live, who our friends are and much more. And as we reported last week, the National Security Agency is collecting location information in bulk — 5 billion records per day worldwide — and using sophisticated algorithms to assist with U.S. intelligence-gathering operations.” See: Cotraveler document: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/nsa-tracking-social-relations-cotraveler.pdf
And: “In the view of the NSA, signals intelligence, or electronic eavesdropping, was a matter of life and death, “without which America would cease to exist as we know it,” according to an internal presentation” (Washington Post): NSA/CSS Mission: Provide and Protect vital information for the nation (dated 24-2-08): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/nsa1224slide1.pdf
4. UK-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Surveillance: complacency, secrecy –Britain’s great vices: Democracy’s real responses to state surveillance begin on the streets where we live, where we wake up, calculate the risks, and insist on having our say (Observer Editorial, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/21/observer-editorial-surveillance-secrecy-democracy/print
“the two worlds of DC and Cheltenham intersect at last. There is no absolute security, just as there are no definitive reforms. There is always desperate peril to secrecy. Horrible things happen when nobody knows. Exaggeration – about everything from terrorist threats to budget cuts – is endemic behind closed doors. Perhaps America, in the decade after 9/11, has feared and promised too much. But certainly Britain, drifting in a haze of conspiratorial chappishness, has changed far too little. The answer to both ailments is out there for us all to register. It is what we expect, what we understand and demand, that matters most. This secret world is our world, too. Democracy’s real responses begin on the streets where we live, where we wake up, calculate the risks, and insist on having our say.”
5. UK-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: GCHQ and NSA targeted charities, Germans, Israeli PM and EU chief (Guardian, link) “British and American intelligence agencies had a comprehensive list of surveillance targets that included the EU’s competition commissioner, German government buildings in Berlin and overseas, and the heads of institutions that provide humanitarian and financial help to Africa, top secret documents reveal.”:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/20/gchq-targeted-aid-agencies-german-government-eu-commissioner?CMP=twt_gu
Friendly Fire: How GCHQ Monitors Germany, Israel and the EU (Der Spiegel, link) “Documents from the archive of whistleblower and former NSA worker Edward Snowden show that Britain’s GCHQ signals intelligence agency has targeted European, German and Israeli politicians for surveillance.”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/snowden-documents-show-gchq-targeted-european-and-german-politicians-a-940135.html
N.S.A. Dragnet Included Allies, Aid Groups and Business Elite (New York Times, link) “Secret documents reveal more than 1,000 targets of American and British surveillance in recent years, including the office of an Israeli prime minister, heads of international aid organizations, foreign energy companies and a European Union official involved in antitrust battles with American technology businesses.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/world/nsa-dragnet-included-allies-aid-groups-and-business-elite.html?hp&_r=1 &
Statement by Commission spokeswoman on the newspaper allegations of surveillance of Vice-President Almunia (europa.eu, link) “This piece of news follows a series of other revelations which, as we clearly stated in the past, if proven true, are unacceptable and deserve our strongest condemnation. This is not the type of behaviour that we expect from strategic partners, let alone from our own Member States.”
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-1189_en.htm
6. USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Obama review panel: strip NSA of power to collect phone data records (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/18/nsa-bulk-collection-phone-date-obama-review-panel
“Review proposes greater authority for spying on foreign leaders; Government ‘should be banned from undermining encryption’; Forty-six recommendations in 300-page report released early”
However, there is little comfort for EU concerns over surveillance of people and groups outside the USA: “the report proposes only minimal overseas reforms, merely requiring higher clearance to “identify both the uses and the limits of surveillance on foreign leaders and in foreign nations.”
See: full report: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/usa-obama-nsa-report.pdf
7. EU-US: DATA SURVEILLANCE: European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs working documents :
Working document 1 on the US and EU Surveillance programmes and their impact on EU citizens fundamental rights
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/2013-12-11-ep-wd1-eu-fundamental-rights.pdf
Working document 3 on the relation between the surveillance practices in the EU and the US and the EU data protection provisions
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/2013-12-12-wd3-surveillance-eu-data-protection.pdf
Working document 4 on US Surveillance activities with respect to EU data and its possible legal implications on transatlantic agreements and cooperation
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/2013-12-12-wd4-eu-data-transatlantic-agreements.pdf
Working document 5 on Democratic oversight of Member State intelligence services and of EU intelligence bodies
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/2013-12-12-ep-wd5-democratic-oversight-ms-intelligence.pdf
8. USA: NSA-ACLU: ACLU will appeal ruling that NSA bulk phone record collection is legal (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/02/aclu-appeal-nsa-bulk-phone-record-collection/print
• Appeal is against verdict by New York federal judge
• Federal appeals courts drawn into controversy
And see: NSA statement does not deny ‘spying’ on members of Congress
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/04/nsa-spying-bernie-sanders-members-congress/print
• Agency responds to questions from Senator Bernie Sanders
• Statement cites ‘same privacy protections as all US persons’
9. EU-UK-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: European Parliament: DRAFT REPORT on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental rights and on transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Rapporteur: Claude Moraes MEP:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/ep-draft-nsa-surveillance-report.pdf
“Condemns in the strongest possible terms the vast, systemic, blanket collection of the personal data of innocent people, often comprising intimate personal information; emphasises that the systems of mass, indiscriminate surveillance by intelligence services constitute a serious interference with the fundamental rights of citizens; stresses that privacy is not a luxury right, but that it is the foundation stone of a free and democratic society; points out, furthermore, that mass surveillance has potentially severe effects on the freedom of the press, thought and speech, as well as a significant potential for abuse of the information gathered against political adversaries; emphasises that these mass surveillance activities appear also to entail illegal actions by intelligence services and raise questions regarding the extra-territoriality of national laws”
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