{UAH} FW: News Online: 24 March (05/14)
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Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 23:20:27 +0000
To: statewatch@gn.apc.org
From: statewatch-off@geo2.poptel.org.uk
Subject: News Online: 24 March (05/14)
Statewatch News Online, 24 March 2014 (05/14)
Home page: http://www.statewatch.org/
e-mail: office@statewatch.org
NEWS
http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. STATEWATCH: New issue of Journal: Borders, deaths and resistance
2. EU: European Parliament: Strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence
3. FINLAND: SMART BORDERS
4. UK: Jimmy Mubenga: G4S guards face plane death charges
5. Spain/Catalunya: Catalan government's IT security service drew up dossiers on activists' use of Twitter
6. EU justice scoreboard
7. EU POLICE COOPERATION: a mine of information on dozens and dozens of largely hidden EU police cooperation working groups
8. EU-JHA: European Commission: Preliminary list of the former third pillar acquis
9. EU: Proceeds of crime Directive adopted
10. EU: Council of the European Union: European Investigation Order
11. European Parliament: “Transparency is an essential element of a lively democracy”:
12. EU:POST-STOCKHOLM JHA PROGRAMME: Statewatch Analysis
13. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICE: HERNE Report
14. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 3-4 March 2014
15. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICING: Covert Human Intelligence Sources
16. EU: Council of the European Union: COSI, ITCs and Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for cross-border information exchange
17. EU: European Commission: Smart Borders, GAMM & Free movement
18. EU: ARMED DRONES: MEPs vote in landslide for ban on covert drone strikes
19. EU: Council of the European Union: Evaluations: Italy & Cybercrime
20. EU: Statewatch Analysis: New EU rules on maritime surveillance: will they stop the deaths and push-backs in the Mediterranean?
21. UK: Ex-Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg held in Birmingham terror raids Begg
22. EU: European Data Protection Supervisor: Guidelines on the Rights of Individuals
23. GREECE: Refugees describe dire conditions in migrant detention centres
24. EU-USA: DATA PROTECTION: Enforcing EU data protection law essential for rebuilding trust between EU-US
25. UK: Police seeking water cannons condemned by crowd at public meeting
26. EU: Council of the European Union: Approach for the way forward on the Smart Borders Package
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Selected stories for full coverage see:
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. USA-NSA: NSA surveillance program reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls
2. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware
3. UK: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Phone call metadata does betray sensitive details about your life
4. European Parliament: US NSA: stop mass surveillance now or face consequences, MEPs say
5. EU-UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Edward Snowden's testimony to the European Parliament inquiry
7. UK-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations
8. UK-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: MIRANDA DETENTION: Miranda’s application to the Court of Appeal
9. GCHQ-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks
USING THE STATEWATCH WEBSITE
NEWS: http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. STATEWATCH: New issue of Journal: Borders, deaths and resistance: Contents: http://www.statewatch.org/contents/swjournal23n34.html
and Link for free download: http://www.statewatch.org/subscriber/protected/statewatch-journal-vol23n34.pdf
"So detached has the official rhetoric about migrants' rights and saving lives become from the realities of the detention centres, the razor wire, the intensive surveillance, the military patrols, the forced expulsions and the 20,000 documented deaths, that people bearing the brunt of the economic crisis and austerity measures may be forgiven for thinking that over-generous migration policies are indeed the source of all their woe - a message that is rammed home by opportunist politicians and xenophobic media at every opportunity.
This new edition of the Statewatch Journal examines the latest European policy and practice vis-a-vis border control, immigration and asylum."
2. EU: European Parliament: Working document (no 1): Strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at trial in criminal proceedings: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-presum-innoncence-wp1.pdf
Working document (no 2): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-presum-innoncence-wp2.pdf
3. FINLAND: SMART BORDERS: European Parliament: Draft: Report from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Delegation on "Smart Borders" to Finland 18-20 December 2013: Head of Delegation: Renate Sommer:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-finland-smart-borders.pdf
4. UK: Jimmy Mubenga: G4S guards face plane death charges (BBC News, link):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26665039?print=true
5. Spain/Catalunya: Catalan government's IT security service drew up dossiers on activists' use of Twitter
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/catalan-gov-twiitter-dossiers.htm
6. EU justice scoreboard upsets some member states (euobserver, link): "some of the scoreboard data sets on the charts dated 2010 from Luxembourg, Spain, Germany, Romania, Cyprus, and Hungary are missing for 2012. The UK is the only the member state that refuses to provide any data on its justice system to the Council of Europe [which collects much of the data]. "We have no intention of the UK becoming part of a one-size-fits-all EU justice system,” said UK Justice Secretary Chris Grayling in a statement on Monday.":
http://euobserver.com/justice/123507
EU Justice Scoreboard (Press release): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-justice-scoreboard-2014-prel.pdf
Report: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-justice-scoreboard-2014.pdf
7. EU POLICE COOPERATION: This document was prepared by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in answers to questions by Members of the German Bundestag Andrej Hunko et al. and the Left Party parliamentary group: Cooperative activities and projects conducted by European police forces in the second six months of 2013. The document is a mine of information on dozens and dozens of largely hidden EU police cooperation working groups and serves to emphasise the key operational role played the Council of the European Union in coordinatng EU Member States' agencies:
http://andrej-hunko.de/start/download/doc_download/434-cooperative-activities-and-projects-conducted-by-european-police-forces-in-the-second-six-months-of-2013
8. EU-JHA: European Commission: Preliminary list of the former third pillar acquis (SWD 109-14):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-draft-third-pillar-acquis-swd-109-2014.pdf
"Article 10 (1) of Protocol 36 attached to the Treaty on the European Union provides for a transitional period before the full powers of the Commission and of the Court of Justice apply to the acts in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (“former third pillar acquis") adopted before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. As of 1 December 2014, the transitional phase will come to an end. This will lift current limitations to the judicial control by the European Court of Justice and to the Commission's power to launch infringement proceedings, as the guardian of the Treaty over the area of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters."
9. EU: Proceeds of crime Directive adopted: Council adopts directive on the freezing and confiscation of proceeds of crime (Council Press release):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-confiscation-proceeds-of-crime-directive-prel.pdf
and Full-text: Directive on the freezing and confiscation:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-confiscation-proceeds-of-crime-directive.pdf
10. EU: Council of the European Union: European Investigation Order: Council adopts the "European Investigation Order" directive (Council Press release):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-eio-prel.pdf
Full-text: Directive regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-eio-directive-pe-122.pdf
11. European Parliament: “Transparency is an essential element of a lively democracy”:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-access-strasbourg-round-up-public%20access%20to%20documents%202011-2013_%20theparliament.pdf
Record of a discussion between Rapporteurs on access to EU documents. Renate Sommer is parliament's EPP group shadow rapporteur says: "In order to avoid outside influence on the legislative process at this stage trilogues should not be public and documents relating to them should not be disclosed." while Michael Cashman is parliament's S&D group shadow rapporteur says: "the European commission and the European council, with the help of some elements of the European People's Party and, rather contradictorily to their continuous attack on the EU, the UK Independence Party, continue to think that we should legislate behind closed doors." and Cornelis de Jong is parliament's GUE/NGL group shadow rapporteur: "If it is already difficult for MEPs to grasp what decisions are made on the internal arrangements in the EP, for the ordinary citizen this is a complete black box."
See Statewatch Observatories: Regulation on access to EU documents: 2008-ongoing:
http://www.statewatch.org/foi/observatory-access-reg-2008-2009.htm
and Reporting on openness and secrecy in the EU since 1992:
http://www.statewatch.org/foi/foi.htm
12. EU:POST-STOCKHOLM JHA PROGRAMME: Statewatch Analysis: The next multi-year EU Justice and Home Affairs programme Views of the Commission and the Member States (pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex:
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-238-new-jha-programme.pdf
"Overall, the suggestions on the table would in part be useful and practical (on asylum, legal migration, civil justice and suspects’ rights, subject to concerns about the details of any rules on the offshore processing of asylum-seekers), and in part raise some concerns about civil liberties protection (as regards PNR and smart borders in particular). But there are no specific overriding themes that would bring together the EU’s future JHA plans into a coherent system."
See also: European Commission: "The effect of publishing two sets of communications is that there is no single Commission vision of the future of JHA in the EU, with the ‘three Cs’ in the Justice paper as compared to a subject-based approach in the Home Affairs paper." (Steve Peers):
• The EU Justice Agenda for 2020 - Strengthening Trust, Mobility and Growth within the Union (COM 144-14):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-justice-agenda-com-144-14.pdf
• An open and secure Europe: making it happen (COM 154):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-open-secure-com154-14.pdf
• A new EU Framework to strengthen the Rule of Law (COM 158-14)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-rule-of-law-com158-14.pdf
• Annexes: A new EU Framework to strengthen the Rule of Law (COM 158-Annexes-14)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-rule-of-law-com158-14-annexes.pdf
And see: The JHA Agencies Contribution on the new multiannual Justice and Home Affairs programme (10 March 2014):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-jha-agencies-post-stockholm-7313-14.pdf
13. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICE: HERNE Report: Operation HERNE: Operation Trinity: Report 2: Allegations of Peter Francis by Mike Creedon Chief Constable Derbyshire Constabulary (80 pages):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-operation-herne-report-2-Allegations-of-Peter-Francis.pdf
See: Police Spies Out of Lives - Support group for women's legal action against undercover policing (link):
http://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/act-now/
And see Stephen Lawrence Review:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-stephen-lawrence-review-summary.pdf
And: Scotland Yard in new undercover police row - Force accused over attempts to block claims by women allegedly deceived into sexual relationships (The Observer, link): http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/08/scotland-yard-undercover-police-row/print
14. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 3-4 March 2014, Brussels: Final Press release: 3-4 March 2014:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-final-prel.pdf
"B" Points Agenda (for discussion): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-14-b-pts-agenda.pdf
"A" Points legislative (adopted without discussion): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-14-a-pts-legislative-agenda.pdf
and "A" Points non-legislative (adopted without discussion):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-14-a-pts-non-legislative-agenda.pdf
Documents: A highly inappropriate title: "An effective EU return policy": Presidency's food for thought paper for the lunch discussion:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-returnds-policy-discussion-paper-7007-14.pdf
and Preparation for the accession of the UK to the SIS II : Detailed discussion of UK access in the light of its proposed JHA opt-out with Member States reactions: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-uk-accession-sis-II-7038-14.pdf
See Statewatch Observatory: Proceedings of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, 1993 - present:
http://www.statewatch.org/observatories_files/jha_observatory/
15. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICING: Investigatory Powers:the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Covert Human Intelligence Sources: Relevant Sources) Order 2013: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-ripa-stat-instruments-chis-13.pdf
The Home Office has announced a "consultation" on new Codes of Practice:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/covert-surveillance-and-covert-human-intelligence-source-sodes-of-practice-consultation
- No 1: Covert Surveillance and Covert Human Intelligence Sources Codes of Practice
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-covert-surveillance-consult-1.pdf
- No 2: Covert Human Intelligence Sources Code of Practice
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-covert-surveillance-consult-2.pdf
- No 3: Covert Surveillance and Property Interference Code of Practice
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-covert-surveillance-consult-3.pdf
"The majority of the proposals to update the codes of practice are as a consequence of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Covert Human Intelligence Sources: Relevant Sources) Order 2013 which I laid on 31 October 2013 and came into force on 1 January 2014."(above)
16. EU: Council of the European Union: COSI, ITCs and Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for cross-border information exchange
- Future role of COSI (pdf) from the following delegations: AT, BG, CZ, ES, FI, FR, HU, HR (Croatia), IT, PL, RO, SE, SI, SK
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-future-of-cosi-6954-14.pdf
- ITC: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer [First reading] - Analysis of the final draft compromise text with a view to agreement
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-itc-final-compromise-6795-14.pdf
- Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection (DAPIX): Draft SPOC Guidelines for cross-border law enforcement information exchange (pdf) Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for cross-border information exchange.
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-post-stockholm-guidelines-lea-info-exchange-6721-14.pdf
17. EU: European Commission: Smart Borders, GAMM & Free movement
- Smart Borders: The scope of the study on the Smart Borders Package:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-smart-borders-study-6993-14.pdf
- GAMM: Report on the implementation of the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility 2012-2013:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-gamm-implementation-2012-2013.pdf
- Free movement: Addressing the consequences of disenfranchisement of Union citizens exercising their rights to free movement:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-com-free-movement-com-391-14.pdf
18. EU: ARMED DRONES: MEPs vote in landslide for ban on covert drone strikes (Reprieve, press release, link):
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2014_02_27_PUB_MEPs_vote_ban_drone_strikes/
and see European Parliament: Resolution:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/ep-resolution-use-armed-drones.pdf
19. EU: Council of the European Union: Evaluations: Italy & Cybercrime
- Evaluation report on the sixth round of mutual evaluations: "The practical implementation and operation of Council Decision 2002/187/JHA of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime and of Council Decision 2008/976/JHA on the European Judicial Network in criminal matters" REPORT ON ITALY (pdf) Declassified version of "Restricted" document of 18 November 2013 - begs the question: are other country evaluation reports also going to be declassified, and hence made accessible, after 3 months?
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-council-cosi-6th-evaluation-IT-declass-15858-rev1-13.pdf
- Seventh round of mutual evaluations - Questionnaire: 7th round of Mutual Evaluations: The practical implementation and operation of European policies on prevention and combating Cybercrime:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-council-7th-mutual-evaluation-questionnaire-cybercrime-5335-rev1-14.pdf
20. EU: Statewatch Analysis: New EU rules on maritime surveillance: will they stop the deaths and push-backs in the Mediterranean? by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, Law School, University of Essex
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-237-maritime-surveillance.pdf
"the complex interplay of the provisions of this Regulation with EU asylum law has led to something of a ‘dog’s dinner’ of rules governing the asylum applications of people rescued or intercepted in the Mediterranean, and the rules on the accountability of Frontex are something of a ‘red herring’ in light of the allegations of serious misconduct in some cases by national authorities.
Finally, the Commission’s continued unwillingness to bring infringement proceedings in this area (and in the face of its own documented breaches of other EU immigration and asylum law) is undermining the letter and spirit of the Charter by allowing Member States’ authorities to think that they can violate the Charter with impunity."
21. UK: Ex-Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg held in Birmingham terror raids Begg, released from Guantánamo without charge, arrested with two men and a woman on suspicion of Syria-related offences (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/25/four-arrested-birmingham-suspicion-syria-terror-offences/print
See: Moazzam Begg arrested for uncovering Western complicity in rendition and torture? (Cage, link):
http://www.cageuk.org/press-release/press-release-moazzam-begg-arrested-uncovering-western-complicity-rendition-and-tortur
" CAGE is outraged by the arrest of our Outreach Director, Moazzam Begg. A former Guantanamo Bay detainee, he has been campaigning for due process and the human rights of victims, despite suffering over three years of torture and abuse by the US government with the complicity of the British security services."
22. EU: European Data Protection Supervisor: EDPS Guidelines on the Rights of Individuals: data protection is essential to good public administration (Press release)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-edps-guidelines-prel.pdf
and Guidelines: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-edps-guidelines.pdf
23. GREECE: Refugees describe dire conditions in migrant detention centres (EnetEnglish, link): "Granted political asylum in December, Farhad, detained for 14 months at the detention centre in Corinth, said detainees were packed scores to a room and often beaten by police. In protest at the appalling
conditions, he and others sowed their mouths together and went on hunger strike
http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.article&id=1775
See also: GlobalPost documentary shows footage recorded inside Corinth camp
http://www.globalpost.com/video/6071134/location-why-refugees-greece-are-sewing-their-mouths-shut
24. EU-USA: DATA PROTECTION: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): EDPS: Enforcing EU data protection law essential for rebuilding trust between EU-US (Press release): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-usa-edps-prel.pdf
and Opinion: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-usa-edps-opinion.pdf
See also: DP Regulation: EDPS letter to the Council of the European Union (pdf): raises "three crucial outstanding issues":
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-dp-reg-edps-letter.pdf
25. UK: Police seeking water cannons condemned by crowd at public meeting:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-police-water-cannon.html
High-ranking Metropolitan Police officers faced an angry crowd at a public meeting on Monday night as they attempted to justify their attempts to acquire water cannons for use in public order situations. Over 200 hundred people packed into City Hall, which houses the offices of the Mayor of London and the Greater London Assembly, to demand that the police abandon their plans to purchase three of the weapons before the summer.
26. EU: Council of the European Union: Approach for the way forward on the Smart Borders Package (5828/14)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-council-smart-borders-5828-14.pdf
"The Commission has stated its intention to proceed with a proof of concept which would test both a detailed design of the technical architecture and the underlying operational processes. The purpose would be to ensure that the best possible choices are made both from a technical and cost-benefit point of view. The proof of concept will schematically consist of two main phases: a study to be conducted by the Commission and a pilot project to be entrusted to eu-LISA."
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Selected stories for full coverage see:
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. USA-NSA: NSA surveillance program reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls (Washington Post, link)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-surveillance-program-reaches-into-the-past-to-retrieve-replay-phone-calls/2014/03/18/226d2646-ade9-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_print.html
"The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden."
See documents: Mystic (2 pages): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/nsa-mystic.pdf
and Scalwag/Retro: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/nsa-scalawag-retro.pdf
This follows the revelation last year (October 2013) about the NSA mass collection of e-mail addresses: See: NSA collects millions of e-mail address books globally (Washington Post, link)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-collects-millions-of-e-mail-address-books-globally/2013/10/14/8e58b5be-34f9-11e3-80c6-7e6dd8d22d8f_story.html
2. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware (The Intercept. link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/
"Top-secret documents reveal that the National Security Agency is dramatically expanding its ability to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process.
The classified files – provided previously by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden – contain new details about groundbreaking surveillance technology the agency has developed to infect potentially millions of computers worldwide with malware “implants.” The clandestine initiative enables the NSA to break into targeted computers and to siphon out data from foreign Internet and phone networks."
"Top-secret documents show that the British base – referred to by the NSA as “MHS” for Menwith Hill Station – is an integral component of the TURBINE malware infrastructure and has been used to experiment with implant “exploitation” attacks against users of Yahoo and Hotmail."
"MENWITH HILL: GCHQ, the British agency, has taken on a particularly important role in helping to develop the malware tactics. The Menwith Hill satellite eavesdropping base that is part of the TURMOIL network, located in a rural part of Northern England, is operated by the NSA in close cooperation with GCHQ. Top-secret documents show that the British base – referred to by the NSA as “MHS” for Menwith Hill Station – is an integral component of the TURBINE malware infrastructure and has been used to experiment with implant “exploitation” attacks against users of Yahoo and Hotmail."
See: The NSA and GCHQ’s QUANTUMTHEORY Hacking Tactics (link),
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/document/2014/03/12/nsa-gchqs-quantumtheory-hacking-tactics/
TURBINE and TURMOIL: (pdf) another Menwith Hill ("MHS") connection:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/nsa-turbine-turmoil.pdf
And see: Foreign Officials In the Dark About Their Own Spy Agencies’ Cooperation with NSA (The Intercept, link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/13/nsa-elected-officials-foreign-countries-unaware-countries-cooperation-us/
"One of the more bizarre aspects of the last nine months of Snowden revelations is how top political officials in other nations have repeatedly demonstrated, or even explicitly claimed, wholesale ignorance about their nations’ cooperation with the National Security Agency, as well as their own spying activities. This has led to widespread speculation about the authenticity of these reactions: Were these top officials truly unaware, or were they pretending to be, in order to distance themselves from surveillance operations that became highly controversial once disclosed?" See: Third Party Relationships (pdf)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/third-party-relationships.pdf
3. UK: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Phone call metadata does betray sensitive details about your life – study Identities of cannabis grower, woman seeking an abortion and MS sufferer inferred in study that confirms danger of widespread access to metadata (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/13/phone-call-metadata-does-betray-sensitive-details-about-your-life-study/print
"Warnings that phone call “metadata” can betray detailed information about your life has been confirmed by research at Stanford University. Researchers there successfully identified a cannabis cultivator, multiple sclerosis sufferer and a visitor to an abortion clinic using nothing more than the timing and destination of their phone calls. Jonathan Mayer and Patrick Mutchler, the researchers behind the finding, used data gleaned from 546 volunteers to assess the extent to which information about who they had called and when revealed personally sensitive information.
4. European Parliament: US NSA: stop mass surveillance now or face consequences, MEPs say (Press release):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-nsa-gchq-inquiry-vote-prel.pdf
The resolution, in which MEPs set out their findings and recommendations to boost EU citizens' privacy, was backed by 544 votes to 78, with 60 abstentions:
"Parliament's consent to the EU-US trade deal "could be endangered" if blanket mass surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA) does not stop, MEPs said on Wednesday, in a resolution wrapping up their six-month inquiry into US mass surveillance schemes. The text also calls on the EU to suspend its bank data deal with the US and the “Safe Harbour agreement” on data privacy. The fight against terrorism can never justify secret and illegal mass surveillance, it adds"
"The Snowden revelations gave us a chance to react. I hope we will turn those reactions into something positive and lasting into the next mandate of this Parliament, a data protection bill of rights that we can all be proud of", said Civil Liberties inquiry rapporteur Claude Moraes (S&D,"
Report on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental rights and on transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (pdf): Rapporteur: Claude Moraes MEP
5. EU-UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Edward Snowden's testimony to the European Parliament inquiry and Q & A session transcript (pdf)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-nsa-surveillance-snowden-testimony.pdf
6. UK-GCHQ: Yahoo webcam images from millions of users intercepted by GCHQ (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo/print
• Optic Nerve program collected Yahoo webcam images in bulk
• 1.8m users targeted by UK agency in six-month period alone
• Yahoo: 'A whole new level of violation of our users' privacy'
• Material included large quantity of sexually explicit images
See Full document: Optic Nerve: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/gchq-optic-nerve.pdf
and: GCHQ's cover for Optic Nerve provided by legislation introduced in 2000 - Section 8 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act permits GCHQ to perform indiscriminate trawls of external data (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-insists-optic-nerve-program-legal-legislation-2000/print
and see also: Statewatch coverage: Interception Commissioner fails to report on Section 8(4) certificates authorising GCHQ's mass data collection
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/uk-interception-reports.htm
7. UK-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations (The Intercept, link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
"One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction".
"These GCHQ documents are the first to prove that a major western government is using some of the most controversial techniques to disseminate deception online and harm the reputations of targets. Under the tactics they use, the state is deliberately spreading lies on the internet about whichever individuals it targets, including the use of what GCHQ itself calls “false flag operations” and emails to people’s families and friends. Who would possibly trust a government to exercise these powers at all, let alone do so in secret, with virtually no oversight, and outside of any cognizable legal framework?"
See document: GCHQ: The ART of DECEPTION: Training for a new generation of online covert operations (3MB, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/the-art-of-deception-training-for-a-new.pdf
8. UK-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: MIRANDA DETENTION: Here’s David Miranda’s application to the Court of Appeal – drafted by Matthew Ryder QC and Edward Craven of Matrix Chambers – for permission to appeal against today’s Administrative Court judgment.
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-nsa-miranda-section-7-appeal-19-2-14.pdf
The court today dismissed his judicial review challenge to his questioning and detention last August under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
UK Court: David Miranda Detention Legal Under Terrorism Law (The Intercept, link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/19/uk-court-david-miranda-detention-legal-terrorism-law/
"A British lower court has ruled that London police acted lawfully in employing an anti-terror statute to detain and interrogate David Miranda for nearly nine hours at Heathrow Airport last summer, even while recognizing that the detention was “an indirect interference with press freedom.” Miranda said his suit will continue. “I will appeal 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 said in a statement to The Intercept." Full-text of court decision: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-miranda-v-sofshd.pdf
9. GCHQ-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks and Its Supporters (The Intercept, link): https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/18/snowden-docs-reveal-covert-surveillance-and-pressure-tactics-aimed-at-wikileaks-and-its-supporters/
"The system used by GCHQ to monitor the WikiLeaks website – codenamed ANTICRISIS GIRL – is described in a classified PowerPoint presentation prepared by the British agency and distributed at the 2012 “SIGDEV Conference.” At the annual gathering, each member of the “Five Eyes” alliance – the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – describes the prior year’s surveillance successes and challenges.
In a top-secret presentation at the conference, two GCHQ spies outlined how ANTICRISIS GIRL was used to enable “targeted website monitoring” of WikiLeaks (See slides 33 and 34). The agency logged data showing hundreds of users from around the world, including the United States, as they were visiting a WikiLeaks site –contradicting claims by American officials that a deal between the U.K. and the U.S. prevents each country from spying on the other’s citizens." :
Document: A new kind of SIGDEV includes references to "Squeaky Dolphin"
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/gchq-psychology-a-new-kind-of-sigdev.pdf
and GCHQ's JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group):
"A third document, from July 2011, contains a summary of an internal discussion in which officials from two NSA offices – including the agency’s general counsel and an arm of its Threat Operations Center – considered designating WikiLeaks as “a ‘malicious foreign actor’ for the purpose of targeting.” Such a designation would have allowed the group to be targeted with extensive electronic surveillance – without the need to exclude U.S. persons from the surveillance searches.":
Document: SIGINT targeting scenarios: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/discovery-sigint-targeting-scenarios-and.pdf
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Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 23:20:27 +0000
To: statewatch@gn.apc.org
From: statewatch-off@geo2.poptel.org.uk
Subject: News Online: 24 March (05/14)
Statewatch News Online, 24 March 2014 (05/14)
Home page: http://www.statewatch.org/
e-mail: office@statewatch.org
NEWS
http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. STATEWATCH: New issue of Journal: Borders, deaths and resistance
2. EU: European Parliament: Strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence
3. FINLAND: SMART BORDERS
4. UK: Jimmy Mubenga: G4S guards face plane death charges
5. Spain/Catalunya: Catalan government's IT security service drew up dossiers on activists' use of Twitter
6. EU justice scoreboard
7. EU POLICE COOPERATION: a mine of information on dozens and dozens of largely hidden EU police cooperation working groups
8. EU-JHA: European Commission: Preliminary list of the former third pillar acquis
9. EU: Proceeds of crime Directive adopted
10. EU: Council of the European Union: European Investigation Order
11. European Parliament: “Transparency is an essential element of a lively democracy”:
12. EU:POST-STOCKHOLM JHA PROGRAMME: Statewatch Analysis
13. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICE: HERNE Report
14. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 3-4 March 2014
15. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICING: Covert Human Intelligence Sources
16. EU: Council of the European Union: COSI, ITCs and Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for cross-border information exchange
17. EU: European Commission: Smart Borders, GAMM & Free movement
18. EU: ARMED DRONES: MEPs vote in landslide for ban on covert drone strikes
19. EU: Council of the European Union: Evaluations: Italy & Cybercrime
20. EU: Statewatch Analysis: New EU rules on maritime surveillance: will they stop the deaths and push-backs in the Mediterranean?
21. UK: Ex-Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg held in Birmingham terror raids Begg
22. EU: European Data Protection Supervisor: Guidelines on the Rights of Individuals
23. GREECE: Refugees describe dire conditions in migrant detention centres
24. EU-USA: DATA PROTECTION: Enforcing EU data protection law essential for rebuilding trust between EU-US
25. UK: Police seeking water cannons condemned by crowd at public meeting
26. EU: Council of the European Union: Approach for the way forward on the Smart Borders Package
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Selected stories for full coverage see:
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. USA-NSA: NSA surveillance program reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls
2. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware
3. UK: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Phone call metadata does betray sensitive details about your life
4. European Parliament: US NSA: stop mass surveillance now or face consequences, MEPs say
5. EU-UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Edward Snowden's testimony to the European Parliament inquiry
7. UK-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations
8. UK-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: MIRANDA DETENTION: Miranda’s application to the Court of Appeal
9. GCHQ-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks
USING THE STATEWATCH WEBSITE
NEWS: http://www.statewatch.org/news/
1. STATEWATCH: New issue of Journal: Borders, deaths and resistance: Contents: http://www.statewatch.org/contents/swjournal23n34.html
and Link for free download: http://www.statewatch.org/subscriber/protected/statewatch-journal-vol23n34.pdf
"So detached has the official rhetoric about migrants' rights and saving lives become from the realities of the detention centres, the razor wire, the intensive surveillance, the military patrols, the forced expulsions and the 20,000 documented deaths, that people bearing the brunt of the economic crisis and austerity measures may be forgiven for thinking that over-generous migration policies are indeed the source of all their woe - a message that is rammed home by opportunist politicians and xenophobic media at every opportunity.
This new edition of the Statewatch Journal examines the latest European policy and practice vis-a-vis border control, immigration and asylum."
2. EU: European Parliament: Working document (no 1): Strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at trial in criminal proceedings: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-presum-innoncence-wp1.pdf
Working document (no 2): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-presum-innoncence-wp2.pdf
3. FINLAND: SMART BORDERS: European Parliament: Draft: Report from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Delegation on "Smart Borders" to Finland 18-20 December 2013: Head of Delegation: Renate Sommer:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-finland-smart-borders.pdf
4. UK: Jimmy Mubenga: G4S guards face plane death charges (BBC News, link):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26665039?print=true
5. Spain/Catalunya: Catalan government's IT security service drew up dossiers on activists' use of Twitter
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/catalan-gov-twiitter-dossiers.htm
6. EU justice scoreboard upsets some member states (euobserver, link): "some of the scoreboard data sets on the charts dated 2010 from Luxembourg, Spain, Germany, Romania, Cyprus, and Hungary are missing for 2012. The UK is the only the member state that refuses to provide any data on its justice system to the Council of Europe [which collects much of the data]. "We have no intention of the UK becoming part of a one-size-fits-all EU justice system,” said UK Justice Secretary Chris Grayling in a statement on Monday.":
http://euobserver.com/justice/123507
EU Justice Scoreboard (Press release): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-justice-scoreboard-2014-prel.pdf
Report: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-justice-scoreboard-2014.pdf
7. EU POLICE COOPERATION: This document was prepared by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in answers to questions by Members of the German Bundestag Andrej Hunko et al. and the Left Party parliamentary group: Cooperative activities and projects conducted by European police forces in the second six months of 2013. The document is a mine of information on dozens and dozens of largely hidden EU police cooperation working groups and serves to emphasise the key operational role played the Council of the European Union in coordinatng EU Member States' agencies:
http://andrej-hunko.de/start/download/doc_download/434-cooperative-activities-and-projects-conducted-by-european-police-forces-in-the-second-six-months-of-2013
8. EU-JHA: European Commission: Preliminary list of the former third pillar acquis (SWD 109-14):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-draft-third-pillar-acquis-swd-109-2014.pdf
"Article 10 (1) of Protocol 36 attached to the Treaty on the European Union provides for a transitional period before the full powers of the Commission and of the Court of Justice apply to the acts in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (“former third pillar acquis") adopted before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. As of 1 December 2014, the transitional phase will come to an end. This will lift current limitations to the judicial control by the European Court of Justice and to the Commission's power to launch infringement proceedings, as the guardian of the Treaty over the area of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters."
9. EU: Proceeds of crime Directive adopted: Council adopts directive on the freezing and confiscation of proceeds of crime (Council Press release):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-confiscation-proceeds-of-crime-directive-prel.pdf
and Full-text: Directive on the freezing and confiscation:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-confiscation-proceeds-of-crime-directive.pdf
10. EU: Council of the European Union: European Investigation Order: Council adopts the "European Investigation Order" directive (Council Press release):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-eio-prel.pdf
Full-text: Directive regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-eio-directive-pe-122.pdf
11. European Parliament: “Transparency is an essential element of a lively democracy”:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-access-strasbourg-round-up-public%20access%20to%20documents%202011-2013_%20theparliament.pdf
Record of a discussion between Rapporteurs on access to EU documents. Renate Sommer is parliament's EPP group shadow rapporteur says: "In order to avoid outside influence on the legislative process at this stage trilogues should not be public and documents relating to them should not be disclosed." while Michael Cashman is parliament's S&D group shadow rapporteur says: "the European commission and the European council, with the help of some elements of the European People's Party and, rather contradictorily to their continuous attack on the EU, the UK Independence Party, continue to think that we should legislate behind closed doors." and Cornelis de Jong is parliament's GUE/NGL group shadow rapporteur: "If it is already difficult for MEPs to grasp what decisions are made on the internal arrangements in the EP, for the ordinary citizen this is a complete black box."
See Statewatch Observatories: Regulation on access to EU documents: 2008-ongoing:
http://www.statewatch.org/foi/observatory-access-reg-2008-2009.htm
and Reporting on openness and secrecy in the EU since 1992:
http://www.statewatch.org/foi/foi.htm
12. EU:POST-STOCKHOLM JHA PROGRAMME: Statewatch Analysis: The next multi-year EU Justice and Home Affairs programme Views of the Commission and the Member States (pdf) by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex:
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-238-new-jha-programme.pdf
"Overall, the suggestions on the table would in part be useful and practical (on asylum, legal migration, civil justice and suspects’ rights, subject to concerns about the details of any rules on the offshore processing of asylum-seekers), and in part raise some concerns about civil liberties protection (as regards PNR and smart borders in particular). But there are no specific overriding themes that would bring together the EU’s future JHA plans into a coherent system."
See also: European Commission: "The effect of publishing two sets of communications is that there is no single Commission vision of the future of JHA in the EU, with the ‘three Cs’ in the Justice paper as compared to a subject-based approach in the Home Affairs paper." (Steve Peers):
• The EU Justice Agenda for 2020 - Strengthening Trust, Mobility and Growth within the Union (COM 144-14):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-justice-agenda-com-144-14.pdf
• An open and secure Europe: making it happen (COM 154):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-open-secure-com154-14.pdf
• A new EU Framework to strengthen the Rule of Law (COM 158-14)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-rule-of-law-com158-14.pdf
• Annexes: A new EU Framework to strengthen the Rule of Law (COM 158-Annexes-14)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-post-stockholm-rule-of-law-com158-14-annexes.pdf
And see: The JHA Agencies Contribution on the new multiannual Justice and Home Affairs programme (10 March 2014):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-jha-agencies-post-stockholm-7313-14.pdf
13. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICE: HERNE Report: Operation HERNE: Operation Trinity: Report 2: Allegations of Peter Francis by Mike Creedon Chief Constable Derbyshire Constabulary (80 pages):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-operation-herne-report-2-Allegations-of-Peter-Francis.pdf
See: Police Spies Out of Lives - Support group for women's legal action against undercover policing (link):
http://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/act-now/
And see Stephen Lawrence Review:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-stephen-lawrence-review-summary.pdf
And: Scotland Yard in new undercover police row - Force accused over attempts to block claims by women allegedly deceived into sexual relationships (The Observer, link): http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/08/scotland-yard-undercover-police-row/print
14. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council, 3-4 March 2014, Brussels: Final Press release: 3-4 March 2014:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-final-prel.pdf
"B" Points Agenda (for discussion): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-14-b-pts-agenda.pdf
"A" Points legislative (adopted without discussion): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-14-a-pts-legislative-agenda.pdf
and "A" Points non-legislative (adopted without discussion):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-jha-council-3-4-march-14-a-pts-non-legislative-agenda.pdf
Documents: A highly inappropriate title: "An effective EU return policy": Presidency's food for thought paper for the lunch discussion:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-returnds-policy-discussion-paper-7007-14.pdf
and Preparation for the accession of the UK to the SIS II : Detailed discussion of UK access in the light of its proposed JHA opt-out with Member States reactions: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-uk-accession-sis-II-7038-14.pdf
See Statewatch Observatory: Proceedings of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, 1993 - present:
http://www.statewatch.org/observatories_files/jha_observatory/
15. UK: UNDERCOVER POLICING: Investigatory Powers:the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Covert Human Intelligence Sources: Relevant Sources) Order 2013: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-ripa-stat-instruments-chis-13.pdf
The Home Office has announced a "consultation" on new Codes of Practice:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/covert-surveillance-and-covert-human-intelligence-source-sodes-of-practice-consultation
- No 1: Covert Surveillance and Covert Human Intelligence Sources Codes of Practice
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-covert-surveillance-consult-1.pdf
- No 2: Covert Human Intelligence Sources Code of Practice
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-covert-surveillance-consult-2.pdf
- No 3: Covert Surveillance and Property Interference Code of Practice
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/uk-covert-surveillance-consult-3.pdf
"The majority of the proposals to update the codes of practice are as a consequence of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Covert Human Intelligence Sources: Relevant Sources) Order 2013 which I laid on 31 October 2013 and came into force on 1 January 2014."(above)
16. EU: Council of the European Union: COSI, ITCs and Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for cross-border information exchange
- Future role of COSI (pdf) from the following delegations: AT, BG, CZ, ES, FI, FR, HU, HR (Croatia), IT, PL, RO, SE, SI, SK
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-future-of-cosi-6954-14.pdf
- ITC: Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer [First reading] - Analysis of the final draft compromise text with a view to agreement
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-itc-final-compromise-6795-14.pdf
- Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection (DAPIX): Draft SPOC Guidelines for cross-border law enforcement information exchange (pdf) Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for cross-border information exchange.
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-council-post-stockholm-guidelines-lea-info-exchange-6721-14.pdf
17. EU: European Commission: Smart Borders, GAMM & Free movement
- Smart Borders: The scope of the study on the Smart Borders Package:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-smart-borders-study-6993-14.pdf
- GAMM: Report on the implementation of the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility 2012-2013:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/eu-com-gamm-implementation-2012-2013.pdf
- Free movement: Addressing the consequences of disenfranchisement of Union citizens exercising their rights to free movement:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-com-free-movement-com-391-14.pdf
18. EU: ARMED DRONES: MEPs vote in landslide for ban on covert drone strikes (Reprieve, press release, link):
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2014_02_27_PUB_MEPs_vote_ban_drone_strikes/
and see European Parliament: Resolution:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/ep-resolution-use-armed-drones.pdf
19. EU: Council of the European Union: Evaluations: Italy & Cybercrime
- Evaluation report on the sixth round of mutual evaluations: "The practical implementation and operation of Council Decision 2002/187/JHA of 28 February 2002 setting up Eurojust with a view to reinforcing the fight against serious crime and of Council Decision 2008/976/JHA on the European Judicial Network in criminal matters" REPORT ON ITALY (pdf) Declassified version of "Restricted" document of 18 November 2013 - begs the question: are other country evaluation reports also going to be declassified, and hence made accessible, after 3 months?
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-council-cosi-6th-evaluation-IT-declass-15858-rev1-13.pdf
- Seventh round of mutual evaluations - Questionnaire: 7th round of Mutual Evaluations: The practical implementation and operation of European policies on prevention and combating Cybercrime:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-council-7th-mutual-evaluation-questionnaire-cybercrime-5335-rev1-14.pdf
20. EU: Statewatch Analysis: New EU rules on maritime surveillance: will they stop the deaths and push-backs in the Mediterranean? by Steve Peers, Professor of Law, Law School, University of Essex
http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-237-maritime-surveillance.pdf
"the complex interplay of the provisions of this Regulation with EU asylum law has led to something of a ‘dog’s dinner’ of rules governing the asylum applications of people rescued or intercepted in the Mediterranean, and the rules on the accountability of Frontex are something of a ‘red herring’ in light of the allegations of serious misconduct in some cases by national authorities.
Finally, the Commission’s continued unwillingness to bring infringement proceedings in this area (and in the face of its own documented breaches of other EU immigration and asylum law) is undermining the letter and spirit of the Charter by allowing Member States’ authorities to think that they can violate the Charter with impunity."
21. UK: Ex-Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg held in Birmingham terror raids Begg, released from Guantánamo without charge, arrested with two men and a woman on suspicion of Syria-related offences (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/25/four-arrested-birmingham-suspicion-syria-terror-offences/print
See: Moazzam Begg arrested for uncovering Western complicity in rendition and torture? (Cage, link):
http://www.cageuk.org/press-release/press-release-moazzam-begg-arrested-uncovering-western-complicity-rendition-and-tortur
" CAGE is outraged by the arrest of our Outreach Director, Moazzam Begg. A former Guantanamo Bay detainee, he has been campaigning for due process and the human rights of victims, despite suffering over three years of torture and abuse by the US government with the complicity of the British security services."
22. EU: European Data Protection Supervisor: EDPS Guidelines on the Rights of Individuals: data protection is essential to good public administration (Press release)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-edps-guidelines-prel.pdf
and Guidelines: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-edps-guidelines.pdf
23. GREECE: Refugees describe dire conditions in migrant detention centres (EnetEnglish, link): "Granted political asylum in December, Farhad, detained for 14 months at the detention centre in Corinth, said detainees were packed scores to a room and often beaten by police. In protest at the appalling
conditions, he and others sowed their mouths together and went on hunger strike
http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.article&id=1775
See also: GlobalPost documentary shows footage recorded inside Corinth camp
http://www.globalpost.com/video/6071134/location-why-refugees-greece-are-sewing-their-mouths-shut
24. EU-USA: DATA PROTECTION: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): EDPS: Enforcing EU data protection law essential for rebuilding trust between EU-US (Press release): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-usa-edps-prel.pdf
and Opinion: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-usa-edps-opinion.pdf
See also: DP Regulation: EDPS letter to the Council of the European Union (pdf): raises "three crucial outstanding issues":
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-dp-reg-edps-letter.pdf
25. UK: Police seeking water cannons condemned by crowd at public meeting:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-police-water-cannon.html
High-ranking Metropolitan Police officers faced an angry crowd at a public meeting on Monday night as they attempted to justify their attempts to acquire water cannons for use in public order situations. Over 200 hundred people packed into City Hall, which houses the offices of the Mayor of London and the Greater London Assembly, to demand that the police abandon their plans to purchase three of the weapons before the summer.
26. EU: Council of the European Union: Approach for the way forward on the Smart Borders Package (5828/14)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/eu-council-smart-borders-5828-14.pdf
"The Commission has stated its intention to proceed with a proof of concept which would test both a detailed design of the technical architecture and the underlying operational processes. The purpose would be to ensure that the best possible choices are made both from a technical and cost-benefit point of view. The proof of concept will schematically consist of two main phases: a study to be conducted by the Commission and a pilot project to be entrusted to eu-LISA."
EU-NSA-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Selected stories for full coverage see:
http://www.statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
1. USA-NSA: NSA surveillance program reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls (Washington Post, link)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-surveillance-program-reaches-into-the-past-to-retrieve-replay-phone-calls/2014/03/18/226d2646-ade9-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_print.html
"The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden."
See documents: Mystic (2 pages): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/nsa-mystic.pdf
and Scalwag/Retro: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/nsa-scalawag-retro.pdf
This follows the revelation last year (October 2013) about the NSA mass collection of e-mail addresses: See: NSA collects millions of e-mail address books globally (Washington Post, link)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-collects-millions-of-e-mail-address-books-globally/2013/10/14/8e58b5be-34f9-11e3-80c6-7e6dd8d22d8f_story.html
2. USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How the NSA Plans to Infect ‘Millions’ of Computers with Malware (The Intercept. link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/
"Top-secret documents reveal that the National Security Agency is dramatically expanding its ability to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process.
The classified files – provided previously by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden – contain new details about groundbreaking surveillance technology the agency has developed to infect potentially millions of computers worldwide with malware “implants.” The clandestine initiative enables the NSA to break into targeted computers and to siphon out data from foreign Internet and phone networks."
"Top-secret documents show that the British base – referred to by the NSA as “MHS” for Menwith Hill Station – is an integral component of the TURBINE malware infrastructure and has been used to experiment with implant “exploitation” attacks against users of Yahoo and Hotmail."
"MENWITH HILL: GCHQ, the British agency, has taken on a particularly important role in helping to develop the malware tactics. The Menwith Hill satellite eavesdropping base that is part of the TURMOIL network, located in a rural part of Northern England, is operated by the NSA in close cooperation with GCHQ. Top-secret documents show that the British base – referred to by the NSA as “MHS” for Menwith Hill Station – is an integral component of the TURBINE malware infrastructure and has been used to experiment with implant “exploitation” attacks against users of Yahoo and Hotmail."
See: The NSA and GCHQ’s QUANTUMTHEORY Hacking Tactics (link),
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/document/2014/03/12/nsa-gchqs-quantumtheory-hacking-tactics/
TURBINE and TURMOIL: (pdf) another Menwith Hill ("MHS") connection:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/nsa-turbine-turmoil.pdf
And see: Foreign Officials In the Dark About Their Own Spy Agencies’ Cooperation with NSA (The Intercept, link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/03/13/nsa-elected-officials-foreign-countries-unaware-countries-cooperation-us/
"One of the more bizarre aspects of the last nine months of Snowden revelations is how top political officials in other nations have repeatedly demonstrated, or even explicitly claimed, wholesale ignorance about their nations’ cooperation with the National Security Agency, as well as their own spying activities. This has led to widespread speculation about the authenticity of these reactions: Were these top officials truly unaware, or were they pretending to be, in order to distance themselves from surveillance operations that became highly controversial once disclosed?" See: Third Party Relationships (pdf)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/third-party-relationships.pdf
3. UK: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Phone call metadata does betray sensitive details about your life – study Identities of cannabis grower, woman seeking an abortion and MS sufferer inferred in study that confirms danger of widespread access to metadata (Guardian, link):
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/13/phone-call-metadata-does-betray-sensitive-details-about-your-life-study/print
"Warnings that phone call “metadata” can betray detailed information about your life has been confirmed by research at Stanford University. Researchers there successfully identified a cannabis cultivator, multiple sclerosis sufferer and a visitor to an abortion clinic using nothing more than the timing and destination of their phone calls. Jonathan Mayer and Patrick Mutchler, the researchers behind the finding, used data gleaned from 546 volunteers to assess the extent to which information about who they had called and when revealed personally sensitive information.
4. European Parliament: US NSA: stop mass surveillance now or face consequences, MEPs say (Press release):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-nsa-gchq-inquiry-vote-prel.pdf
The resolution, in which MEPs set out their findings and recommendations to boost EU citizens' privacy, was backed by 544 votes to 78, with 60 abstentions:
"Parliament's consent to the EU-US trade deal "could be endangered" if blanket mass surveillance by the US National Security Agency (NSA) does not stop, MEPs said on Wednesday, in a resolution wrapping up their six-month inquiry into US mass surveillance schemes. The text also calls on the EU to suspend its bank data deal with the US and the “Safe Harbour agreement” on data privacy. The fight against terrorism can never justify secret and illegal mass surveillance, it adds"
"The Snowden revelations gave us a chance to react. I hope we will turn those reactions into something positive and lasting into the next mandate of this Parliament, a data protection bill of rights that we can all be proud of", said Civil Liberties inquiry rapporteur Claude Moraes (S&D,"
Report on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens’ fundamental rights and on transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (pdf): Rapporteur: Claude Moraes MEP
5. EU-UK-GCHQ-USA-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Edward Snowden's testimony to the European Parliament inquiry and Q & A session transcript (pdf)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/mar/ep-nsa-surveillance-snowden-testimony.pdf
6. UK-GCHQ: Yahoo webcam images from millions of users intercepted by GCHQ (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo/print
• Optic Nerve program collected Yahoo webcam images in bulk
• 1.8m users targeted by UK agency in six-month period alone
• Yahoo: 'A whole new level of violation of our users' privacy'
• Material included large quantity of sexually explicit images
See Full document: Optic Nerve: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/gchq-optic-nerve.pdf
and: GCHQ's cover for Optic Nerve provided by legislation introduced in 2000 - Section 8 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act permits GCHQ to perform indiscriminate trawls of external data (Guardian, link)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-insists-optic-nerve-program-legal-legislation-2000/print
and see also: Statewatch coverage: Interception Commissioner fails to report on Section 8(4) certificates authorising GCHQ's mass data collection
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/dec/uk-interception-reports.htm
7. UK-GCHQ: DATA SURVEILLANCE: How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations (The Intercept, link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
"One of the many pressing stories that remains to be told from the Snowden archive is how western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction".
"These GCHQ documents are the first to prove that a major western government is using some of the most controversial techniques to disseminate deception online and harm the reputations of targets. Under the tactics they use, the state is deliberately spreading lies on the internet about whichever individuals it targets, including the use of what GCHQ itself calls “false flag operations” and emails to people’s families and friends. Who would possibly trust a government to exercise these powers at all, let alone do so in secret, with virtually no oversight, and outside of any cognizable legal framework?"
See document: GCHQ: The ART of DECEPTION: Training for a new generation of online covert operations (3MB, pdf):
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/the-art-of-deception-training-for-a-new.pdf
8. UK-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: MIRANDA DETENTION: Here’s David Miranda’s application to the Court of Appeal – drafted by Matthew Ryder QC and Edward Craven of Matrix Chambers – for permission to appeal against today’s Administrative Court judgment.
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-nsa-miranda-section-7-appeal-19-2-14.pdf
The court today dismissed his judicial review challenge to his questioning and detention last August under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
UK Court: David Miranda Detention Legal Under Terrorism Law (The Intercept, link):
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/19/uk-court-david-miranda-detention-legal-terrorism-law/
"A British lower court has ruled that London police acted lawfully in employing an anti-terror statute to detain and interrogate David Miranda for nearly nine hours at Heathrow Airport last summer, even while recognizing that the detention was “an indirect interference with press freedom.” Miranda said his suit will continue. “I will appeal 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 said in a statement to The Intercept." Full-text of court decision: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/uk-miranda-v-sofshd.pdf
9. GCHQ-NSA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks and Its Supporters (The Intercept, link): https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/18/snowden-docs-reveal-covert-surveillance-and-pressure-tactics-aimed-at-wikileaks-and-its-supporters/
"The system used by GCHQ to monitor the WikiLeaks website – codenamed ANTICRISIS GIRL – is described in a classified PowerPoint presentation prepared by the British agency and distributed at the 2012 “SIGDEV Conference.” At the annual gathering, each member of the “Five Eyes” alliance – the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – describes the prior year’s surveillance successes and challenges.
In a top-secret presentation at the conference, two GCHQ spies outlined how ANTICRISIS GIRL was used to enable “targeted website monitoring” of WikiLeaks (See slides 33 and 34). The agency logged data showing hundreds of users from around the world, including the United States, as they were visiting a WikiLeaks site –contradicting claims by American officials that a deal between the U.K. and the U.S. prevents each country from spying on the other’s citizens." :
Document: A new kind of SIGDEV includes references to "Squeaky Dolphin"
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/gchq-psychology-a-new-kind-of-sigdev.pdf
and GCHQ's JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group):
"A third document, from July 2011, contains a summary of an internal discussion in which officials from two NSA offices – including the agency’s general counsel and an arm of its Threat Operations Center – considered designating WikiLeaks as “a ‘malicious foreign actor’ for the purpose of targeting.” Such a designation would have allowed the group to be targeted with extensive electronic surveillance – without the need to exclude U.S. persons from the surveillance searches.":
Document: SIGINT targeting scenarios: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2014/feb/discovery-sigint-targeting-scenarios-and.pdf
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