Liberties
-
NO2ID Newsletter 14 April, 2010: Election special – promise to protect privacy
This week, POWER2010 are focussing on privacy and government abuse of our personal information. They have set up a simple tool on their website which allows you to e-mail a customiseable letter directly to each of the parliamentary candidates in your constituency Continue reading
-
Army Intel ACORNing WikiLeaks? Web Publisher Under Attack By Michael Collins
U.S. Army Counterterrorism issued a report that said WikiLeaks is a threat to U.S. security, particularly in Afghanistan. The report says that the organization should be destroyed and offered a plan. Does the government really think it can destroy WikiLeaks or is the leaked report part of a plan to smear the organization so badly,… Continue reading
-
UK: CASE AGAINST GAZA PROTESTORS UNRAVELLING
The attempt to criminalise scores of people who demonstrated last January against the occupation of Gaza is running into trouble. Last week, the police effectively dropped charges against Jake Smith, one of many charged with violent disorder, admitting that the evidence was faulty. Continue reading
-
Militarisation of ‘creativity’ in Scotland: moral and ethical dilemmas concerning the integrity of creative practitioners
The project [‘Combating Terrorism by Countering Radicalisation’] “provoked a furious response from academics”, mainly anthropologists, “who claimed it was tantamount to asking researchers to act as spies for British intelligence” Continue reading
-
UK: Sign petition to DEFEND THE GAZA PROTESTORS
More than 20 of the 78 people charged have been sent to prison in an unprecedented campaign by the police. Almost all of those charged are Muslims. The campaign to defend the protestors has resulted in some good press coverage, and one of the first defendants to plead not guilty was acquitted last week. Continue reading
-
38 Degrees | Harriet – Debate The Digital Economy Bill
The Digital Economy Bill has suffered from huge manipulation by lobbyists, including insertion of entire new clauses at the behest of music lobbyists the BPI, and accusations that Lords amended the Bill without declaring their interests. Continue reading
-
Visa Ban Lifted, Renowned Professors Enter U.S
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) welcomes the decision by the U.S. Department of State to end the exclusions of two prominent foreign professors from the United States. Professor Adam Habib and Professor Tarik Ramadan, along with ADC, were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In separate lawsuits the ACLU challenged the denial of… Continue reading
-
Danish Anti-terror law imprisons Irish writer for supporting FARC and Venezuela’s Bolivarian process
The next e-mail I will be getting from my compatriot Patrick Mac Manus will be from jail … he has just been sentenced to 6 months prison by a Danish judge for collecting and donating money to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Continue reading
-
Leaked ACTA draft reveals plans for internet clampdown By Paul Meller
The US, Europe and other countries including New Zealand are secretly drawing up rules designed to crack down on copyright abuse on the internet, in part by making ISPs liable for illegal content, according to a copy of part of the confidential draft agreement that was seen by the IDG News Service. Continue reading
-
FORTRESS UK – Closing the door on international artists and academics – Wednesday 17 March
The Home Office’s new points-based visa system has meant thousands of international students unable to start their courses on time, cancelled concerts and lecture series, and the growth of suspicion and surveillance on campus. Come and discuss these new rules – and what we can do about them. Continue reading
-
ATTEMPT TO BAN PROTEST OUTSIDE BLAIR INQUIRY
Negotiations between the police and Stop the War broke down today when it became clear that the government is trying to hide our legitimate peaceful protest from Tony Blair when he gives evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry on Friday. Continue reading
-
Undermining the American People’s Right to Privacy: The Secret State’s Surveillance Machine By Tom Burghardt
Hoping to forestall public suspicions of how things actually work in Washington, the administration has declared that “it will continue to block the release of additional documents, including communications within the Executive Branch and records reflecting the identities of telecoms involved in lobbying for immunity,” according to EFF’s Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. Continue reading
-
A Message from CCR on Human Rights Day
10 December, 2009 — Center for Constitutional Rights Each year the world celebrates Human Rights Day on December 10, the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the United Nations 61 years ago today. Through the UDHR, the international community set out for the first time the rights that all human Continue reading
-
Canada’s Guantanamo By Eric Walberg
A scandal erupted last week in sleepy Ottawa with the revelations of Canada’s chief diplomat in Kandahar in 2006-07, Richard Colvin, who told a House of Commons committee on Afghanistan that Afghans arrested by Canadian military and handed over to Afghan authorities were knowingly tortured. His and others’ attempts to raise the alarm had been… Continue reading
-
Heroic Human Rights Lawyer Lynne Stewart is Jailed By Stephen Lendman
‘Defiant to the end as she embraced supporters outside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Lynne F. Stewart, the radical lawyer known for defending unpopular clients, surrendered on Thursday to begin serving her 28-month sentence for assisting terrorism.’ Continue reading
-
UK Judge Approves Use of Secret Evidence in Guantánamo Case by Andy Worthington
Those of us who have been aware that the principles of open justice in the UK are being threatened in an unprecedented manner have, to date, focused largely on the use of secret evidence in cases related to terrorism — widely ignored by the general public, and by much of the media — and on… Continue reading
-
Welcome Home, War! Creating the “Domestic Surveillance State” By Prof. Alfred W. McCoy
In his approach to National Security Agency surveillance, as well as CIA renditions, drone assassinations, and military detention, President Obama has to a surprising extent embraced the expanded executive powers championed by his conservative predecessor, George W. Bush. This bipartisan affirmation of the imperial executive could “reverberate for generations,” warns Jack Balkin, a specialist on First Amendment… Continue reading
-
VIDEO: What Happened inside the Guantanamo Prison: Former Muslim chaplain speaks out
As part of Al Jazeera’s “In My View” series, former US Muslim chaplain for the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba talks about his experience after being accused of spying and the abuse he alleges occurred at the camp. Continue reading
-
Department of Justice Threatens the Internet By Tom Burghardt
When the Independent Media Center (IMC) received a formal notice on January 30 from the Department of Justice, demanding they provide an Indianapolis grand jury with ‘details of all reader visits on a certain day,’ the feisty left-wing news aggregators fought back, CBS News reported. Continue reading
-
Feds Wanted Private Data on All Visitors to Liberal Internet News Site By Daniel Tencer
A Justice Department subpoena requesting all available information on all visitors to an independent news site is raising serious privacy concerns, and questions about how much information the US government is storing about its citizens’ news reading habits. Continue reading