Human Rights | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:56:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Human Rights | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Human rights concerns emerge amid growing interest in microchipping workers https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/human-rights-concerns-arise-amid-growing-interest-in-microchipping-workers/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/human-rights-concerns-arise-amid-growing-interest-in-microchipping-workers/#respond Tue, 13 Nov 2018 12:44:13 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=394704 British companies are expressing their desire to implant workers with the same microchips used to monitor pets, claiming that it will bolster security. This has subsequently been flagged by trade unions and watchdogs that believe the attempt is a violation of human rights. The chips themselves are no bigger than a grain of rice, intended …

The post Human rights concerns emerge amid growing interest in microchipping workers first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
British companies are expressing their desire to implant workers with the same microchips used to monitor pets, claiming that it will bolster security. This has subsequently been flagged by trade unions and watchdogs that believe the attempt is a violation of human rights.

The chips themselves are no bigger than a grain of rice, intended to be implanted beneath the skin between the thumb and index finger. The intention is to use radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to replace physical key cards, micromanaging individuals by placing restrictions on their access.

While British company BioTeq plans to handle some of the interest in the UK, Biohax has been approached thanks to its 5 years’ worth of experience fitting more than 4,000 people with the chips in Sweden. The trend has boomed in the Scandinavian country, with users utilising the subdermal implant to slowly phase out paper tickets on the railway.

“These companies have sensitive documents they are dealing with. The microchips would allow them to set restrictions for whoever,” founder of Biohax Jowan Österlund explained to the Sunday Telegraph. According to the publication, the firm is currently in discussion with British legal teams and interested businesses about the feasibility of the implants across “hundreds of thousands of employees.”

This has sparked backlash from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which represents as many as 190,000 businesses in the UK. “While technology is changing the way we work, this makes for distinctly uncomfortable reading,” said a company spokesperson. “Firms should be concentrating on rather more immediate priorities and focusing on engaging their employees.”

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) agrees, according to The Guardian, with general secretary Frances O’Grady stating: “We know workers are already concerned that some employers are using tech to control and micromanage, whittling away their staff’s right to privacy. Microchipping would give bosses even more power and control over their workers. There are obvious risks involved, and employers must not brush them aside, or pressure staff into being chipped.”

Biohax has already taken to the US to microchip Wisconsin-based Three Square Market, with the practice expected to travel as far as Spain, France, Germany, Japan and China. This is a real investment, given that the chips aren’t cheap fetching as much as £260 per device

KitGuru Says: Overall, the benefits of the RFID implant mean that users could enter houses without keys, log in to security systems, and pay contactless all with their hand. One major caveat of the system, however, is that is requires a minor surgical procedure in order to keep on top of the rapidly advancing technology.

The post Human rights concerns emerge amid growing interest in microchipping workers first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/human-rights-concerns-arise-amid-growing-interest-in-microchipping-workers/feed/ 0
Appeals court rules human rights breached by Terrorism Act https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/appeals-court-rules-human-rights-breached-by-terrorism-act/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/appeals-court-rules-human-rights-breached-by-terrorism-act/#respond Wed, 20 Jan 2016 11:10:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=281383 The UK's Master of Rolls, John Dyson has in a court of appeals ruled that the Terrorism Act 2000 is not compatible with the European human rights convention. This comes as part of a case against David Miranda, who was arrested at Heathrow airport in 2013 for carrying files related to Edward Snowden. This ruling …

The post Appeals court rules human rights breached by Terrorism Act first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
The UK's Master of Rolls, John Dyson has in a court of appeals ruled that the Terrorism Act 2000 is not compatible with the European human rights convention. This comes as part of a case against David Miranda, who was arrested at Heathrow airport in 2013 for carrying files related to Edward Snowden. This ruling will force politicians to re-examine the terrorism act and consider changing its text.

The particular part of the Terrorism Act 2000 that bothered judge Dyson, was schedule 7, which addresses the detaining of those travelling in and out of Britain. It states that any officer may detain and question a traveller for up to nine hours whether they suspect them of a crime or not. That person also lacks basic rights of the accused, including the right to remain silent or receive access to legal counsel.

“The stop power, if used in respect of journalistic information or material, is incompatible with article 10 [freedom of expression] of the [European convention on human rights] because it is not ‘prescribed by law’,” said Dyson (via The Guardian).

davidmiranda

Miranda (L) seen here with fellow journalist and partner Glenn Greenwald (R). Source: Wikimedia

He also disagreed with the way the government legislaters painted the idea of terrorism. By definition he said that it was an intent to do serious harm or threat to public safety. However, the arrest of Miranda at the time was decreed lawful under the act.

The Home Office's response was to state that it was always aware that Miranda's arrest was lawful, but it did acknowledge that not enough protections were put in place at the time the act was written, to guard against journalists being harassed or having their information confiscated.

This is very counter to a stance it took in the past. Back in 2013, a government statement suggested that releasing any information related to GCHQ or the NSA was an act of terrorism, as it hoped to negatively “influence the government.” That suggested that any act could quite conceivably be labelled terrorism if the right people were place to back it up (as per the Guardian).

Dyson's ruling in this case may well help prevent such a system becoming institutionalised.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: This is a big win for anyone concerned about encroachments on civil liberties. Just visiting an airport shouldn't see a large number of important human rights disappear without a trace.

The post Appeals court rules human rights breached by Terrorism Act first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/appeals-court-rules-human-rights-breached-by-terrorism-act/feed/ 0
GCHQ wants even more tech-giant cooperation https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/gchq-wants-even-more-tech-giant-cooperation/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/gchq-wants-even-more-tech-giant-cooperation/#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2014 09:50:46 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=220104 One of the keystone shocks of the big Edward Snowden reveals last year, was that tech giants like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and many others had been forced into handing over information to the governments in the five-eyes intelligence alliance (USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada), without being able to tell anyone due to gag …

The post GCHQ wants even more tech-giant cooperation first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
One of the keystone shocks of the big Edward Snowden reveals last year, was that tech giants like Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and many others had been forced into handing over information to the governments in the five-eyes intelligence alliance (USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada), without being able to tell anyone due to gag orders. However now the British arm of that alliance, GCHQ, is suggesting that it needs even more cooperation from tech companies to combat… you guessed it, terrorism.

This is the message being put out there by recently appointed head at GCHQ, Robert Hannigan, who said in an opinion piece in the Financial Times, that extremist groups like ISIS had taken to using the internet and were finding it as useful as everyone else in the world.

Bizarrely though for an intelligence head, he almost seems perplexed by the way these terrorist groups use the internet. “The extremists of Isis use messaging and social media services such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, and a language their peers understand,” he said, though it's not clear if he's referencing something like Arabic, or internet slang like LEET speak.

“Their use of the World Cup and Ebola hashtags to insert the Isis message into a wider news feed, and their ability to send 40,000 tweets a day during the advance on Mosul without triggering spam controls, illustrates their ease with new media,” he continued, highlighting Twitter's need to add better spam filters. Except that's not what Mr Hannigan wants to happen. What he wants, is people to reveal more about their private lives, on the off chance that they're affiliated with groups like ISIS.

gchq
Its no coincident that this thing looks like a three armed Goatse

“GCHQ is happy to be part of a mature debate on privacy in the digital age. But privacy has never been an absolute right and the debate about this should not become a reason for postponing urgent and difficult decisions,” he said. This however seems to skip over the fact that article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights reads:

“Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.” There is a secondary condition that suggests that national security is allowed to infringe on this, but considering we've seen how little effect the NSA has had with its invasive mass data collection (it has aided traditional detective work in 1-2 cases a most) then that doesn't seem to warrant even more collaboration between tech firms and the government.

Apparently though, Hannnigan thinks everyone would be onboard with that idea, stating: “I think those customers would be comfortable with a better, more sustainable relationship between the agencies and the technology companies.” This also ignores the fact that in the wake of Edward Snowden leaks and little assurance from the White House that it wasn't digging through people's dirty laundry, trust in US tech companies fell to an all time low, losing a lot of business for a lot of people, especially cloud providers.

It probably doesn't help that the Police and NSA have been caught looking at people's nude images in the past either.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: What's always bizarre to me with this sort of thing, is that governments and police have plenty of powers to go after terrorism. If they suspect someone of it, they can pull them off the streets, have warrants issued that allow them to open up that person's entire life. Why exactly is it necessary to monitor everyone on the off chance that they might be affiliated? If commercial encryption techniques are defeating GCHQ as Mr Hannigan makes it sound, they have much bigger worries than making sure Facebook messages can be easily read. 

 

The post GCHQ wants even more tech-giant cooperation first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/gchq-wants-even-more-tech-giant-cooperation/feed/ 1
RIAA claims Pirate Bay and others breach human rights https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/riaa-claims-pirate-bay-and-others-breach-human-rights/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/riaa-claims-pirate-bay-and-others-breach-human-rights/#comments Wed, 29 Oct 2014 10:53:50 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=219111 You know what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its contemporaries like the MPAA are fed up with? Their human rights being infringed upon. No, not because organisations like theirs are clamping down on freedom of expression by restricting access to information, but because those dastardly pirate sites are infringing on the copyright of …

The post RIAA claims Pirate Bay and others breach human rights first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
You know what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and its contemporaries like the MPAA are fed up with? Their human rights being infringed upon. No, not because organisations like theirs are clamping down on freedom of expression by restricting access to information, but because those dastardly pirate sites are infringing on the copyright of others, which the RIAA claims is “itself a restriction on freedom of expression.”

This came out of the RIAA's submission to the US government's Office of US Trade Representatives, which is designed to offer up another opinion on the current state of “notorious markets,” online, such as The Pirate Bay and other content sharing platforms. However instead of going down its usual route and extrapolating how much money was ‘lost' by artists thanks to people ‘stealing' music online, the RIAA took a similar tack to pirates and equated its battle to the moral high ground.

“This week as we celebrate “Free Speech Week,” it seems a most appropriate occasion to recognize the unique role of artists in the flowering of free expression,” the report reads, before quoting author Marty Rubin, about how artists allow others to be “free,” through their work.

riaa

However, that isn't possible according to the RIAA, unless you protect that freedom with copyright, but others continue to thwart that idea. “Some observers continue to suggest that the protection of expression is a form of censorship or restriction on fundamental freedoms,” it said. “If the protection of expression is itself a restriction on freedom of expression, then we have entered a metaphysical Wonderland that stands logic on its head, and undermines core, shared global values about personhood.”

Ultimately, it said that it was time to end this: “assault on our humanity and the misappropriation of fundamental human rights.”

Despite these lofty, moralistic statements though, the RIAA still just wants to focus on stopping online “thievery,” by discouraging advertisers and other companies from working with torrent and file sharing site owners. Its only caveat was admitting that some sites do process takedown requests, but that it considered many of them to be doing so, simply to appear legitimate.

As TorrentFreak explains, these statements, along with a list of “notorious,” sites and commentary from other organisations, will form the basis for the US government's Review of Notorious Markets, set for publication later this year.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: I think we all understand that along with the legitimate, legal content on torrent sites, there's a lot of copyright infringement going on, which the owners often profit from. However, shutting them down does not aid freedom of expression and claiming as such suggests a deliberate attempt to mislead the government, or at best, naivete. 

The post RIAA claims Pirate Bay and others breach human rights first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/riaa-claims-pirate-bay-and-others-breach-human-rights/feed/ 9
EA might be hated, but not by its diverse staff https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/ea-might-be-hated-but-not-by-its-diverse-staff/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/ea-might-be-hated-but-not-by-its-diverse-staff/#comments Tue, 10 Dec 2013 11:04:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=166877 The gaming industry often gets a lot of flak for not being a gender neutral workplace and alongside that negative comparison, EA games has been similarly voted the worst company of the year several years in a row based on online voting, so it's somewhat of a surprise to hear that EA received a perfect …

The post EA might be hated, but not by its diverse staff first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
The gaming industry often gets a lot of flak for not being a gender neutral workplace and alongside that negative comparison, EA games has been similarly voted the worst company of the year several years in a row based on online voting, so it's somewhat of a surprise to hear that EA received a perfect score on its workplace equality rating. And this is for the second year running.

This comes out of the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which has rated EA Games as one of the best places to work in the world. The study takes into consideration internal policies and the management structure of giant corporations and twice in a row now EA has been given 100 per cent.

ea
Got to give it to EA. It might have turned PopCap and other studio's IPs into a money machine, but it's all inclusive

Much of this was to do with EA's Diversity and Inclusion Team, which while sounding like a sitcom creation, is a real team that has helped promote gender and sexual equality in the workplace by taking part in local gay pride parades in different EA offices around the world and even hosting its own event to highlight some of the issues faced by people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and trangender (LGBT) in the gaming industry.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUNdbgVdGEg#t=24′]

The Human Rights foundation was also impressed by EA's work with charity. When it twinned with Humble Bundle earlier this year to offer many of its Origin enabled games (so there was some benefit for the publisher), all the proceeds went to charity, which ultimately raised over $10.5 million over just a couple of weeks.

“We’re very proud that EA has been named a ‘Best Place to Work’ by HRC again this year and that our organization has been recognized for providing a workplace that is inclusive and where everyone feels welcome,” said Andre Chambers, head of Diversity & Inclusion at EA. “We look forward to continuing that tradition in 2014.”

KitGuru Says: This is a really smart move by EA. While it might not have the best reputation with gamers for its business practices, with the current climate of women and differing sexualities struggling to find acceptance in the industry, they're likely to flock to a business that offers acceptance, meaning EA could be poised to see a big uptake in highly talented gay and female developers in the future, without needing to compete with as many other businesses for their applications.

[Cheers GamesIndustry

The post EA might be hated, but not by its diverse staff first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/ea-might-be-hated-but-not-by-its-diverse-staff/feed/ 1
GCHQ might be spying on lawyer-client emails https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/gchq-might-be-spying-on-lawyer-client-emails/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/gchq-might-be-spying-on-lawyer-client-emails/#respond Tue, 15 Oct 2013 11:02:50 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=157737 While over in the states, the anti-NSA groups are beginning to find their feet, here in the UK the revelations of government spying are getting worse and worse. It now looks like intelligence agency GCHQ, might be spying on the privileged emails between lawyers and their clients. Alleged as part of a court case between …

The post GCHQ might be spying on lawyer-client emails first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
While over in the states, the anti-NSA groups are beginning to find their feet, here in the UK the revelations of government spying are getting worse and worse. It now looks like intelligence agency GCHQ, might be spying on the privileged emails between lawyers and their clients.

Alleged as part of a court case between several Libyans and the British government over compensation, the claim was made with the investigatory powers tribunal, the only organisation in the UK that is capable of investigating other British intelligence agencies, like MI5 and GCHQ. While similar defendants have already received payments from the government (though no admission of guilt), the lawyers representing the Libyans believe their case will be impossible to fairly hear, since GCHQ and others are able to intercept their secretive and protected communications.

tempora
This is less than five miles from me. I can only imagine the amount of surveillance on such a hard hitting journalist as myself. 

“There is a strong likelihood that the respondents have intercepted and are intercepting the applicants' legally privileged communications in respect of the [cases],” reads the claim. It also accused GCHQ of using the Tempora scheme – which operates in a similar manner to the NSA's PRISM project – to allow for mass collection of data, on what it describes as a “blanket basis.”

It cites Guardian published documents as evidence for its claims, as well as the legal protection of lawyer to client communications, which: “cannot be disclosed at all. It recognises the client's fundamental human right to be candid with his legal adviser, without fear of later disclosure to his prejudice. It is an absolute right and cannot be overidden by any other interest.”

In the trial itself, the government stands accused of handing over the Libyans to Colonel Guddafi's regime back in 2004, as a gesture of good will with a reduction in the then Libyan leader's nuclear weapons program. It's alleged that those men were then tortured – having been previous political dissents within Libya.
Cori Cryder, head of the human rights group Reprieve, said: “It is bad enough that UK security services helped kidnap and render young children and a pregnant woman into the hands of Colonel Gaddafi.

“To add insult to injury, they are now trying to undermine their right to a fair trial by spying on private communications with their lawyers. UK complicity in Gaddafi's torture of his opponents is a shameful incident that needs to be opened up to public scrutiny – not subject to more skulduggery from GCHQ.”

The mens' lawyers and Reprieve want all details of the case made public, to help show what sort of influence and surveillance GCHQ is participating in.

KitGuru Says: I'm so glad I'm not the only one who finds this blanket surveillance worrying. It really did seem for a while that the whole world was fine with everyone knowing everything about them. 

The post GCHQ might be spying on lawyer-client emails first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/gchq-might-be-spying-on-lawyer-client-emails/feed/ 0