27 January 2014 — Statewatch • e-mail: office@statewatch.org
NEWS
http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. UK: Use of Tasers by Metropolitan Police doubles over two years
2. EU data bill to be delayed until after May elections
3. EU: Informal Justice and Home Affairs Council, Greece
4. EU: New police cooperation plan includes surveillance, intelligence-gathering and remote vehicle stopping technology
5. GREECE: 16 SURVIVORS FROM 28 PASSENGERS: Inquiry calls after migrants die under tow in Greece
6. UK: Police to ask home secretary to approve use of water cannon across country
7. UK counter-terrorism powers need urgent review, says watchdog
8. EU: Council of the European Union: Multi-column documents: Search & rescue, TCN visas and Space surveillance
9. EU: Council of the European Union: Data Protection: Profiling and Prum data exchange
10. EU: NEW EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISOR (EDPS) delay:
11. Spain/France: NGOs demand inquiries into immigration deaths in Barcelona and Marseilles
12. UK: Drax protesters’ undercover police case convictions quashed
13. EU: New “concept” drafted for EU border missions abroad
14. EU-LIBYA: Libya is boycotting an EU project relating to asylum, while the development of the police and the military continues
15. CoE-GREECE: Investigation into alleged Greek coastguard abuse of migrants
16. UK: Newham Monitoring Project (NMP): Monitoring Olympics policing during the 2012 ‘Security Games’
17. EU: Radicalism on the rise in Europe, says EU commissioner
18. EU-UK: JHA OPT-OUT: Government response to report by the Home Affairs Select Committee
19. UK: Detention centre castigated over death of elderly man
20. EU: Statewatch Analysis: 11 years of Eurodac
21. CoE: GREECE: COLLECTIVE EXPULSIONS: Letter from Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights to Greek Ministers
22. EU: EPIM report: Point of no return – The futile detention of unreturnable migrants
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. EU-USA: European Parliament question to the Commission on USA “spying” on EU citizens
2. THE EU SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES COOPERATION MECHANISM
3. USA-NSA: PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD: Report
4. UK-GCHQ-ECHR: Justify GCHQ mass surveillance, European court tells ministers
5. USA-NSA: US withholding Fisa court orders on NSA bulk collection of Americans’ data
6. EU-USA: Top German Prosecutor Considers NSA Investigation
7. USA-NSA-GCHQ: “DISHFIRE” programme retains messages for future use
8. USA-NSA: Obama Speech on NSA Reform and Report
9. UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA: UK rejects German ‘no spy’ pact, report says
10. USA-NSA: NSA makes final push to retain most mass surveillance powers
1. UK: Use of Tasers by Metropolitan Police doubles over two years
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/met-tasers-increase.htm
The number of times that officers from London’s Metropolitan Police used Tasers increased sharply between 2011 and 2012, and figures covering the first three months of 2013 indicate that usage is likely to increase further. Tasers are electroshock weapons that deliver a 50,000 volt charge into the body through metal barbs. According to figures released at the end of last year in response to a Freedom of Information request, in 2011 officers used them 378 times. The total for 2012 was 713, an increase of 188%.
2. EU data bill to be delayed until after May elections (euobserver, link)
http://euobserver.com/justice/122853
3. EU: Informal Justice and Home Affairs Council, Greece: Agenda:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-informal-jha-council-agenda-23-24-jan-14.pdf
– Future of Home Affairs: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-informal-jha-council-future-home-23-24-jan-14.pdf
– Future of Justice issues: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-informal-jha-council-future-justice-23-24-jan-14.pdf
– Data Protection: International Transfers: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-informal-jha-council-dp-transfers-23-24-jan-14.pdf
4. EU: New police cooperation plan includes surveillance, intelligence-gathering and remote vehicle stopping technology
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/enlets-wp-2020.htm
– European Network of Law Enforcement Technology Services (ENLETS) sets out six year plan to on technology research and procurement
– Suggestion that Council sub-group may become a “single legal entity”
– Group wants nearly €1 million in funding to support long-term work programme
5. GREECE: 16 SURVIVORS FROM 28 PASSENGERS: Inquiry calls after migrants die under tow in Greece (BBC News, link)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25843559?print=true
and see: UNHCR – Statement on boat incident off Greece coast (link):
http://www.unhcr.org/print/52df83d49.html
“UNHCR is dismayed to have learned of a boat cap-sizing off the coast of Greece in the early hours of this morning, which has left a woman and a child dead and 10 other people missing, among them infants and children.
According to accounts from some of the 16 survivors and Greek Coast Guard, the vessel was carrying 26 Afghans and two Syrians. It was intercepted in the southern Aegean Sea shortly after midnight following a mechanical breakdown and while apparently en route from Turkey to Greece. The boat, with all 28 passengers still aboard, was being towed by a Coast Guard vessel when it capsized. The survivors, now on the island of Leros, told UNHCR they were being towed in the direction of Turkey at the time of the accident.”
6. UK: Police to ask home secretary to approve use of water cannon across country – Police chiefs say water cannon are needed because ‘austerity measures are likely to lead to continued protest’ (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/22/police-home-secretary-approve-use-water-cannon-austerity-protest/print
“Chief constables are to press the home secretary, Theresa May, to authorise the use of water cannon by any police force across England and Wales to deal with anticipated street protests. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) says that the need to control continued protests “from ongoing and potential future austerity measures” justifies the introduction of water cannon in Britain for the first time.”
– Greater London Authority – Public Engagement on Police Use of Water Cannon (link)
http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/policing-crime/mission-priorities/water-cannon
– College of Policing: Water cannon (link)
http://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/public-order/planning-and-deployment/tactical-options/#water-cannon
– College of Policing: Public Order Index ((link)
http://www.app.college.police.uk/public-order-index/
– ACPO/College of Policing: National Water Cannon Asset (pdf)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/acpo-2014-01-08-water-cannon-briefing.pdf
7. UK counter-terrorism powers need urgent review, says watchdog – Parliament’s joint committee on human rights says almost all current terror prevention orders are due to expire (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/23/uk-counter-terrorism-powers-review-watchdog/print
See Report by the parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee: Post-Legislative Scrutiny: Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011 (pdf)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/uk-jhrc-terr-measures.pdf
8. EU: Council of the European Union: Multi-column documents: Search & rescue, TCN visas and Space surveillance
– Sea Surveillance: search and rescue: Proposal for a Regulation establishing rules for the surveillance of the external sea borders in the context of operational cooperation coordinated by the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (17 January 2014, pdf) Multi-column document, part of the 1st reading trilogue process, with the Commission proposal, European Parliament position, Council position, “Compromise” text:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-council-sea-surveillance-multicolumn-5397-14.pdf
– TCN visas: Draft Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (amendment to Annexes) (17 January 2014, pdf) Multi-column document, part of the 1st reading trilogue process, with the Commission proposal, European Parliament position, Council position, “Compromise” text: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-council-tcn-visas-multicolumn-5306-14.pdf
– SPACE Tracking: Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council, Establishing a Space Surveillance and Tracking Support Programme (17 January 2014, pdf) Multi-column document, part of the 1st reading trilogue process, with the Commission proposal, European Parliament position, Council position, possible “Compromise” text:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-council-space-tracking-multicolumn-5404-14.pdf
9. EU: Council of the European Union: Data Protection: Profiling and Prum data exchange
– DATA PROTECTION REGULATION: Profiling: Proposal for a regulation 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) – Profiling (16 January 2014, pdf) Council Presidency proposals including: “DE, DK, NL and UK doubted whether the redraft would allow for a sufficient risk-based approach and warned against excessive administrative burdens/compliance costs.”: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-council-dp-reg-profiling-5344-14.pdf
– PRUM: DNA, Vehicles, Fingerprint data exchange: Implementation of the provisions on information exchange of the “Prüm Decisions” – overview of documents and procedures: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-council-prum-implementation-5124-14.pdf
10. EU: NEW EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISOR (EDPS) delay: Secretary General of the Commission letter :
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-new-edps-letter-com-day-ep.pdf
and Commission Vice-President to European Parliament letter:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-new-edps-letter-com-ep.pdf
DELAY IN APPOINTING NEW EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISORS (EDPS):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-new-edps-letter-hustinx.pdf
11. Spain/France: NGOs demand inquiries into immigration deaths in Barcelona and Marseilles
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/deaths-barcelona-marseilles.htm
Two statements, one by the Catalan section of SOS Racismo and the other one jointly issued by French association Anafé alongside the international networks Migreurop and Boats 4 People, demanded official inquiries into the deaths of an Armenian man in the Catalan detention centre (Centro de Internamiento de Extranjeros, CIE) in Zona Franca on 3 December 2013 and of a young Guinean man who drowned on 10 January 2014 near to the port of Marseilles. The French authorities attempted to return him to his point of departure by putting him back on board of the ship that carried him and a fellow Guinean man to Marseilles from Dakar, after their request to lodge an asylum application was refused.
12. UK: UPDATE: Drax protesters’ undercover police case convictions quashed (BBC News, link)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25829169?print=true
Exposed: Role of undercover police in a coal train hijack
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/pr-spycops-coal-train.htm
Climate campaigners who stopped and occupied a train carrying 42,000 tonnes of coal into the UK’s largest power station, Drax, will have their appeal heard on Tuesday by the UK’s top criminal judge following revelations that an undercover Metropolitan police office, Mark Kennedy, had played a role in the protest. The Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer was forced to agree with an investigation by campaigners that there was an overwhelming case that the “Drax 29” convictions were unsafe, and invited them to appeal their convictions.
13. EU: New “concept” drafted for EU border missions abroad
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-border-missions.htm
The European Union’s guidelines for “border management” missions abroad are being updated “in view of the increasing demand for CSDP [Common Security and Defence Policy] to tackle border management tasks” and in order to “integrate the know-how acquired since 2006, and to translate the principles of Integrated Border Management (IBM) into the strategic and operational processes for the planning and conduct of CSDP missions.”
An evaluation report published in April 2013 that examined the EU’s “support to Integrated Border Management and the fight against Organised Crime” across the globe found it: “[H]ighly influential in the comprehension and implementation of IBM principles in partner countries, although the levels of ‘take up’ became less noticeable the further geographically from the EU the intervention was.”
14. EU-LIBYA: Libya is boycotting an EU project relating to asylum, while the development of the police and the military continues apace (Andrej Hunko, link):
http://www.andrej-hunko.de/presse/1836-libya-is-boycotting-an-eu-project-relating-to-asylum-while-the-development-of-the-police-and-the-military-contin
“The European Union’s activities relating to the restructuring of the Libyan security apparatus must be halted without delay. This applies to training projects for the military and for the police,” said Andrej Hunko, Member of the German Bundestag, in response to the Federal Government’s answer to a Minor Interpellation about the EUROSUR border surveillance system.”
Andrej Hunko went on to say: “Italy is establishing facilities to monitor Libya’s sea and land borders. These facilities are connected to Italian command and control centres. The aim is to prevent refugees from making the crossing to Europe. If they are detected while still in Libyan waters, the EU Member States can avoid having to deal with asylum applications. However, the protection of refugees is not guaranteed in Libya. There are reports of serious abuses by the police and militias.”
and Answer to the Minor Interpellation entitled “The launch of the EUROSUR border surveillance network”:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-eurosur-hunko-translation.pdf
See: 340 Libyan military personnel coming to be trained in italy, and the press release also talks of training that is being carried out by italians in Libya, “to support the transition”: Libia, 340 militari in Italia per addestramento (link)
http://www.esteri.it/MAE/IT/Sala_Stampa/ArchivioNotizie/Approfondimenti/2014/01/20140110_libiaaddestr.htm
And also: Italy/Libya: Documents unveil post-Gaddafi cooperation agreement on immigration (Statewatch database)
http://database.statewatch.org/article.asp?aid=31799
15. CoE-GREECE: Investigation into alleged Greek coastguard abuse of migrants – Probe follows letter from Europe’s top human rights watchdog (EnetEnglish, link):
http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.home&id=1705
“Ministers tell Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, that investigations have been launched into claims that Greek coastguard officials ill-treated migrants last year “
See also: Letter from Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights to Greek Ministers:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/greece-coe-hr-greece-expulsions-illegal.pdf
16. UK: Newham Monitoring Project (NMP): Monitoring Olympics policing during the 2012 ‘Security Games’: A report on community-based legal observing organised by NMP:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/uk-nmp-monitoring-the-security-games-final-report.pdf
“”This report documents the experiences of local people, particularly in relation to policing, as witnessed by our team of volunteers. It also sets out our experiences over the course of the Olympics and Paralympics during the summer of 2012 and what lessons others can draw for organising community-based monitoring of the policing of major events.”
See also: Statewattch Analysis: A “clean city”: the Olympic Games and civil liberties :
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-192-olympics.pdf
17. EU: Radicalism on the rise in Europe, says EU commissioner (euobserver, link):
http://euobserver.com/justice/122735
“The European Commission has said preventive action is needed to stop what it sees as spreading radicalism across the EU. “We see that extremism, xenophobia and nationalism keeps growing in Europe [and] we see worrying signals that these groups act as breeding grounds of ideology motivated by violence and extremist views,” EU commissioner for home affairs Cecilia Malmstrom told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday (15 January).
See: Strengthening the EU’s response to radicalisation and violent extremism (Press release)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-com-communication-radicalisation-prel.pdf
and Preventing Radicalisation to Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Strengthening the EU’s Response (Communication):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-com-communication-radicalisation-prel.pdf
And see: SECILE Project: Taking stock of EU Counter-terrorism policy and review mechanisms: Summary of Statewatch’s findings for SECILE project (pdf)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/SECILE-sw-summary.pdf
SECILE is an EU-funded research project examining the impact, legitimacy and effectiveness of European Union counter-terrorism measures. Statewatch’s role in the project is to conduct a ‘stocktake’ of EU counter-terrorism measures and to collect and analyse data about their implementation. This documents summarises three of Statewatch’s four reports..
18. EU-UK: JHA OPT-OUT: Government response to report by the Home Affairs Select Committee :
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/uk-eu-opt-out-gov-response-hasc.pdf
and Pre-Lisbon Treaty EU police and criminal justice measures: the UK’s opt-in decision:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/uk-eu-opt-out-hasc-report.pdf
19. UK: Detention centre castigated over death of elderly man – Terminally ill Canadian man, 84, was kept in handcuffs by staff at Harmondsworth removal centre until after his heart stopped (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/16/harmondsworth-elderly-man-died-handcuffs/print
20. EU: Statewatch Analysis: 11 years of Eurodac (pdf) by Chris Jones:
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-235-eurodac.pdf
“On 15 January 2003 Eurodac, the EU-wide database of asylum-seekers’ and irregular migrants’ fingerprints, came into use. Eleven years on, it holds the personal data of nearly 2.3 million individuals and has been transformed into a policing as well as migration database.”
21. CoE: GREECE: COLLECTIVE EXPULSIONS: Letter from Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights to Greek Ministers:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/greece-coe-hr-greece-expulsions-illegal.pdf
“”I am worried by a number of reports that I have received from expert refugee organisations that provide consistent and substantiated information about a large number of collective expulsions from Greece to Turkey of irregular migrants, including a large number of Syrians who are fleeing the armed conflict in their country and are, at least prima facie, in need of international protection…
Collective expulsions of migrants are not only incompatible with international human rights and refugee law but also ineffective, since many of these migrants, including asylum seekers, face such a desperate situation in their country of origin that they usually re-enter after their first expulsion.”
22. EU: EPIM report: Point of no return – The futile detention of unreturnable migrants:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/epim-report.pdf
“”Unreturnable migrants cannot go back to their country of origin for reasons beyond their control. At the same time, they cannot obtain a residence permit in the country where they live. Without documents or status, they can be detained for a forced return that never becomes possible.”
“With this report and the related campaign, we hope to increase momentum amongst policy-makers at national and EU levels to reduce detention and find solutions for unreturnable migrants. Besides informing decision-makers, this report is also intended to stimulate civil societies to give special attention to this group of migrants, who are often living under the radar.”
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. EU-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: European Parliament question to the Commission on USA “spying” on EU citizens: Question and answer given by High-Representative/Vice-President Ashton on behalf of the Commission:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/eu-eeas-usa-spying-ep-question-and-answer.pdf
The answer from the High-Representative/Vice-President Ashton on behalf of the Commission presents the permanent contradiction for the EU: the Lisbon Treaty guarantees the right of protection of personal data while at the same time it gives each Member State the sole responsibility for national security. So unless they all agree, and the UK for one will not, a “no spying on citizens” agreement is not possible – and tthe USA knows this.
“according to Article 16(1) of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, every European citizen has the right to the protection of personal data concerning them. However, pursuant to Article 4(2) of the Treaty on the European Union, national security remains the sole responsibility of each Member State. As a consequence, it seems difficult at the stake to find appropriate measures concerning the protection of personal data in a case concerning a third country like the United States. At the moment, the EU does not intend to undertake negotiations on a ‘no-spy’ agreement with the United States.”
2. THE EU SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES COOPERATION MECHANISM: Under Article 73 of the Lisbon Treaty (included in the Treaty but not in the proposed Constitution) it states:
“It shall be open to Member States to organise between themselves and under their responsibility such forms of cooperation and coordination as they deem appropriate between the competent departments of their administrations responsible for safeguarding national security “
Are EU security and intelligence agencies using the Treaty cooperation and coordination provision and if so how? Have they jointly discussed the “problems” created by the Snowden revelations?
A rare hint at the linkage between the “gatherers” (NSA, GCHQ etc) and the “users” (the security, intelligence and .law enforcement agencies) was given in a Guardian article: GCHQ and European spy agencies worked together on mass surveillance Edward Snowden papers unmask close technical cooperation and loose alliance between British, German, French, Spanish and Swedish spy agencies: A document cited by the Guardian revealed that the UK’s internal security agency MI5 (Security Service) and MI6 (SIS, Secret Intelligence Service) work with GCHQ not only to extend the technical capabilities of other EU state agencies but also to advise them on how to get round their national laws:
“We [GCHQ] have been assisting the BND (along with SIS [Secret Intelligence Service] and Security Service) in making the case for reform or reinterpretation of the very restrictive interception legislation in Germany,”
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/01/gchq-europe-spy-agencies-mass-surveillance-snowden/print
3. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: PRIVACY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES OVERSIGHT BOARD: Report on the Telephone Records Program Conducted under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and on the Operations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (238 pages,)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/usa-nsa-pclob-report.pdf
Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End (New York Times, link):
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/us/politics/watchdog-report-says-nsa-program-is-illegal-and-should-end.html?hp&_r=2
“An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency’s program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down.”
See Statewatch’s Observatory: EU-UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA: Data Surveillance (from 6 June 2013, ongoing)
4. UK-GCHQ-ECHR: Justify GCHQ mass surveillance, European court tells ministers – Judges order government to provide submission about whether spying activities violated European convention on human rights (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/24/justify-gchq-mass-surveillance-european-court-human-rights/print
“Ministers have been ordered to justify GCHQ’s mass surveillance programmes by judges at the European court of human rights who have fast-tracked a case brought by privacy and human rights campaigners. The court in Strasbourg has told the government to provide submissions by the beginning of May about whether GCHQ’s spying activities could be a violation of the right to privacy under article 8 of the European convention. Marking the case a priority, campaigners are hopeful the court will bring a ruling before the end of the year.”
See: Full-text: Statement of Facts in Application no: 51870/13: Big Brother Watch and Others against the United Kingdom lodged on 4 September 2013:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/echr-big-bro-v-hmg.pdf
5. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: US withholding Fisa court orders on NSA bulk collection of Americans’ data – Justice Department refuses to turn over ‘certain other’ documents in ACLU lawsuit meant to shed light on surveillance practices (Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/21/us-withholding-fisa-court-orders-nsa-bulk-collection/print
and See: Letter to ACLU: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/aclu-letter.pdf
Also: Human Rights Watch calls for legislation against surveillance (DW, link)
http://www.dw.de/human-rights-watch-calls-for-legislation-against-surveillance/a-17375104
6. EU-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Top German Prosecutor Considers NSA Investigation (Der Spiegel, link):
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-syping-scandal-a-944415-druck.html
and see European Parliament press release: Moraes on NSA reform: Obama speech may not suffice to restore EU citizens’ trust :
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/ep-usa-nsa-obama-prel.pdf
7. USA-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: “DISHFIRE” programme retains messages for future use: NSA collects millions of text messages daily in ‘untargeted’ global sweep (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/16/nsa-collects-millions-text-messages-daily-untargeted-global-sweep/print
NSA extracts location, contacts and financial transactions • ‘Dishfire’ program sweeps up ‘pretty much everything it can’ • GCHQ using database to search metadata from UK numbers:
“The documents also reveal the UK spy agency GCHQ has made use of the NSA database to search the metadata of “untargeted and unwarranted” communications belonging to people in the UK. The NSA program, codenamed Dishfire, collects “pretty much everything it can”, according to GCHQ documents, rather than merely storing the communications of existing surveillance targets.”
“The GCHQ memo sets out in clear terms what the agency’s access to Dishfire allows it to do, before handling how UK communications should be treated. ..”In contrast to [most] GCHQ equivalents, DISHFIRE contains a large volume of unselected SMS traffic,” it states (emphasis original). “This makes it particularly useful for the development of new targets, since it is possible to examine the content of messages sent months or even years before the target was known to be of interest.“” [emphasis added]
See: DISHFIRE: SMS document (8 pages):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/usa-nsa-sms.pdf
In a “separate document”, not released, concerning GCHQ Channel 4 News added that:
http://www.channel4.com/news/intercept-text-messages-spy-nsa-gchq-british-phone
“A separate document reveals the extent to which GCHQ staff used Dishfire to gain information which, under British law, they would need permission to request from telecoms companies within the UK. Under American law, the NSA must delete all US-related texts from the Dishfire database, but does not do the same for UK numbers.
This gives GCHQ a vital store of information, and the documents encourage staff to use it to scope out numbers to see if they might be of interest. “You can… run queries prior to targeting a number, as the content may give you an idea of how useful the number will be,” states the document.”
“It also offers GCHQ the chance to pull in mobile phone data from years ago – before the person ever became a suspect: “This makes it particularly useful for development of new targets, since it is possible to examine the content of messages sent months or even years before the target was known to be of interest,” the document states.” [emphasis added]
8. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Obama Speech on NSA Reform
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/usa-obama-speech-17-1-14.pdf
and: 17 January 2014: PRESIDENTIAL POLICY DIRECTIVE/PPD-28 SUBJECT: Signals Intelligence Activities :
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/jan/us-pres-dir.pdf
See also: Obama presents NSA reforms with plan to end government storage of call data (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/obama-nsa-reforms-end-storage-americans-call-data/print
• President stops short of ending controversial bulk collection
• Obama assures allied foreign leaders on NSA surveillance
• Reforms also include added Fisa court safeguards
and: ACLU Comment on President’s NSA Speech (link)
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-comment-presidents-nsa-speech
and Where Does the President Stand on NSA Reform? (Quick Guide, link)
https://www.aclu.org/national-security/where-does-president-stand-nsa-reform
9. UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: UK rejects German ‘no spy’ pact, report says (euobserver, link): “The UK is reportedly opposed to a no-spy pact being crafted by EU states, despite months of German-led negotiations.”
http://euobserver.com/justice/122743
And see: N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers (New York Times, link)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/nsa-effort-pries-open-computers-not-connected-to-internet.html?_r=0
10. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: NSA makes final push to retain most mass surveillance powers (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/10/nsa-mass-surveillance-powers-john-inglis-npr/print
• Deputy director: bulk data collection is an ‘insurance policy’
• President Obama set to announce future scope of operations and
Privacy oversight board briefed Obama on NSA surveillance reform
• Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met president
• Obama to announce results of NSA review next Friday
USING THE STATEWATCH WEBSITE
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