politics

Snooper’s Charter deemed unlawful

Spread the love

Image of GCHQ donught building. Doesn't look like a doughnut. Look. Oh c'mon, can't you see - open your eye.

http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/30/court-appeal-rules-snoopers-charter-unlawful-7273823/

The Government’s so-called ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ is unlawful in its current form, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Tom Watson, deputy leader of the Labour Party, challenged the law that he said was ‘flawed from the start’.

The law – officially known as the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) – gave the government wider-ranging powers of surveillance than previous legislation – including access to personal data such as internet and phone records, even when there was no suspicion of criminal activity or no proper oversight.

Officials claimed these broad powers were vital to protect the public from criminals, including paedophiles and terrorism.

However, critics argued that it granted police and spies some of the western world’s most extensive snooping capabilites.

‘This legislation was flawed from the start,’ Watson said in a statement. ‘The government must now bring forward changes to the Investigatory Powers Act to ensure that hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom are innocent victims or witnesses to crime, are protected by a system of independent approval for access to communications data.’

…

Continue ReadingSnooper’s Charter deemed unlawful

Wednesday Wisdom

Spread the love

Shall we try a Wednesday Wisdom series? Commentary and analysis of contemporary British politics.

Priti Patel

International Development Secretary Priti Patel has been having secret meetings with Israelis – including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – accompanied by Lord Polak, honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel. Patel originally claimed that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was aware of the meetings.

The main issue with Priti Patel’s visits is missed. Theresa May’s government announced beyond doubt that they are Neo-Conservatives by hosting Netanyahu to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration. Neo-Conservatism is an awkward term and Zionist-supporting may be easier although not exactly the same.

The real issue about Priti Patel’s meetings in Israel is that they were conducted without the presence of civil servants so that there is no official record of what was discussed. It’s an ideal situation for the Zionist and Zionist-supporting governments to brief each other on their situation and intentions, the ideal situation to brief each other on intended spin and military action.

Paradise Papers and the Royal family

The Paradise Papers reveal that the Queen had some ten million pounds invested offshore. Ten million is small change to the Queen and the Queen very likely had no knowledge of it. Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of demanding an apology from the Queen. This is media spin. What Corbyn did was reply to a question concerning the Paradise Papers and the Queen by concentrating on the Paradise Papers.

Prince Charles has been criticised for promoting sustainability, etc while his trust held investments in a business that could benefit. It’s a further non-story. Everybody knows Prince Charle’s commitment to sustainability and it’s hardly a surprise that there are investments in that area. Yet again, Prince Charles is not likely to be involved with management of the trust.

Comments are welcome

Continue ReadingWednesday Wisdom

Muhammad Rabbani in court for refusing ‘digital strip-search’

Spread the love

Campaign group director in court for refusing to divulge passwords

The international director of the campaign group Cage has appeared in court charged with obstructing or frustrating an examination under counter-terrorism stop-and-search powers for refusing to hand over passwords.

Muhammad Rabbani was stopped coming back into Heathrow by police, who had advance information of his travel plans, Westminster magistrates court was told.

Rabbani, 36, was arrested at the airport on 20 November last year under the Terrorism Act. He refused to hand over passwords to an iPhone and laptop he was carrying.

Rabbani said that to hand over such details would breach his privacy, and that schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 did not give officers the right to demand that he hand over the passwords.

The director of Cage has pleaded not guilty to a charge that “on 20 November 2016, at Heathrow airport, he did wilfully obstruct, or sought to frustrate, an examination or search”.

…

Airport Police Demanded an Activist’s Passwords. He Refused. Now He Faces Prison in the U.K.

 

 

9.30pm update

Activist Found Guilty of Terror-Related Crime for Refusing to Disclose Passwords to U.K. Police

…

Rabbani said in a statement after the verdict that the judgment highlighted the “absurdity of the Schedule 7 law” and called for it to be reformed. “If privacy and confidentiality are crimes, then the law stands condemned,” he said. “They accept that at no point was I under suspicion, and that ultimately this was a matter of having been profiled at a port … Schedule 7 actively discriminates, and this will hopefully be the start of a number of legal challenges as more people take courage to come forward.”

During the trial, Rabbani’s lawyer, Henry Blaxland, questioned three police officers who were responsible for carrying out the search at the airport. The most senior officer acknowledged that Rabbani had not been randomly stopped, and was instead deliberately targeted for reasons that were not disclosed. Prior to the trial, Rabbani had told The Intercept he believed the authorities may have wanted to obtain a copy of the information provided to him by his contact in the Middle East. He had been searched on several prior occasions, he said, but never before had police seemed so determined to gain access to his electronic devices.

Schedule 7 is supposed to be used solely to determine whether a person is directly involved in the “commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.” In 2013, however, the power was used to detain David Miranda, the partner of Intercept co-founding editor Glenn Greenwald, in an effort to impede reporting on documents leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. Miranda’s detention caused controversy in the U.K., and aspects of Schedule 7 were subsequently changed. Police were issued with a revised code of practice that told them they must not review or copy information which they have grounds to believe is attorney-client privileged, is journalistic material, or is another kind of information held in confidence, which a person has “acquired or created in the course of any trade, business, profession or other occupation.”

…

Continue ReadingMuhammad Rabbani in court for refusing ‘digital strip-search’

Diane Abbott received half of all abusive tweets sent to women MPs

Spread the love

Image of Dianne Abbot

by Emma Bean

…

The shadow home secretary experienced the vast majority of online abuse sent to women MPs, and had 10 times more abusive tweets sent to her than any other figure in the run up to the election. She also suffered eight times more abuse in the whole six month period which was analysed.

The research, conducted by Amnesty International, looked at messages sent in the period between January 1 and June 8. In this time she received almost a third of all the abuse directed at women political figures.

The list of the five female politicians who received the most abuse included two other Labour MPs, with Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, and Jess Phillips, chair of the women’s PLP, coming in third and fourth respectively. Joanna Cherry, SNP MP, got the second most abuse and Anna Soubry, Conservative MP for Broxtowe and a prominent Europhile, being placed fifth in the ranking.

However, Abbott’s level of abuse far outstrips those mentioned, with the trailblazing Hackney North MP receiving 31.6 per cent of abusive tweets, and the rest of the top five getting nearer three per cent of abusive tweets. She also received more abusive tweets than all the women in the SNP and Conservative party combined in the six month period.

Ethnic minority women politicians, excluding Abbott, received 35 per cent more abuse than white women. Some 5.8 per cent of all tweets sent mentioning Abbott’s twitter handle were classified as abusive.

The report found that “intersectional discrimination” meant that a figure who had more than one identity, e.g. if LGBT, BAME or disabled, meant that they were then more likely to face abuse.

In a New Statesman article describing the report, Amnesty’s researcher in technology and human rights Azmina Dhrodia writes: “Diane Abbott standing out in our analysis is an acute example of how intersectional discrimination works. The abuse that she faces is not just sexist and misogynistic; it’s also incredibly racist.”

“Nearly 90 years after women won the right to vote, there is a real danger that the high levels of online abuse against women MPs will have a chilling effect on women taking part in public life  —  particularly women of colour. This is not only detrimental in terms of the possible long-term effect on the representation of women in politics in the UK but also continues to deepen societal inequality between genders.”

©LabourList

Continue ReadingDiane Abbott received half of all abusive tweets sent to women MPs