… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Author: dizzy

  • Revealed: Britain’s ‘secret listening post in the heart of Berlin’

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    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/revealed-britains-secret-listening-post-in-the-heart-of-berlin-8921548.html

    Image of GCHQ donught buildingClaims that GCHQ has maintained spying operations even after US pulled out

    Concerns were raised tonight that Britain operates a top-secret listening post from its Berlin embassy to eavesdrop on the seat of German power.

    Documents leaked by the US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden show that GCHQ is, together with the US and other key partners, operating a network of electronic spy posts from diplomatic buildings around the world, which intercept data in host nations.

    An American intercept “nest” on top of its embassy in Berlin – less than 150 metres from Britain’s own diplomatic mission – is believed to have been shut down last week as the US scrambled to limit the damage from revelations that it listened to mobile phone calls made by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    But the NSA documents, in conjunction with aerial photographs and information about past spying activities in Germany, suggest that Britain is operating its own covert listening station within a stone’s throw of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, and Ms Merkel’s offices in the Chancellery, using hi-tech equipment housed on the embassy roof.

    The potentially toxic allegation that Britain has a listening station in the capital of a close European Union ally will test relations between London and Berlin only days after the row between Germany and the US about its own clandestine activities. Jan Albrecht, an MEP for Germany’s Green Party and a leading campaigner on privacy and data protection, told The Independent: “If GCHQ runs a listening post on the top of the UK’s Berlin embassy, it is clearly targeting politicians and journalists. Do these people pose a threat?

    …

    27/11/13 Having received a takedown notice from the Independent newspaper for a different posting, I have reviewed this article which links to an article at the Independent’s website in order to attempt to ensure conformance with copyright laws.

    I consider this posting to comply with copyright laws since
    a. Only a small portion of the original article has been quoted satisfying the fair use criteria, and / or
    b. This posting satisfies the requirements of a derivative work.

    Please be assured that this blog is a non-commercial blog (weblog) which does not feature advertising and has not ever produced any income.

    dizzy

  • Firefighters to hold fourth strike over pensions

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    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/05/firefighters-union-fourth-strike-pensions

    Union members to walk out on 13 November in ongoing row with government over impact of rise in retirement age

    Firefighters in England and Wales are to stage a fresh strike in their row with the government over pensions.

    Members of the Fire Brigades Union will walk out for four hours from 10am on 13 November. It will be their fourth round of strikes in recent weeks.

    The union also announced that it would ballot members for other forms of industrial action, in an escalation of the dispute.

    Firefighters walked out on Monday and last Friday in their ongoing row over what will happen to firefighters who fail fitness tests as their retirement age is moved from 55 to 60.

    The union fears there will be job losses if firefighters are not offered other work in the service.

  • Peers seek to delay lobbying bill for three months CORRECTED

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    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/05/lobbying-bill-peers-seek-delay-three-months

    Crossbench peer Lord Ramsbotham wants to refer part of bill on regulating charities and thinktanks to special committee

    Image of a dog's breakfast in dog food bowlAn audacious attempt is to be made to delay the lobbying bill for three months in the Lords by putting its controversial plans for limiting the campaigning activities of charities into a special committee for detailed consideration.

    …

    The call for a pause is being made by an alliance of charities, thinktanks, faith groups and unions.

    It is being argued that a pause would allow the government to get the bill right, and to hold the consultation it failed to hold before the bill was published.

    Ministers argue that they have already made substantial concessions in the Commons to meet the fears of charities and pressure groups, who say the bill will have a chilling effect on their campaigning ahead of the general election.

    Simon Barrow, the co-director the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, has warned the bill is too weak in bringing corporate lobbyists to account but unjustifiably limits the freedom of expression on charities, civil society organisations and thinktanks – restrictions that amount to gagging orders.

    The House of Lords constitution committee warned “effective parliamentary scrutiny matters in relation to every bill but it is of manifest importance where legislation is of constitutional significance. The present bill directly affects the ability of people and organisations to engage with the government and to participate in political and electoral campaigning.”

    The committee asked whether part two was necessary.

    …

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/05/government-offers-concessions-lobbying-bill-charities-elections

    Lord Wallace under pressure to delay bill, allowing fresh scrutiny, amid concerns over gagging of charities at election times

    The coalition government started to offer concessions on the lobbying bill ahead of a vote on Tuesday afternoon that might lead to proposals for a three-month pause in the bill’s scrutiny and reference of the regulation of charities at election times to a special select committee.

    Lord Wallace, the minister handling the bill, has written to coalition peers saying he is willing to raise the threshold substantially to ensure smaller charities are not covered by the bill’s provisions that restrict the campaigning activity of charities during an election period.

    Ministers have also proposed that scrutiny of the section of the bill addressing charity campaigning could be deferred as long as six weeks, so long as the rest of the bill continued as normal.

    Lord Ramsbotham, the cross bench peer pushing for a full three month delay, does not appear likely to be accept the compromise, and will push for delay to allow a fresh scrutiny of the bill.

    Lord Ramsbotham’s plan, with Labour backing, would mean the referral of part two of the bill to a special select committee, which would also delay consideration of other aspects of the bill.

    …

  • If I was in charge …

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    Although the meaning was cryptic, the previous ‘If I was in charge …’ post was not a comment on immigration.

  • Blind old cnut Blunkett all of a sudden – many years too late – says that interception was too much

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    Blind old cnut Blunkett all of a sudden says “Human nature is you get carried away, so we have to protect ourselves from ourselves,” he said. “In government you are pressed by the security agencies. They come to you with very good information and they say ‘you need to do something’. So you do need the breath of scepticism, not cynicism, breathing on them. You need to be able to take a step back. If you don’t have this, you can find yourself being propelled in a particular direction.”

    I suspect that this is about spying on mobile phone users: In fact I suspect that it’s about governments demanding the ability to spy on mobile phone users is designed into the systems. This was on big C cnut Blunkett’s watch after all …

    COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 17 January 1995 on the lawful interception of telecommunications
    (96/C 329/01)
    Official Journal C 329 , 04/11/1996 p. 0001 – 0006

    [These demands from ‘law enforcement agencies’ are for every signal including location. Mobile phones signal their location continuously. Isn’t that a bug? … Blunkett, what do you have to say? You were home secretary after all … ]

    [Later edit: Blunkett became Home Secretary in 2001. It should be recognised that mobile phones announce their location and much more.

    [Later: It appears that there was no opposition by Blunkett to these demands from ‘law enforcement agencies’. Wasn’t there a scandal about this time about New Labour databases? –  Escalibur was associated with Mandy and Labour coming into power but it was more than that – have to research this.]

    Don’t look at this Mobile phones are designed to be mobile bugs