New laws to allow spies to hack people’s smartphones and computers – Daily Telegraph
‘The investigatory powers bill will give greater powers to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, according to reports.’
Daily Telegraph, 21st October 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Category: investigatory powers
IPT rules on interception of Parliamentarians’ communications – UK Human Rights Blog
‘If parliamentarians are seen to be taking a more forensic interest in matters of surveillance in the coming weeks and months, the reason is unlikely to be purely down to the publication of the greatly anticipated surveillance legislation. Last week’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal judgment has sent ripples of discontent through both Houses of Parliament, evidenced in immediate calls for an emergency debate on the subject (scheduled to take place in the House of Commons later today).’
UK Human Rights Blog, 19th October 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Scotland Yard’s paedophile unit: Meeting the police men and women doing the most difficult work imaginable – The Independent
‘Paul Gallagher meets the people whose job it is to identify victims, stop abuse material being shared and distributed, categorise extreme imagery ready for court and, hopefully, catch paedophiles before they find a victim ‘
The Independent, 4th October 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Counter-extremism bill could play into terrorists’ hands, says watchdog – The Guardian
‘David Cameron’s counter-extremism bill, which will ban non-violent extremists, risks provoking a backlash in Britain’s Muslim communities and playing into the hands of terrorist recruiters, a government watchdog has warned. David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism laws, said the legislation to counter extremist ideology also risks legitimising state scrutiny of – and citizens informing on – the political activities of large numbers of law-abiding people.’
The Guardian, 17th September 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Stop-and-search: Police training will challenge ‘unconscious bias’ of officers to cut down on unlawful use of tactic – The Independent
‘Hundreds of police officers around the country are to have their prejudices challenged by a training programme that aims to reduce discrimination among those using stop-and-search powers, a tactic that disproportionately targets people from ethnic minorities.’
The Independent, 22nd August 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Twitter ‘snooping’ requests double in UK – BBC News
‘Requests for Twitter users’ personal information more than doubled in the UK in 2015, according to the company’s latest transparency report.’
BBC News, 13th August 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
New laws on extremism are a crackdown too far – Daily Telegraph
‘A crackdown on “extremist” ideology threatens to criminalise previously orthodox views such as opposition to gay marriage.’
Daily Telegraph, 5th August 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Beghal v Director of Public Prosecutions (Secretary of State for the Home Department and others intervening) – WLR Daily
‘The provisions in Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 conferring powers to stop, question, and detain a person at a port or border for up to nine hours— without any requirement for prior “reasonable suspecion”— for the purpose of determining whether he appeared to be a person concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism were not incompatible with articles 5, 6 or 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.’
WLR Daily, 22nd July 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Covert surveillance activities need independent oversight, says expert – OUT-LAW.com
‘The use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) for covert surveillance should be overseen by independent judges to ensure the appropriate legislation is being used, an expert has said.’
OUT-LAW.com, 23rf July 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
What is the Wilson doctrine? The story behind MPs’ protection from snooping – The Guardian
‘The convention, outlined by former Labour PM Harold Wilson, says intelligence agencies should not bug MPs, but that hasn’t stopped such behaviour occurring.’
The Guardian, 23rd July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Britain told to review counter-terrorism powers by UN human rights committee – The Guardian
‘Britain should review its key counter-terrorism powers and revise laws on snooping by security services, a UN report has suggested.’
The Guardian, 23rd July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Surveillance of MPs’ data challenged – BBC News
‘Three politicians will challenge the lawfulness of the intelligence services’ bulk interception of electronic data at a hearing later.’
BBC News, 23rd July 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
The Sun launches human rights legal challenge against Metropolitan Police over phone records search – The Independent
‘A legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police by The Sun newspaper – where three reporters say their human rights were breached during the ‘plebgate’ affair – has started at the High Court.’
The Independent, 20th July 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
High court to rule on MPs’ claim that data retention act damages privacy – The Guardian
‘High court judges will give their decision on Friday on an accusation that the government has imposed laws which allow the police and security services to “spy on citizens” without proper safeguards.’
The Guardian, 17th July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Review of possible miscarriages of justice – Attorney General’s Office
‘Mark Ellison QC and Alison Morgan’s review on the impact of undisclosed undercover police activity on the safety of convictions.’
Attorney General’s Office, 16th July 2015
Source: www.gov.uk/ago
Met police to face tribunal over decision to access Plebgate phone records – The Guardian
‘The Metropolitan police is being taken to court in a landmark case over its decision to secretly obtain journalists’ phone records in an attempt to identify the mole behind the Plebgate saga involving the then cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell.’
The Guardian, 14th July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Privacy campaigners win concessions in UK surveillance report – The Guardian
‘Privacy campaigners have secured significant concessions in a key report into surveillance by the British security agencies published on Tuesday. The 132-page report, A Democratic Licence To Operate, which Nick Clegg commissioned last year in the wake of revelations by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden, acknowledges the importance of privacy concerns.’
The Guardian, 14th July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Met police to step up targeted stop and search amid surge in knife-crime – The Guardian
‘The Metropolitan police are to step up their use of targeted stop-and-search operations in high knife-crime areas of London due to a recent rise in stabbings in the capital.’
The Guardian, 22nd June 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Paul Bernal: Privacy, Surveillance and Brexit…. – UK Constitutional Law Association
An Englishman’s home is his castle, so the old saying goes, and it might be thought that the implication is that the English place a special importance on privacy. The reverse, however, seems to be the case, when the law is considered – for much of the law that provides protection for our privacy, particularly in relation to surveillance, does not originate in the UK but in Europe. With the perfect storm of possible ‘Brexit’ and the potential repeal of the Human Rights Act (HRA), that might leave our privacy in an even more precarious state than it currently is. The so-called ‘British Bill of Rights’ has yet to see the light of day: one of the key questions could be what provision it makes for privacy, particularly in relation to the internet and other forms of communications.
Full story
UK Constitutional Law Association, 18th June 2015
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
Independent reviewer recommends redraft of UK surveillance laws – OUT-LAW.com
‘Existing UK surveillance laws should be scrapped and replaced by a “comprehensive and comprehensible new law…drafted from scratch”, the barrister appointed to review UK terrorism legislation has said.’
OUT-LAW.com, 16th June 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
