Tempora | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 04 Nov 2014 11:20:02 +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 Tempora | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 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 …

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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.

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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. 

 

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Snowden on those that say ‘I have nothing to hide’ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/snowden-on-those-that-say-i-have-nothing-to-hide/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/security-software/jon-martindale/snowden-on-those-that-say-i-have-nothing-to-hide/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2014 09:15:12 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=216236 Over the past year, the world has become much more aware of the way government's sniff out data on potential criminals: in short, everything is recorded. Edward Snowden's revelations about this have helped create a growing tide of disquiet with regards to overly intrusive surveillance and especially when it comes to gag orders on services …

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Over the past year, the world has become much more aware of the way government's sniff out data on potential criminals: in short, everything is recorded. Edward Snowden's revelations about this have helped create a growing tide of disquiet with regards to overly intrusive surveillance and especially when it comes to gag orders on services that are forced to cooperate with law enforcement. However there's still a lot of people that suggest that there isn't a problem with the police or anyone else going through all of their personal files, because they ‘have nothing to hide.'

During a chat at the New Yorker Festival this weekend, Edward Snowden himself addressed these claims in a video interview.

“When you say, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about this right,'” he said. “You’re saying, ‘I don’t have this right, because I’ve got to the point where I have to justify it.’ The way rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights.”

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Ultimately, this inverts the way rights work he said and called for governments to change their policies on spying.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fidq3jow8bc']

This is particularly poignant at the moment here in the UK, after Cameron and co. rushed through new human rights breaching snooping laws earlier this year and recently pledged to ditch the European sanctioned human rights legislation in favour of a newly designed British one, in order to better tackle ‘terrorism'.

Snowden went on in his chat, to recommend that web users around the world make use of more encryption tools to at the very least make their data harder to read and therefore less valuable a resource to collect. While some critics claim that heavier end user encryption could make it harder for law enforcement to tackle criminal threats, Snowden said that warrants give full access to a person's phone or other electronic device, thereby often handing over the private keys too. It just makes it harder for mass data collection.

When asked if he would ever return to the US, Snowden said that he would love to, but only on condition that the government offer him an open trial so he could fairly explain himself. It has so far declined.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's amazing that politicians can decry the hackers that leak private photos of individuals, when their spy agencies do almost the exact same thing.

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Governments continue to lean on Google for user info https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/governments-continue-to-lean-on-google-for-user-info/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/governments-continue-to-lean-on-google-for-user-info/#respond Tue, 16 Sep 2014 08:04:22 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=211790 Despite the fact that the world and his dog are now aware of the PRISM program in the US, Tempora here in the UK, Xkeyscore around the world and any number of other invasive programs, thanks to the efforts of Edward Snowden and other whistle blowers, it seems that Governments have actually stepped up surveillance. …

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Despite the fact that the world and his dog are now aware of the PRISM program in the US, Tempora here in the UK, Xkeyscore around the world and any number of other invasive programs, thanks to the efforts of Edward Snowden and other whistle blowers, it seems that Governments have actually stepped up surveillance. Google has said that it's under increasing pressure to reveal user information, with demands for data increasing by over 15 per cent this year alone.

Perhaps more telling, is that the number of requests have gone up by 150 per cent in the past five years. Those numbers are even higher however if you limit the location to the United States. They jump up to 19 per cent and 250 per cent respectively.

This information comes out of the company's transparency report released earlier this week, which takes into consideration direct requests and those made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which is the secretive program that allows the NSA to spy on US citizens and demand data from companies in secret.

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Clearly however, Google's transparency reports are designed to incite a will for change in the people, as it goes on to suggest that in the current climate of surveillance, new legislation is needed.

“Governments have a legitimate and important role in fighting crime and investigating national security threats. To maintain public confidence in both government and technology, we need legislative reform that ensures surveillance powers are transparent, reasonably scoped by law, and subject to independent oversight,” reads the report.

It even goes so far as to back certain pieces of legislature, including the USA Freedom Act, which was championed by congressman Jim Sensenbrenner late last year and continues to be pushed forward by others today. It would make the mass collection of metadata illegal by most authorities and when companies like Google were forced to hand over data, they would be able to talk about it much more freely than they can right now.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The internet helped defeat SOPA, PIPA and it looks like its defended net neutrality with the recent protest. Surely it can put a stop to all this snooping too?

[Thanks Reuters]

Image Source: Robert Scoble

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Worldwide ISPs and Privacy International go after GCHQ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/worldwide-isps-and-privacy-international-go-after-gchq/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/worldwide-isps-and-privacy-international-go-after-gchq/#respond Thu, 03 Jul 2014 08:30:26 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=201331 GCHQ, the British intelligence agency that is responsible for Tempora, the UK's version of the NSA's PRISM spying scheme which hoovers up data on citizens and foreign nationals alike without permission, is going to have to defend itself in court, as a handful of internet service providers from around the world are taking it to …

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GCHQ, the British intelligence agency that is responsible for Tempora, the UK's version of the NSA's PRISM spying scheme which hoovers up data on citizens and foreign nationals alike without permission, is going to have to defend itself in court, as a handful of internet service providers from around the world are taking it to task. Teaming up with Privacy International, the team of ISPs wants it to stop using fibre cables and other communication network hardware to spy on people's private conversations.

The coalition is made up of ISPs from many different countries, including: GreenNet from the UK, Greenhost from the Netherlands, Riseup (US), Mango (Zimbabwe), Jiinbonet (Korea), May First/People Link (US and the Chaos Computer Club from Germany. They all lodged the complaint with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which has the power to impose fines, quash warrants and destroy records. Theoretically a ruling in favour off the ISP group, could see GCHQ forced to destroy data records from its snooping.

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“These proceedings concern GCHQ's apparent targeting of internet and communications service providers in order to compromise and gain unauthorised access to their network infrastructures in pursuit of its mass surveillance activities,” reads the filing (via Wired).

The report alleges that GCHQ was able to acquire much of the data it did, by deliberately infecting ISP employee machines with malware in order to gain access to their customer data. The filing also highlights how none of those targeted with this malware were considered threats to national security.

GCHQ and the British government will face several more investigations over the next couple of years, as the European Court of Human Rights is set to look in to the actions of the intelligence agency as well. Privacy International has also filed several other cases relating to GCHQ's actions over the past few months.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's situations like this that make me worried about the idea of leaving the EU. Our government does things already that put it in breach of international law. It seems like it could get a lose worse without EU courts being able to weigh in. 

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Microsoft calls on US government to re-address NSA concerns https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/microsoft-calls-on-us-government-to-re-address-nsa-concerns/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/microsoft-calls-on-us-government-to-re-address-nsa-concerns/#respond Thu, 05 Jun 2014 07:52:09 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=196715 It was this very week in 2013 that first saw revelations of the NSA, GCHQ and the US government's advanced spying regime first hit the internet, as Edward Snowden divulged masses of secretive documents to Guardian journalists and ultimately, to the world, from his hideout in Hong Kong. Since then we've seen some positive changes, …

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It was this very week in 2013 that first saw revelations of the NSA, GCHQ and the US government's advanced spying regime first hit the internet, as Edward Snowden divulged masses of secretive documents to Guardian journalists and ultimately, to the world, from his hideout in Hong Kong. Since then we've seen some positive changes, like the European Human Right's court investigating British spying efforts, companies are now more vigilant with their hardware and software security and we're seen some of those responsible for the widespread snooping ousted from position, but it's not enough according to Microsoft.

Speaking out in a blog post, Microsoft's general counsel and executive VP of legal and corporate affairs, Brad Smith has said that the US needs to act now before the damage done to its tech industry is permanent. In spying on its own citizens and the world, the US government has created what he calls a “trust deficit.” This is massively harming the tech industry and will continue to do so if not addressed properly, he said.

What would he have the government do? Firstly, “recognise that US search warrants end at US borders,” and stop trying to strong arm US companies to break international law and the privacy of foreign citizens. “The U.S. government wouldn’t stand for other governments seeking to serve search warrants within American borders to seize the content of U.S. citizens’ emails without going through U.S. legal process. Why should it expect other governments to react any differently,” he said. Highlighting that Microsoft recently went to court to defend its customers when the NSA tried to have it hand over emails from its Irish datacentre.

bradsmith
Smith recently gave a talk on way's the US government can fix its current tech-trust problems

His next demand was that the US government halt all mass data collection and pledge to not hack into any data centres or cables – the method favoured by GCHQ – pointing out that the US regularly prosecutes those that try to hack US services, making it seem entirely hypocritical. He also highlighted Obama's seeming interest in stopping the collection of citizen data on a mass scale. That has yet to come about and he hopes that Obama hasn't forgotten it.

The biggest change Smith wants to see though, is more transparency. One of the biggest issues of the data collection has been that no company involved in it was legally allowed to talk about it because of secretive court systems. We even saw companies like Lavabit shut down their services in protest of government data requests that they couldn't ignore and couldn't talk about.

Ultimately Smith said, new international law needs to be created to make these sorts of practices transparent and if privacy invading, illegal, but it needs to be a unified effort. Other countries – especially those with negatively affected politicians, like Germany's Andrea Merkel – have already shown interest in making this happen and Smith wants the US to be part of the discussions on this more protected internet future. Not only would this safeguard the rights of future generations, but it would also help restore faith in the tech industry. A massively important step considering how much the US and other developed nations rely on trade in the technology field.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It's always nice to hear someone in s a position of power at a tech firm show their desire to protect customers. Too often it seems like Google, Microsoft and others see privacy as an afterthought. Clearly not. 

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Snowden document courier branded terrorist https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/snowden-document-courier-branded-terrorist/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/snowden-document-courier-branded-terrorist/#respond Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:20:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=178221 David Miranda, the man who was detained after trying to transfer thousands of secretive documents from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden to his partner and Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, has lost his lawsuit against the British government and has ultimately been labelled a potential terrorist suspect, thanks to a very loose definition in the Terrorism Act …

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David Miranda, the man who was detained after trying to transfer thousands of secretive documents from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden to his partner and Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, has lost his lawsuit against the British government and has ultimately been labelled a potential terrorist suspect, thanks to a very loose definition in the Terrorism Act 2000.

In August last year, Mr Miranda was detained under schedule seven of the Terrorism Act, which allows an officer to search any ship or aircraft, or anything on a ship or aircraft if he believes there is the chance for them to be used for terrorist activity. While it was known to all that the 58,000 classified GCHQ documents Miranda was carrying on an external hard drive were for journalistic reasons, the authorities managed to detain him without charge for nine hours, claiming the documents could reveal operatives around the world.

Even if that was the case, revealing them wasn't Miranda or Greenwald's intention, so the former gentleman sued the authorities but has now lost his case. While it might seem like more of a big deal to the individual, the fact that a journalistic endeavour could be halted and impeded under the guise of protecting against terrorism is a worrying precedent, one Miranda was no doubt hoping to stop in future. Now though it potentially gets a lot easier for the authorities, as any case brought against them afterwards could cite this instance as reason enough that it happen again.

davidmiranda
Miranda, seen here speaking at the espionage enquiry of US actions in Brazil. Source: Agencia Senado

However Miranda is unlikely to stop there, pledging to appeal once again: “I will appeal [against] this ruling, and keep appealing until the end, not because I care about what the British government calls me, but because the values of press freedom that are at stake are too important to do anything but fight until the end,” he told TheIntercept. “I'm of course not happy that a court has formally said that I was a legitimate terrorism suspect, but the days of the British empire are long over and this ruling will have no effect outside of the borders of this country.”

Of course the reason GCHQ is so keen to try and brand people working on the Snowden files as terrorists, is because it fears that the more information that is released about its mass spying, the likelihood of lawsuits against it increases. In a secretive memo it was even revealed that GCHQ higher ups were worried about a challenge based around the right to privacy in the Human Rights Act. Something that's now looking very likely to happen, as the European Court of Human Rights is now demanding the British government justify its spying.

KitGuru Says: While the situation is far from perfect, I'm quietly confident that this will be sorted out in a few years time. It'll take a mixture of brave journalists, hackers, the public and courts to do it, but I think there's enough displeasure at this sort of surveillance that we'll be able to clamp down on it well enough over time. 

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Thousands of websites to protest mass surveillance https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/thousands-of-websites-to-protest-mass-surveillance/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/thousands-of-websites-to-protest-mass-surveillance/#respond Mon, 10 Feb 2014 09:10:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=176812 It only feels like yesterday that the world and his dog's website voluntarily blacked themselves out to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills, but while those bits of restrictive legislation are thankfully long gone, new threats have emerged. Today the problem is mass surveillance, with citizens of every country the world over now realising that …

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It only feels like yesterday that the world and his dog's website voluntarily blacked themselves out to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills, but while those bits of restrictive legislation are thankfully long gone, new threats have emerged. Today the problem is mass surveillance, with citizens of every country the world over now realising that their privacy online is nothing to many western governments, specifically the US and UK. With that in mind, thousands of websites are going to be posting a protest banner on 11th February to incite all visitors to get in touch with their local politicians and ask them to oppose further and current freedom restricting bills.

Backed by organisations like The EFF, Greenpeace and Amnesty International, the protest already has over 5,000 websites signed up, including huge community driven ones like tumblr, Reddit and imgur. Each of these sites will tomorrow host a banner offering the phone number and email of your local (American) politician and urge you to get in touch to show your displeasure at the FISA Improvements act, which would see the NSA's powers to collect data expanded and also give any law enforcement agency within the US the right to look at data records of citizens.

“Together we will push back against powers that seek to observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action. Together, we will make it clear that such behaviour is not compatible with democratic governance. Together, if we persist, we will win this fight,” reads the Day We Fight Back, website. It also urges everyone to support the USA Freedom Act, which would see the collection of US phone records ended in its current form and would make it much harder for any future organisations to collect data on a mass scale.

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You'll be seeing this  a lot tomorrow. 

If like me though you're not based in the US, you'll instead be urged to contact your local politician to protest spying on your country's citizens. There's also a lot of other ways you can help out, like linking the Day We Fight Back site on Facebook and Twitter, or posting up one of several specific images to draw people to the main site.

Kitguru Says: I always know the form-like response I'll get from my local MP. He'll ignore my points and just tell me that GCHQ and other agencies are important to the security of the nation. Still, it's worth a shot. At least I might take up a bit of his time. 

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David Cameron wants the news to stop talking about Snowden https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/david-cameron-wants-the-news-to-stop-talking-about-snowden/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/david-cameron-wants-the-news-to-stop-talking-about-snowden/#comments Mon, 03 Feb 2014 10:46:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=175662 Barack Obama might have been pretty non-committal in his response to the Edward Snowden leaks about NSA and GCHQ spying on native and international citizens, but David Cameron has shrugged them off, suggesting that they shouldn't be a surprise to everyone, since TV detective shows are always using potentially illegal spying tactics to bring criminals to …

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Barack Obama might have been pretty non-committal in his response to the Edward Snowden leaks about NSA and GCHQ spying on native and international citizens, but David Cameron has shrugged them off, suggesting that they shouldn't be a surprise to everyone, since TV detective shows are always using potentially illegal spying tactics to bring criminals to justice. Ultimately though, he wants news publications to stop talking about it, suggesting they should, “think before they act” in-case the revelations make us less safe.

This is the line governments always use when it comes to invasive, freedom restrictions, that ultimately it's for our own safety. They did it with the nude body scanners at airports, many of which have been removed due to being ineffective and others have easily been bypassed with explosives and metal objects during internal testing. Both uses of technology were designed to protect us from terrorism, but as we've seen from the way the NSA boss lied about PRISM's success rate, neither do a very good job.

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“Wait… it was the creepy janitor all along?”

Mr Cameron's recent thoughts on intelligence agencies mass collecting metadata and the content of communications, were outed at a joint committee on the National Security Strategy, where he also made the bizarre comparison between fictional crime shows and the tactics currently being used by agencies like GCHQ. According to Mr Cameron, none of the recent revelations being outed by news organisations “who are endlessly dallying in this,” should be of a surprise, because TV does it.

He should know too, he's a big fan of those same crime shows: ” love watching, as I should probably stop telling people, crime dramas on the television,” he said (via Telegraph). This was backed up by saying that these sorts of spying techniques were needed in the modern age of surveillance and that ultimately without them, we wouldn't be able to keep people safe and that more Snowden Revelations contributed to making that much harder to do.

How true that is, we don't know as the British government hasn't taken its data hoover, GCHQ, to task over the spying like the US has. However, with a looming EU investigation into potential human rights violations, it might not be long before we get a much better look at what the authorities have been doing with our data.

Kitguru Says: Now I just have some weird image of Cameron sat hugging his knees watching the latest CSI, having his mind blown by two people handling a hack on the same keyboard

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UK legal advice claims GCHQ spying ‘illegal’ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/uk-legal-advice-claims-gchq-spying-illegal/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/uk-legal-advice-claims-gchq-spying-illegal/#respond Wed, 29 Jan 2014 10:34:22 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=174956 Legal advisers to the British government have told MPs that much of the surveillance that GCHQ has been taking part in over the past few years could be considered illegal and in breach of human rights, and was only possible due to vagaries in current legislation that have been obtusely interpreted by the intelligence community to …

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Legal advisers to the British government have told MPs that much of the surveillance that GCHQ has been taking part in over the past few years could be considered illegal and in breach of human rights, and was only possible due to vagaries in current legislation that have been obtusely interpreted by the intelligence community to allow it to continue its privacy invasions.

The warning is a serious one, as not only does it suggest that the general activities of GCHQ could be considered illegal under British and International law, but that individual staff at the agency could be guilty of criminal activity. And they've been doing so for years under the proviso that they were working within the legal framework afforded to them, without consideration that it could be an incorrect interpretation of the law that allowed them to do so in the first place.. It even sights a horrific example where theoretically staff that passed on information to the US, could be liable for the deaths of innocent civilians killed by drones strikes.

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Working here makes you a potential accessory to murder. Good job guys. 

“An individual involved in passing that information is likely to be an accessory to murder,” the report suggested. It also goes on to recommend that the government draw up a memorandum on how data is shared overseas and what that data is allowed to be used for, thereby dissolving any responsibility British intelligence would have if that data was then used for something other than initially stated.

However, avoiding blame for overseas actions wasn't the only thing the legal advisers were interested in, there was also a lot of talk of problems with privacy invasion. It cites the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) of 2000 that potentially blocks some of GCHQ's spying activities on a legal level, but states that its wording is outdated and needs to be updated in order to continue offering the same level of protection to British citizens. As it stands, RIPA makes it completely illegal to mass intercept the contents of communication between two people in the UK, even if those messages are routed overseas.

The advisory board also highlighted the European Convention of Human Rights, suggesting that the the bulk collection of metadata could be considered a “disproportionate interference” into people's personal lives and is therefore in breach of article eight of the convention. Other aspects of current GCHQ spying were also said to be likely considered unlawful by many watchdog organisations.

It also highlighted how the mere fact that this surveillance has only been outed by a whistleblower was also problematic, since the European Court of Human Rights explicitly states that any country taking part in any sort of meaningful surveillance of its citizens, must be transparent about it. Since we have only just heard about the schemes that have been ongoing at GCHQ for over five years, there's even more reason to believe British intelligence has been in breach of human rights law.

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It's a sad day when you wish this was what our intelligence agencies were really like

As the Guardian reports, the summary of the advice is perhaps the most damning, stating: “In short, the rules concerning communications data are too uncertain and do not provide sufficient clarity to be in accordance with the law … we consider the mass interception of communications via a transatlantic cable to be unlawful, and that these conclusions would apply even if some or all of the interception is taking place outside UK territorial waters.”

The suggestions by this legal group that the British intelligence community has not only performed illegal surveillance, but has repeatedly breached human rights, does not bode well for the court case looming in the European Court of Human Rights, which will examine if the British government and GCHQ are guilty of human rights violations. If found guilty, the court could force the government to pay material and/or moral damages to those affected – theoretically every person in Britain – as well as cover the legal expenses of those that brought the case to the court, in this case, rights lobby groups.

KitGuru Says: What's interesting about this report, is that it gives MPs the chance to distance themselves from the whole surveillance scandal by throwing GCHQ under the bus. While I'm sure there are ministers that are just as guilty, part of me would love to watch the firework show if high ranking politicians started pointing the finger exclusively at the intelligence agency. 

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European Court of Human Rights to demand UK spying justification https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/european-court-of-human-rights-to-demand-uk-spying-justification/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/european-court-of-human-rights-to-demand-uk-spying-justification/#respond Mon, 27 Jan 2014 10:15:33 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=174487 Even if you're one of those people that isn't a big fan of European intervention in British politics, you surely have to admit that it's nice to see Europe weighing in on our behalf in this instance. The EU Court of Human Rights has issued a demand that will see the UK government be forced …

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Even if you're one of those people that isn't a big fan of European intervention in British politics, you surely have to admit that it's nice to see Europe weighing in on our behalf in this instance. The EU Court of Human Rights has issued a demand that will see the UK government be forced to justify its spying activities through the intelligence agency GCHQ's Tempora scheme, which has it gathering up huge swathes of information on the general public by harvesting it directly from underwater fibre optic cables.

As Wired points out, since Article 8 of the Convention of Human Rights states that every person has a “right to respect for his privacy and family life,” especially in the home, the British government may well have breached human rights laws by instigating its data gathering schemes. Because of this, the UK now has until May to provide evidence to the contrary, at which point the European Court of Human Rights will decide whether it has breached the law or not.

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The UK's very own Eye of Sauron

The case was opened last October, but has been fast tracked through thanks to the efforts of rights groups within the UK and elsewhere; the campaigners are understandably pleased with the news.

The only potential roadblock tin seeing the British government face off against the court, is that the EU may decide the rights groups should first take the case to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a secretive court specifically designed to deal with complaints against public body surveillance in the UK. However campaigners deliberately “skipped” this step, because any trial wouldn't have taken place in the public eye and there would not be a right to an appeal if the case went against them.

To help fund further stages of the court case, PrivacyNotPrism is hoping to raise funds through crowd funding. You can donate here.

KitGuru Says: Good to see that GCHQ has a chance to be dragged over the coals in the same fashion as the NSA is getting in the US – perhaps even more so. What comes of it will depend on the court, but if found guilty of breaching human rights legislation, the UK could be bound to implement any changes suggested by the court, which could make things very interesting. 

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EU politicians back NSA blocking data drafts https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/eu-politicians-back-nsa-blocking-data-drafts/ Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:07:12 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=158751 The pressure is mounting for blanket data gathering organisations the world over, as members of European parliament (MEP) yesterday voted with overwhelming support to block the transfer of personal data to US corporations and agencies and tightened the law on digital privacy too. Under new draft laws, US companies operating within the EU would be …

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The pressure is mounting for blanket data gathering organisations the world over, as members of European parliament (MEP) yesterday voted with overwhelming support to block the transfer of personal data to US corporations and agencies and tightened the law on digital privacy too.

Under new draft laws, US companies operating within the EU would be required to store customer data within Europe, unless they were given specific permission to store it in the US under certain circumstances. This could lead to an interesting turn of events, as US companies are required by their country's laws, to hand over data to the NSA and other organisations if requested.

While the debate on the introduction of such laws has been ongoing for more than two years thanks to US politicians lobbying for less restrictions, the Edward Snowden revelations on US data collection and surveillance, have led to MEPs expediting updates to the digital legislature. Along with reducing US involvement in data gathering in the EU, it also lays groundwork for other negotiations to take place on the topic.

“The vote is a breakthrough for data protection rules in Europe, ensuring that they are up to the challenges of the digital age. This legislation introduces overarching EU rules on data protection, replacing the current patchwork of national laws,” German Green MEP,  Jan-Philipp Albrecht said (via the Guardian).

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Now that other government's can't monitor us, maybe we could focus on stopping ours from doing the same?

The US hasn't been the only country accused of deliberately delaying the introduction of tighter privacy laws though, the UK too was accused of such tactics. Conservative politicians in particular being charged with attempting to filibuster  the vote, thereby talking so long on the subject without stopping, that the bill is delayed or possibly even prevented.

Unfortunately though, all of these votes and laws, are only relevant to a draft bill at the moment. It's hoped that it will come into effect by 2016, at which point it will no doubt have seen several rewrites. However, don't think that this will mean much of a slackening of its policies, as this has been one of the most hotly lobbies pieces of draft legislation ever. Support is only likely to grow as more NSA revelations come to light.

On top of that, European politicians keenly remember the SOPA and PIPA protests which turned their heads on privacy and freedom of speech online, leading many of them to turn on US pushed laws that would have crippled online expression. They would be fools to attempt to side with the US now that public opinion on the matter is so obvious.

KitGuru Says: This is great news for anyone that's a fan of keeping their personal information away from the NSA's grasping fingers. Combined with US politicians that are looking to gut the NSA's power basewe could have a very different online world in just a few years. 

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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 …

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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.

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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. 

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Tech firms hit by EU complaints over PRISM data collection https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/tech-firms-hit-by-eu-complaints-over-prism-data-collection/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/tech-firms-hit-by-eu-complaints-over-prism-data-collection/#respond Wed, 26 Jun 2013 12:43:42 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=140008 Some of the tech firms embroiled in the PRISM scandal have been targeted by European data protection activists, in new complaints that suggest the likes of Facebook, Apple, Skype, Yahoo and Microsoft have broken data protection laws while cooperating with the NSA. The campaigners are part of Europe v Facebook and their main claim is that …

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Some of the tech firms embroiled in the PRISM scandal have been targeted by European data protection activists, in new complaints that suggest the likes of Facebook, Apple, Skype, Yahoo and Microsoft have broken data protection laws while cooperating with the NSA.

The campaigners are part of Europe v Facebook and their main claim is that while all of these companies are headquartered in the US and thereby need to comply to US data laws (and hand over information to the US authorities when required) they operate in Europe and therefore also need to comply with data privacy laws in the EU.

As the EvF puts it: “If a European subsidiary sends user data to the American parent company, this is considered an “export” of personal data. Under EU law, an export of data is only allowed if the European subsidiary can ensure an “adequate level or protection” in the foreign country. After the recent disclosures on the “PRISM” program such trust in an “adequate level of protection” by the involved companies can hardly be upheld.”

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Now the group is demanding that EU authorities issue a statement on whether Facebook and other companies can legally handle EU data through US servers, knowing that the NSA is able to look in on it when it feels like it.

Of course all of the tech firms that were initially highlighted as part of the PRISM scheme, have all denied giving the NSA direct access to their servers, but Google has admitted to handing over data to the NSA by hand or secure FTP, so it seems likely that the other organisations do so too, at least to some extent.

The EvF is now suggesting that it's down to these involved companies to disprove the level of data viewing by the NSA and other government agencies, in order to prove that it is offering adequate protection to EU data. If not, those companies could find themselves in legal hot water.

KitGuru Says: The EvF joins Liberty as one of the few EU based lobby groups that are trying to fight against the PRISM and Tempora. They're worth your support. 

[Thanks TechCrunch]

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