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CCDP : What we know


After another day of confusion around the Government's plans for increased surveillance powers, it now appears there is some back-tracking and the bill will only be a 'draft'. Here's an update of some key points, while Privacy International have highlighted some serious issues with a briefing given to Liberal Democrat MPs. Key issues: The Coalition Agreement pledged: “We will end the storage of

Nine in ten people haven't read Google's new privacy policy


Research published today by Big Brother Watch highlights how only 12% of Google service users have read Google’s new privacy policy. The study, undertaken with YouGov, found while 92% of people online use a Google service on a regular basis, 65% of people were not aware the change comes into effect this week and 47% of people did not know any change was being proposed. This follows the Article 29 Working

The price of privacy : Councils spend half a billion pounds on CCTV in four years


Our latest report highlights the cost to local authorities of their CCTV operations - £515m in the past four years. There are now at least 51,600 CCTV cameras controlled by local authorities, with five councils now operating more than 1,000 cameras. In comparison, £515m would put an extra 4,121 police constables on the streets – the equivalent of Northumbria police’s entire force. The picture varies

Local authority data loss exposed


Big Brother Watch has published a report into the worrying scale of data loss across local authorities. We have uncovered more than 1000 incidents across 132 local authorities, including at least 35 councils who have lost information about children and those in care. Highly confidential information has been treated without the proper care and respect it deserves. At least 244 laptops and portable computers

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Europe

EU recommends installing black box recorders in cars

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Europe | 1 Comment

The EU has reportedly spent £2.4 million on a three-year study into the feasibility of installing black box recorders or 'Event Data Recorders' (EDR) in all new European cars.

Cockpit-voice-recorder 'Project Veronica', as the study is known, has recommended the mandatory installation of the boxes and said they will record 20 types of data, including speed, the car’s most recent movements and the actions of the driver – when and how often the brakes, indicators and horn were applied.

According to the Daily Telegraph,

Supporters say they could be used to reconstruct what happened in the event of a collision which would make it easier for insurance companies to decide who was at fault and, where necessary, enable police to take action against the driver.

Equally, the director of the study, Ralf Schmidt-Cotta, has described the boxes as "an independent, neutral witness". 

However, in truth they are yet another new tool of surveillance which would give anyone with the means to decode the data the ability to track your daily movements.

It starts with the police and insurance companies and ends up being used by suspicious employers and vengeful partners.

Then there's the cost of placing one of these recorders in every new car and the implications for challenging their data in court.

Early signs are that the DfT and car-makers are wary about the idea, but it will require consistent opposition to make sure these tracking devices don't see the light of day.

By Dylan Sharpe  

Britain in the dock over internet privacy

Posted on October 31, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Europe, Mastering the Internet | 2 Comments

A shocking story in the Independent today which reports that Ministers from the Home Office could find themselves hauled in front of the European Court of Justice after the European Commission accused Britain of failing to protect its citizens from secret surveillance on the internet.

European Court The article states that:

the legal action is being brought over the use of controversial behavioural advertising services which were tested on BT's internet customers without their consent to gather commercial information about their web-shopping habits.

Under the programme, the UK-listed company Phorm has developed technology that allows internet service providers (ISPs) to track what their users are doing online.

The Commission said the UK had failed to comply with both the European e-Privacy Directive and the Data Protection Directive. The Commission also criticised the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) as it does not require that people give informed, specific consent to their communications being intercepted for purposes such as behavioural advertising

I never really thought I'd say it, but congratulations to the EU. As I have written before, there is much wrong with Brussels' approach to individual privacy; but on this matter they are entirely correct.

At Big Brother Watch we are very concerned by Government attempts to regulate the internet or track users' habits. This story confirms that we should be concerned and we will continue to watch this case with interest.

By Dylan Sharpe

Belgium fights EU Data Retention Directive

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Europe, Mastering the Internet | Leave a comment

Hurrah for the land of waffles, sublime chocolates and "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" for it is the civil liberties groups of this diminutive nation, and they alone, who have so far had the brussels sprouts to stand up and oppose the pernicious EU Data Retention Directive.

For those unaware, the aforementioned DRD is an unnecessarily intrusive piece of EU legislation which came into force on 15th March this year, forcing internet service providers across the continent to store all the communication information they get from customers for 12 months at a time.

Under the directive, details of every email, phone call and text message sent or received - including information such as IP address and time of use - have to be recorded. In addition, police and security forces will be able to request access to the information using a court order.

Acquia_marina_logo Well, now several Belgian organisations including the League for Human Rights, the Flemish Association of Journalists and the Flemish Bar, have launched a website petition against the directive. Hurrah.

Last word to the organisers of the petition (approx translation!):

This campaign stems from the sincere conviction of the promoting organisations that a general data retention programme can not bring a solution to the security problem…data retention is a serious violation of the right to privacy…

…there is no need for data retention at either a European or Belgian level and we point to the fact that many experts have demonstrated that a policy of general data retention in is practice no guarantee against terrorism or crime.

By Dylan Sharpe 

Hat tip to the fantastic Open Europe

BioP@ss: The next stage of ID cards

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Europe, ID cards | 2 Comments

No sooner than the Prime Minister signals a u-turn on the introduction of ID cards in Britain; news has seeped out of the continent that the EU may be next to try and impose a system of biometric cataloguing and identification on its citizens.

Poster According to this report, chip manufacturers are being lined up to participate in a new European research project called BioP@ss, with the intention of developing a 'high-security chip card platform'.

It goes on to say:

..BioP@ss is the biggest chip card research project in the EU. Its goal is to do the technical spadework for the introduction of an electronic ID card in chip card format valid throughout the entire EU.

In addition to its function as an ID card, it will be capable of providing a secure means of authentication for services offered by governments and public authorities..

The BioP@ss research project is apparently due to be completed in 2011 and already has a total budget of €13 million.

Europe From one nightmare scenario – the DNA, fingerprints, vital statistics and personal details of the entire British population available at the click of a button to the government, police, local and other authorities – we now see on the horizon a far more scary prospect: that very same data available at the click of a button to any state official across the entirety of Europe.

My most grateful of acknowledgements to Aaron K Martin for alerting us to this article – it is a topic on which Big Brother Watch will be extremely vigilant in the coming months.

By Dylan Sharpe 

Personal data of UK taxpayers could be shared around EU

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Databases, Europe | Leave a comment

As highlighted by the European Foundation today, proposals by EU taxation commissioner Laszlo Kovacs which provide for the sharing of VAT data between member states, pose a significant threat to individual privacy in the UK and across Europe.

Secure_data

According to the European Foundation, HM Revenue and Customs would be required to grant "direct access" to personal information contained on national taxpayer databases, without the knowledge or consent of the UK taxpayer.

The move, which is designed to combat tax fraud, would not only increase the burden on the HMRC, at a significant cost to the taxpayer, it would also change the current culture of tax data sharing in the EU, making it compulsory rather than being dealt with on a case by case basis.

The reality is that European bureaucrats have no right to know any of this information about us.

Furthermore, we know from long experience that our own revenue can’t keep confidential information safe. Yet believe it or not, in the European context HMRC are amongst the BETTER taxmen.

Britons can say goodbye to their privacy if and when the government gives away our data like this.  

By Alex Deane

In case you missed it…Project Indect

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Big Brother Watch Posted in Europe, Mastering the Internet | Leave a comment

Project Indect – the very name sounds Orwellian – was revealed last weekend by Open Europe and the Sunday Telegraph to be a five year research programme ‘to develop computer programmes which act as "agents" to monitor and process information from web sites, discussion forums, file servers, peer-to-peer networks and even individual computers.’

Project Indect2

As well as receiving close to £10 million in funding from the EU (which means from you) this sinister enterprise also forms part of a call from the European Commission for a “common culture” of law enforcement which includes sending batches of our own police out to Brussels for training in the European Union’s new enforcement methods.

The Project, despite the far-reaching implications for individual privacy, seems to have met with little opposition within the current UK government. Although this is hardly surprising given that a recent report from Sir Daivd Varney, close adviser to Gordon Brown, called for the creation of 'a single source of truth' on the citizen.

However, Stephen Booth from Open Europe sensibly questioned the project saying "there is no evidence that anyone has ever asked 'is this actually in the best interests of our citizens?'" While the ever vigilant Shami Chakrabarti said "Profiling whole populations instead of monitoring individual suspects is a sinister step in any society. It's dangerous enough at national level, but on a Europe-wide scale the idea becomes positively chilling."

But the chorus of disapproval, to which Big Brother Watch today adds its voice in the strongest possible way, could well be ignored as the EU seeks to economise in a credit crunch. A spokesman from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, who are involved in Project Indect’s development, said: “Our budgets are shrinking, our human resources are shrinking and we are looking for IT technology that will help us five years down the line.”

Scary stuff and proof that it isn’t only the British government BBW needs to be watching.

By Dylan Sharpe

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