28 November 2014 — Statewatch
NEWS
http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. UK: NEW POWER TO GATHER IP ADDRESSES IS NOT LIMITED TO TERRORISM, IT WILL COVER ALL CRIME
2. Germany, Austria and Italy launch “trilateral control” to deal with “the increasing number of migrants”
3. New Frontex Director
4. EU: SCHENGEN: European Commission: 6th bi-annual report on Schengen area
5. Spain: repressive laws that also concern Europe
6. EU: RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN
7. EU Council of the European Union: International protection: unaccompanied minors
8. UK: Report from the Intelligence and Security Committee
9. EU: The European Migration Policy violates human rights
10. EU: The Domino Effect: how many EU treaties violate the rights to privacy and data protection ?
11. EU funds airlines data-sharing despite legal concerns
12. HUNGARY: NGO Report: Disrespect for European Values in Hungary 2010-2014
13. EP: The European Parliament: Refer the EU-CANADA PNR agreement to the Court of European Justice (CJEU)
14. UK-G6: At last the Home Office publishes a statement on the G6 meeting in Paris on 6 November
15. EU: LEAs personal data exchange between Member States: Council of the European Union
16. EU: Council of the European Union: Salzburg Forum
17. EU: PRESUMPTION of INNOCENCE: Council of the European Union
18. European Parliament study: Who monitors trust in the European Justice area
19. UK-EU JHA OPT-OUT: Final list of measures the UK will opt-out of and the list of measures still applicable to the EU
20. UK: NUJ members under police surveillance mount collective legal challenge
21. EU: Supra-national border guard system on EU radar
22. EU: Council of the European Union: Data Protection
23. EU: Council of the European Union: Cyber Defence Policy and Presumption of Innocence
24. EU: WELCOME TO “1984”: European Parliament
25. UK: NETPOL: Police hide behind “neither confirm or deny” in the face of protester data requests
26. EU: Council of the European Union: Anti-discrimination Directive, European Public Prosecutors Office and Eurojust
27. “They want to see us drown!: Survivors of a push back operation in the Aegean Sea
28. EU: Mapping of migrant camps
29. Biometric security moves to counter cyber fraud
30. EU: INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION: Council of the European Union
31. News in Brief
EU-USA: SURVEILLANCE: NSA-GCHQ
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. GCHQ: SURVEILLANCE: Snowden-Leaks: How Vodaphone-subsidiary aided GCHQ’s spying efforts
2. EU: NSA-GCHQ: SURVEILLANCE: Secret Malware in EU attack linked to US and UK intelligence
3. SPYWARE: Regin: Top-tier espionage tool enables stealthl surveillance
4. GCHQ whistleblower
5. SURVEILLANCE: VODAFONE & GCHQ
6. USA: Senate blocks NSA phone records measure
7. USA: Next Generation ID
USING THE STATEWATCH WEBSITE
News Online
http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. UK: NEW POWER IN COUNTER TERRORISM BILL TO GATHER IP ADDRESSES IS NOT LIMITED TO TERRORISM, IT WILL COVER ALL CRIME: Counter-Terrorism and Security: Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill – Full-text (pdf) The Bill amends the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA 2014) which in turn amended RIPA 2000. This means that although the Foreword refers to “terrorism” there is no such limitation in the text of the Bill. The new power in Clause 17 for the retention of IP addresses (covering internet usage and VOIP) is not limited to combating terrorism as DRIPA 2014 and RIPA 2000 cover all crime. This is confirmed by the Impact Assessment on: IProtocol Address Resolution (pdf) which makes it crystal clear that this new power will cover all cime, not just terrorism.
See also: Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill (pdf) and: Impact Assessments on: Passport Seizure (pdf), Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (pdf), Temporary Exclusion Orders (pdf), Border Security (pdf), Prevent (pdf), Kidnap and Ransom (pdf) andPrivacy and Civil Liberties Board (pdf)
Tony Bunyan, Statewatch Director, comments: “The government yet again, as it did over DRIPA 2014, is openly ignoring the judgment of the Court of the European Union (CJEU) in April that the mass surveillance of communications, including the internet and mobile phones, is “unlawful”.
See CJEU judgment (pdf) and background: Statewatch Analyses: Mass surveillance of communications in the EU: CJEU judgment and DRIPA 2014/RIPA 2000 in the UK (pdf) and GCHQ is authorised to “spy on the world” but the UK Interception of Communications Commissioner says this is OK as it is “lawful (pdf). The latter includes a statement by GCHQ to the Intelligence and Secuirty Committee in 2013, The reason much of GCHQ’s trawling is “overseas” is because:
“A complete call or message between two individuals may involve a large number of overseas CSPs and network providers… Overseas CSPs, especially those based outside the EU, may not be obliged to retain the CD of most relevance to the authorities. Even if they hold the relevant data, they cannot be obliged to provide it to UK authorities, and may be unwilling to do so voluntarily.” (emphasis added, p.11)
On 13 November the German Interior Ministry announced the start of what it calls “trilateral patrolling” – police patrols in border regions involving officers from Germany, Austria and Italy. Controls, primarily focused on trains, will be “significantly boosted” by the operation. Thomas de Maizière, German’s Federal Interior Minister, said: “Stronger action against illegal migration is urgently required in view of the increasing numbers of refugees.” The new measures have been advertised as “trilateral” in nature. However, it seems that the controls will mostly take place on Italian territory.
3. New Frontex Director: Statement by Commissioner Avramopoulos on the appointment of the new Executive Director of Frontex (pdf) and see his “Motivation” (link)
4. EU: SCHENGEN: European Commission: Sixth bi-annual report on the functioning of the Schengen area 1 May – 31 October 2014(COM 711-14, pdf)
5. Spain: repressive laws that also concern Europe (pdf), French (pdf) and Spanish (pdf):
“On 17 October, Members of Parliament from the People’s Party, party in government in Spain, have adopted the draft Organic Law on the Protection of Citizen’s Security and have rejected all the amendments presented by the various opposition parties…
The Organic Law on the Protection of Citizen’s Security provides for the introduction of 21 new offences and severe penalties for actions linked to social protest, and increases the discretionary power of the police to implement measures such as the identification of persons, body search, the possibility to enter in private homes and to record data, or the limitation of the freedom of movement. Moreover, the power of security forces would be strengthened as taking photographs of police actions during demonstrations would be sanctioned… The bill has been launched by the People’s Party with the obvious aim to fight mobilisation against policies of economic austerity and their consequences on rights.”
See also: European Parliament Press release: Debates on EU approach to migration and the expulsion of migrants from Spain (pdf):“MEPs discussed planned changes to Spanish law which would enable the country to expel clandestine migrants caught entering its North African enclaves Ceuta and Melilla without providing legal or procedural safeguards for them. Most speakers questioned whether these “hot returns” are consistent with EU law and values and asked whether the Commission is planning to take any action to address the practice.”
6. EU: RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN: EU regulators want right-to-be forgotten to go global (euobserver, link) and see: Article 29 Data Protection Working Party: Statement (pdf)
7. EU Council of the European Union: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 as regards determining the Member State responsible for examining the application for international protection of unaccompanied minors with no family member, sibling or relative legally present in a Member State (LIMITE doc no: 15567-14, pdf)
8. UK: Report from the Intelligence and Security Committee: Report on the intelligence relating to the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby (pdf)Why it’s dangerous to blame internet firms for Lee Rigby’s murder – Outrageous claims by the intelligence and security committee threaten goodwill that exists among internet firms and UK police (Guardian, link): “The claim by parliament’s intelligence and security committee that an unnamed internet company should entirely shoulder the blame for failing to prevent the terrorist murder of soldier Lee Rigby is as outrageous as it is wrong-headed. It really is a case of shooting the messenger. The accusation by the ISC chairman, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, that the company is providing a “haven for terrorists” because it is not routinely monitoring the content of every exchange that takes place over its networks is not far off a 1920s home secretary blaming the telephone for spreading Soviet Bolshevism…. if US companies are not prepared to hand over their customers’ data by the front door, the British government in the shape of GCHQ, are quite prepared to grab it by the back door.”
9. EU: The European Migration Policy violates human rights (pdf): “Strasbourg. On Wednesday 26 November, the Collective for another migration policy*, composed of around 50 human rights associations, is organising, for the second consecutive year, a demonstration in front of the European Parliament to bring back to the fore the debate about the migration policy, and to present a campaign FRONTEXIT. This demonstration, supported by the European deputies Marie-Christine Vergiat, Malin Björk, Eva Joly, Barbara Spinelli and Cornelia Ernst, was proposed during a press conference held in the heart of the European institutions.”
10. EU: The Domino Effect: how many EU treaties violate the rights to privacy and data protection? (EU Law Analysis, link): “are we at the start of a ‘domino effect’ of a series of EU laws and treaties being ruled in breach of the rights to privacy and data protection by the Court of Justice, all falling in sequence now that the data retention Directive has been overturned? Or are the features of the different measures different enough to avoid this? “
11. EU funds airline data-sharing despite legal concerns (euobserver, link): “The European Commission has awarded €50 million to member states to set up airline passenger data sharing systems, despite an upcoming EU Court analysis on the probity of similar schemes.” and Travel surveillance: PNR by the back door.(Statewatch News Online)
12. HUNGARY: Report: Disrespect for European Values in Hungary 2010-2014 (pdf)
“Hungarian NGOs have prepared a report about the (dis)respect of European Union values (as enshrined in the EU treaties) in Hungary in recent years. The report is an easy to follow, concise summary of the legal analysis carried out in several earlier reports. The report was prepared by 4 Hungarian human rights NGOs and supported by 18 other NGOs in Hungary, including the Hungarian LGBT Alliance, Háttér Society and Budapest Pride”
13. EP: The European Parliament has just voted, Tuesday 25 November, to refer the EU-CANADA PNR agreement to the Court of European Justice (CJEU). See Press release: MEPs refer EU-Canada air passenger data deal to the EU Court of Justice (pdf):
“The EU-Canada agreement on the transfer of Passenger Name Records (PNR) should be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for an opinion on whether it is in line with the EU treaties and Charter of Fundamental Rights, MEPs said in a vote on Tuesday. This is the first time that Parliament has asked that a PNR agreement be given a preliminary check by the Court before the final vote on the deal.
The resolution was approved by 383 votes to 271, with 47 abstentions. Before voting on the resolution, MEPs rejected a proposal to postpone it by 307 votes in favour, 380 against and 14 abstentions.”
14. UK-G6: At last the Home Office publishes a statement on the G6 meeting in Paris on 6 November: The informal G6 group of Ministers of the Interior (link) from the six largest European Union countries held its most recent meeting in Paris on 6 November 2014. Representatives of the United States of America, Canada, Turkey and the European Commission attended for part of the meeting.
15. EU: LEAs personal data exchange between Member States: Council of the European Union: Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 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 – Chapters I, II and V (LIMITE doc no: 15659-rev1-14, 71 pages, pdf): Major revisions to the Council’s negotiating position.with 264 Member State reservations and comments. Including trying to define what role the police and their specialist units play in “internal security” which is the province of internal security and intelligence agencies::
“This Directive lays down the rules relating to the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent (…) authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties as well as by the police or other law-enforcement services for the purposes of maintaining law and order and the safeguarding of internal security.” (14105/14).[emphasis in original] and
“take on board the above-mentioned German suggestion, with the need to better clarify what the wording “law and order” is meant to include/exclude and in particular, as far as the concept of “internal security” is concerned, in order to avoid overlapping with tasks assigned to intelligence services in order to protect the security of the State from internal threats.”
16. EU: Council of the European Union: Salzburg Forum Ministerial Conference Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, 11–12 November 2014 (pdf): Including:
“”Enhancing police cooperation of Salzburg Forum members in the form of police chief meetings
“The Ministers took note of the proposal to organize regular meetings of Salzburg Forum Chiefs of Police, in order to establish a close link between politics and operational police work. The Ministers agreed that a strong link and close interaction between the political/strategic and the operational police level is necessary to create an added value in the area of public security and to further enhance the cooperation in the framework of the Salzburg Forum…The Ministers welcomed Austria’s willingness to organize the first meeting of the Salzburg Forum Chiefs of Police in the first half of 2015, under the Austrian Presidency of the Salzburg Forum.”
The Salzburg Forum, based on an Austrian initiative taken in 2000, is a platform for multilateral dialogue and cooperation on issues of internal security. Its member states are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
17. EU: PRESUMPTION of INNOCENCE: Council of the European Union: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at trial in criminal proceedings – General approach (EU doc no: 15837-14, pdf): “The Council is invited to reach a general approach on the text, which will constitute the basis for future negotiations with the European Parliament in the context of the ordinary legislative procedure.”
18..European Parliament study: The End of the Transitional Period for Police and Criminal Justice Measures Adopted before the Lisbon Treaty: Who Monitors Trust in the European Justice Area? (pdf): “The Study argues that in light of Article 82 TFEU the rights of the defence are now inextricably linked to the coherency and effective operation of the principle of mutual recognition of criminal decisions, and calls the European Parliament to request the UK to opt in EU Directives on suspects procedural rights as condition for the UK to ‘opt back in’ measures like the European Arrest Warrant.”
19. UK-EU JHA OPT-OUT: Final list of measures the UK will opt-out of and the list of measures still applicable to the EU:
• OPT-OUTs: List of Union acts adopted before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters which cease to apply to the United Kingdom as from 1 December 2014 pursuant to Article 10(4), second sentence, of Protocol (No 36) on transitional provisions (LIMITE doc no: 15780-14, pdf)
• ACTS STILL APPLICABLE TO UK: List of Union acts adopted before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters which have been amended by an act applicable to the United Kingdom adopted after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and which therefore remain applicable to the United Kingdom as amended or replaced (LIMITE doc no: 15781-14, pdf)
• REFERENCE TO COREPER: Protocol 36 to the Lisbon Treaty – draft Schengen Decision: political agreement and use of the written procedure for adopting it – draft texts for publication in the OJ in C part, for information (LIMITE doc no: 15780-14, pdf)
20. UK: NUJ members under police surveillance mount collective legal challenge (NUJ, link): Six NUJ members have discovered that their lawful journalistic and union activities are being monitored and recorded by the Metropolitan Police. They are now taking legal action against the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the Home Secretary to challenge this ongoing police surveillance. The NUJ members involved in the legal challenge include Jules Mattsson, Mark Thomas, Jason Parkinson, Jess Hurd, David Hoffman and Adrian Arbib:
“Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “It is outrageous that the police are using their resources and wide-ranging powers to put journalists under surveillance and to compile information about their movements and work on secret databases. There is no justification for treating journalists as criminals or enemies of the state, and it raises serious questions for our democracy when the NUJ is forced to launch a legal challenge to compel the police to reveal the secret evidence they have collected about media workers.
The union will continue to give its full support to the members involved in the case and we are committed to putting a stop to this unacceptable state interference and monitoring that labels our members as domestic extremists.”
21. EU: Supra-national border guard system on EU radar (euobserver, link):
“The final phase is the most far-reaching. Also known as “full integration at EU level”, it entails setting up an entirely new agency – the committee on Schengen border management (CSBM). The new body would be composed of border guards under a EU-level command structure.
The study notes that all border guards, previously acting under the command and control of national authorities, would now form part of the European border guard corps.”
and see European Commission: DH Home: Study: Study on the feasibility of the creation of a European System of Border Guards to control the external borders of the Union ESBG (pdf)
22. EU: Council of the European Union: Data Protection:
• DP Regulation: The one-stop-shop mechanism (LIMITE doc no: 14788-rev1-14, 68 pages, pdf)
• DP Directive on LEAs exchange of personal data between member states: DIRECTIVE 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 – Chapters I, II and V (LIMITE doc no: 15659-14, 71 pages, pdf). Here one option for the Council is to extend the scope from policing and law and order to include “internal security” as well – which could embrace internal security agencies too.
23. Council of the European Union: Cyber Defence Policy and Presumption of Innocence
• EU Cyber Defence Policy Framework (LIMITE doc no: 15193-14, pdf):
“Cyberspace is often described as the fifth domain of military activity, equally critical to European Union (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) implementation as the domains of land, sea, air, and space. The successful implementation of CSDP has been increasingly dependent on the availability of, and access to, a secure cyberspace. Robust and resilient cyber defence capabilities are now required to support CSDP structures and CSDP missions and operations.”
• Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at trial in criminal proceedings – General approach (EU doc no: 15325-14, pdf) “This general approach will then constitute the basis for negotiations with the European Parliament.”
24. EU: WELCOME TO “1984”: European Parliament: Automated taxis and delivery by drone: welcome to Europe’s high-tech future (Press release, pdf):
“New technologies such as wearable computers and face recognition promise to change the way we work, shop and entertain. Creating a digital single market could help boost Europe’s high-tech businesses and create more jobs. At a workshop organised by the EP’s internal market committee on Thursday 13 November, MEPs and experts looked at ways how to achieve this….
The event, opened by R Thun, a Polish member of the EPP group, started with a glimpse into the future. Using smart glasses, you can hail a driverless taxi with a simple wink of the eye. Once you are in the car, it recognises you and plays your favourite song. It drives you to a shop where you pick what you want and walk out. The money is deducted automatically using face recognition technology. Or you shop online and your purchase is delivered by a drone.”
25. UK: NETPOL: Police hide behind ‘neither confirm or deny’ in the face of protester data requests (link): “Increasingly, police will neither confirm nor deny that they hold personal data on activists. Netpol believes there is a policy of deliberately avoiding data protection responsibilities until after a Supreme Court hearing in December.”
26. Council of the European Union developing its negotiating position on: Anti-discrimination Directive, European Public Prosecutors Office and Eurojust
• Proposal for a Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (LIMITE doc no: 14862-14, 35 pages, pdf)
• Proposal for a regulation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (LIMITE doc no: 14710-14, 47 pages, pdf):“After having discussed the file during 7 working days in COPEN/Friends of Presidency, three times in CATS, as well as at the informal ministerial meeting in Milan in July and in JHA Council of 10 October, the Italian Presidency now proposes a consolidated redraft of the first 33 Articles of the Regulation.”
• Proposal for a Regulation on the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) – Revised text for Partial General Approach (LIMITE doc no: 15260-14, 83 pages, pdf): “Delegates will find attached in the Annex a further revision of the Commission’s proposal which the Presidency considers to constitute the basis for the partial general approach at the forthcoming JHA Council.”
27. “They want to see us drown” – Survivors of a push back operation in the Aegean Sea report to the Watch The Med Alarm Phone(Watch the MED, link):
“Witness Mr D. reports of a push-back operation by the Greek coastguard when he and 32 other passengers, all of Syrian nationality and including a pregnant woman, were leaving Cesme in Turkey to reach the Greek island of Chios on a rubber vessel in the night of the 25th-26th of October 2014. The Greek coastguard intercepted the vessel and later boarded it, then took away the gas tank of the engine and punctured the vessel. The coastguard left the vessel behind in Turkish waters, without an engine and a hole in the vessel. The passengers were able to call the Turkish coastguard which rescued them and brought them back to Cesme.”
See also: Safety at sea (link) and The sea as frontier (link) See also: On board the tiny fleet saving terrified migrants from an angry Mediterranean (Guardian, link)
28. EU: Mapping of migrant camps (Close the Camps, link):
“”A dynamic and interactive mapping of migrant detention in Europe and beyond. This site aims to: Record the sites, forms and conditions of migrant detention and their serious human consequences; Enable access to information concerning migrant detention sites and contact with detained persons; Mobilise all those who oppose migrant detention and removal measures to protect migrants human rights”
29. Biometric security moves to counter cyber fraud (euractiv, link):
“These developments show why the payment community has been taking measures to move evolve from the era of memorised passwords to personalised biometric security.The launch of Apple Pay in September marked a major milestone, with the US tech giant offering to identify users not with passwords or PIN numbers, but thumbprints….Nor are fingerprints the only biometric yardstick under development. This spring witnessed the trial of innovative Swedish hand scanning in Lund as an alternative payment method. While vein scanning technology existed previously, it has not been used as a form of payment before.
“Every individual’s vein pattern is completely unique, so there really is no way of committing fraud with this system,” said researcher Fredrik Leifland. “You always need your hand scanned for a payment to go through.”
30. EU: INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION: Council of the European Union: Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 as regards determining the Member State responsible for examining the application for international protection of unaccompanied minors with no family member, sibling or relative legally present in a Member State (LIMITE doc no: 15120-14, , pdf)
31. News in Brief: http://www.statewatch.org/news/Newsinbrief.htm
EU-USA: SURVEILLANCE: NSA-GCHQ
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. GCHQ: SURVEILLANCE: Snowden-Leaks: How Vodafone-Subsidiary Cable & Wireless Aided GCHQ’s Spying Efforts (SZ International, link) With set of documents.
2. EU: NSA-GCHQ: SURVEILLANCE: Secret Malware in European Union Attack Linked to U.S. and British Intelligence (Intercept, link):
“Complex malware known as Regin is the suspected technology behind sophisticated cyberattacks conducted by U.S. and British intelligence agencies on the European Union and a Belgian telecommunications company, according to security industry sources and technical analysis conducted by The Intercept.”
and see: Snowden-Leaks: How Vodafone-Subsidiary Cable & Wireless Aided GCHQ’s Spying Efforts (SZ International, link)
3. SPYWARE: Regin: Top-tier espionage tool enables stealthy surveillance (Symantec, Press release, link):
“An advanced spying tool, Regin displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen and has been used in spying operations against governments, infrastructure operators, businesses, researchers, and private individuals.” plus Technical Paper (pdf, link)
Regin, new computer spyware, discovered by Symantec (BBC News, link): “A leading computer security company says it has discovered one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software ever seen. Symantec says the bug, named Regin, was probably created by a government and has been used for six years against a range of targets around the world. Once installed on a computer, it can do things like capture screenshots, steal passwords or recover deleted files”
4. GCHQ whistleblower calls for public interest defence – ‘I was enraged by the subterfuge and potential blackmail they wanted us to do,’ says former GCHQ employee (Guardian, link)
5. SURVEILLANCE: VODAFONE & GCHQ: Spy cable revealed: how telecoms firm worked with GCHQ (Channel 4 News, link):
“One of the UK’s largest communications firms had a leading role in creating the surveillance system exposed by Edward Snowden, it can be revealed. Cable and Wireless even went as far as providing traffic from a rival foreign communications company, handing information sent by millions of internet users worldwide over to spies.
The firm, which was bought by Vodafone in July 2012, was part of a programme called Mastering the Internet, under which British spies used private companies to help them gather and store swathes of internet traffic; a quarter of which passes through the UK. Top secret documents leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden and seen by Channel 4 News show that GCHQ developed what it called “partnerships” with private companies under codenames. Cable and Wireless was called Gerontic.”
See also: USA-Vodaphone: Vodafone-Firma soll für Spähauftrag kassiert haben (sueddeutsche.de/digital, link) [New Snowden documents show how Vodafone aided spying mission] and Vodafone – der lange Arm des britischen Geheimdienstes? (Vodafone – the long arm of British intelligence?) see video.
6. USA: Senate Blocks NSA Phone Records Measure (ABC News, link): “The Senate on Tuesday blocked a bill to end bulk collection of American phone records by the National Security Agency, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama’s primary proposal to rein in domestic surveillance.”
And: NSA Reform Bill Dies As Republicans Hype Threats From Islamic State (The Intercept, link)
7. USA: Next Generation ID: EPIC Prevails in Case Against FBI re: Next Generation ID (EPIC link):
“A federal court has ruled that EPIC “substantially prevailed” in an open government lawsuit against the FBI for information on the agency’s massive biometric database. The court also awarded attorneys’ fees to EPIC, finding that “There can be little dispute that the general public has a genuine, tangible interest in a system designed to store and manipulate significant quantities of its own biometric data, particularly given the great numbers of people from whom such data will be gathered.”
EPIC’s lawsuit led to the disclosure of hundreds of pages about “Next Generation Identification,” a vast FBI database program including fingerprints, DNA profiles, iris scans, palm prints, voice identification profiles and photographs of millions of Americans suspected of no crime. The documents received through EPIC’s lawsuit revealed the FBI’s acceptance of a 20% error rate for the NGI database’s facial recognition software. Technical specifications for another facial recognition project revealed that the FBI extended access to the biometric database to state and local law enforcement for the purpose of running facial recognition queries.”
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