Britain rapidly turning into a Orwellian Police State

[matrixcutter]

Phil Booth from privacy group NO2ID said: "Your travel data is much more sensitive than you might think.

"Given that for obvious reasons we're encouraged not to put our home address on our luggage labels, and especially given the Government's appalling record on looking after our data, it just doesn't seem sensible for it to pass details like this and sensitive financial information around."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090314/tuk-travel-plans-to-be-tracked-dba1618.html


The NO2ID guy is so f**king lame what a waste of space.

He's probably either MI5 himself, or he's surrounded by MI5 infiltrators advising him.

Either way, their forum was all about censoring any information about the bigger picture, and (generally) presenting the Tory party as the solution to the problem, which is very telling.  I don't know whether the N02ID forum is still like that, but it probably is.

----

Here's the travel database story in The Telegraph:
All travel plans to be tracked by Government
The travel plans and personal details of every holidaymaker, business traveller and day-tripper who leaves Britain are to be tracked by the Government, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.
By David Millward, Transport Editor
Last Updated: 4:59PM GMT 17 Mar 2009


Travel operators will supply information on people exiting the UK

Anyone departing the UK by land, sea or air will have their trip recorded and stored on a database for a decade.

Passengers leaving every international sea port, station or airport will have to supply detailed personal information as well as their travel plans. So-called "booze crusiers" who cross the Channel for a couple of hours to stock up on wine, beer and cigarettes will be subject to the rules.

In addition, weekend sailors and sea fishermen will be caught by the system if they plan to travel to another country - or face the possibility of criminal prosecution.

The owners of light aircraft will also be brought under the system, known as e-borders, which will eventually track 250 million journeys annually.

Even swimmers attempting to cross the Channel and their support teams will be subject to the rules which will require the provision of travellers' personal information such as passport and credit card details, home and email addresses and exact travel plans.

The full extent of the impact of the government's "e-borders" scheme emerged amid warnings that passengers face increased congestion as air, rail and ferry companies introduce some of the changes over the Easter holidays.

The new checks are being introduced piecemeal by the UK Border Agency. By the end of the year 60 per cent of journeys made out of Britain will be affected with 95 per cent of people leaving the country being subject to the plans by the end 2010.

Yachtsmen, leisure boaters, trawlermen and private pilots will be given until 2014 to comply with the programme.

They will be expected to use the internet to send their details each time they leave the country and would face a fine of up to £5,000 should they fail to do so.

Similar penalties will be enforced on airlines, train and ship operators if they fail to provide details of every passenger to the UK Border Agency.

In most cases the information will be expected to be provided 24 hours ahead of travel and will then be stored on a Government database for around ten years.

The changes are being brought in as the Government tries to tighten border controls and increase protection against the threat of international terrorism.

Currently passports are not checked as a matter of routine when people leave the country.

Exit controls for departure to other countries within the European Union were scrapped by the last Conservative Government. The rest were scrapped by Jack Straw, when he became Home Secretary, after Labour won the election in 1997.

However, passport inspections at ports have gradually been reintroduced as the Government looks to prevent anyone on a Government watchlist fleeing the country.

Gwyn Prosser, Labour MP for Dover and a member of the all-party Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "I think e-borders are absolutely necessary," he said. "Governments of all complexions have always been criticised for not knowing who is in the country. This is a very sophisticated way of counting people in and out."

Britain is not the only country to require such information from travel operators. The USA also demands the same information be supplied from passengers wishing to visit America.

But the scale of the scheme has alarmed civil liberties campaigners.

"Your travel data is much more sensitive than you might think," Phil Booth of the privacy group, NO2ID said.

"Given that for obvious reasons we're encouraged not to put our home address on our luggage labels, and especially given the Government's appalling record on looking after our data, it just doesn't seem sensible for it to pass details like this and sensitive financial information around."

"It is a sad refection of the times that the dream of freedom of movement across Europe has had to take second place to concerns about national security," said Edmund King, the AA's president.

"Travellers will need to ensure that their passports are up to date and that details are input accurately if they don't want to end up in a dark room being grilled by border officials."

Ferry firms and Eurostar - who, unlike airlines, do not gather such detailed passenger information - have also raised concerns about the impact on passengers and warned the plans may not even be legal under EU law.

The changes would mean that Eurostar, Eurotunnel and ferry companies will now have to demand passport details from passengers at the time of booking, along with the credit card information and email address which they would have taken at the time of the reservation.

"We are also concerned that the implementation of e-borders could prove expensive and time consuming. For passengers this could mean longer check-in times," a Eurostar spokesman said.

"This will lead to unwelcome queues of vehicles at ferry ports and risks adding unnecessary complications to what always have been and ought to be a simple and straightforward journey," said a spokesman for the Chamber of Shipping.

In particular the Chamber is worried by proposals to include the Republic of Ireland in the e-borders scheme.

"E-borders is a system to carry passport data and at the moment passengers don't need one to cross the Irish Sea."

The plans have also alarmed the Royal Yachting Association. "From a recreational leisure boating point of view, filling in paper work detailing your exact travel plans every time you cross a border is not desirable.," a spokesman said.

"Often the attraction of boat cruising is the freedom it brings – these plans appear to challenge this"

The scheme was condemned by Chris Grayling, the Tories' home affairs spokesman.

"Of course we need to keep a proper record of people as they come in and leave the country.

"My worry is that the Government is creating something which will be unwieldy, impossible to manage and expensive to operate.

"I think this system has to be much simpler."

A UK Border Agency spokesman defended the e-borders scheme. "It allows us to secure the UK's Borders by screening people as they travel in and out of the UK.

"The e-Borders scheme has already screened over 82m passengers travelling to Britain, leading to more than 2,900 arrests, for crimes including murder, drug dealing and sex offences. e-borders helps the police catch criminals attempt to escape justice."

-----

Related Articles

90 facts travellers must tell officials
US records UK visitors' race and reading habits
Sudan plane crash: 100 feared dead in explosion
Foreign criminals work at airports unchecked
Heathrow fingerprint plan challenged

[matrixcutter]

Quote from: Zed on January 23, 2009, 11:55:47 PM

I told countles people (in the UK) that the UK was heading this way back in 97.

The only response was Mockery and verbal abuse.

Was that under Major or Blair?

Blair came to power on May 1st, or Beltane, a few weeks after this (award-winning) advert from the Tories, which was banned:

[matrixcutter]

Straw scraps plan for 'Big Brother' database
By Ben Russell, Home Affairs Correspondent
Wednesday, 18 March 2009

Sweeping "Big Brother" plans to give officials and police unprecedented access to the sensitive personal data of millions of people have been scrapped after an outcry from campaigners, doctors and lawyers.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, formally dropped proposals yesterday in which personal data, from DNA and medical records to tax and other information, would be shared across Whitehall departments, police and other public bodies. Campaigners said the plans in the Coroners and Justice Bill was the first step on the road to a "Big Brother state". The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that the proposals will be removed before the final debates, in the Commons next week. But ministers could add them to future legislation.

The Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, David Howarth, said: "I am relieved that the Government has finally seen sense and scrapped these extraordinarily broad and dangerously ill-thought-out provisions."

-----

Delaying is NOT scrapping, as The Independent must surely understand by now.

[matrixcutter]

March 13, 2009
Should schools be fingerprinting our children?



School Gate visitor and writer Kim Thomas wants to know what you think about school pupils having their fingersprints taken....

"If your child gets arrested on suspicion of committing a crime, then you probably can’t get too upset if he gets taken down the police station and has his fingerprints taken. But what if he hasn’t done anything wrong and it’s the school doing the fingerprinting?

An estimated six thousand schools in the UK are storing their pupils’ fingerprints. The schools would say the reason is benign – fingerprinting systems make it easier to administer processes like registration, issuing library books and paying for school dinners. Others might disagree.

So how does it work? Each child places a thumb or finger on a reader connected to a computer. The fingerprint is converted to a unique set of numbers that is then stored, in encrypted form, in the computer and linked to the child’s name. When the child wants to use the system again – to take out a library book, for example – he does so by placing his thumb or finger once more on the reader. The computer identifies the child and allows him to take out the book.

Supporters of the system say it’s easy-to-use, and simpler than carrying around a library card, which children tend to lose. At lunchtime, fingerprints are a good way of keeping a record of who has eaten lunch and who hasn’t, so parents can be billed later – no need for pupils to carry money or smartcards which could be stolen. What’s more, advocates say, the fingerprints are no use to anyone else because you can’t convert a set of numbers stored on a school computer system back to a real fingerprint.

But some parents are worried. David Clouter, who founded Leave Them Kids Alone thinks that the technology is a way of “softening up” children to accept similar technology in adult life. He’s concerned that schools already hold lots of electronic data on children and that a single fingerprint could be used to gain access to sensitive personal information. Electronic data on CDs and memory sticks, he points out, is very easily lost.

Guidelines from the Information Commissioner say that schools ought to consult with parents before taking pupils’ fingerprints. But Clouter believes that some schools are ignoring the guidelines.

What do you think? Does your child’s school use fingerprinting – and did it consult you first?"

[matrixcutter]

Google Street View launches in 25 cities around Britain to give users a 360 degree close-up of where they live
By Claire Bates
Last updated at 1:00 PM on 20th March 2009

For some it's a fascinating snapshot of modern Britain, in all its beauty and ugliness.

For others, it's a gross invasion of privacy that could leave homes vulnerable to crime and people open to embarrassment.

Yesterday, Google unveiled the controversial Street View, a web service that allows anyone in the world to type in a British address or postcode and see a detailed, 360 degree picture of that street - including close-ups of buildings, cars and people.


Cities from around the UK are featured. This image shows Newcastle's famous Tyne bridge


The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Google covered 22,000 miles of roads in the UK



An idiot's guide to using Google Street View

Go to maps.google.co.uk
Search for the postcode or address you are looking for
Click on the map that comes up
The address will be pinpointed with a bubble above it. Click on the link that says 'Street View'
This will take you to the panoramic image. Clicking on the arrows will move you in that direction. Making a dragging motion on the screen will allow you to see the 360 degree view
You can use the map in the lower right corner to fly your mini 'person' to different destinations
The images are not 'live' but were taken by a fleet of Google cars last summer as they drove along more than 2,000 miles of public roads.

Google says its software automatically blurs '99.9 per cent' of faces and car number plates. It also promised to remove any pictures of people or homes if someone objects.

Within hours of it going live the service, available through the Google Maps website, had attracted millions of hits.


Fancy a pint? Ye Olde Jerusalem in Nottingham claims to be the oldest pub in Britain


King's College, Cambridge. You can zoom in and look at landmarks in greater detail

But despite Google's pledge to protect privacy, not all faces and number plates were blurred, and some people were easily recognisable.

Street View was launched in America two years ago and has since been expanded to cities in France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

The British version features tens of millions of photos of 25 cities including London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester, Oxford and Leeds.

More towns and cities will be added over the next few years, and the photos are expected to be updated every two or three years.

Google believes Street View will be popular with shoppers trying to find stores, drinkers looking for pubs, and house buyers wanting to find out more about neighbourhoods.

The service is free and available on personal computers and to those with a iPhone or BlackBerry mobile.

As an extra fun feature, Google have hidden the cartoon character Wally from the Where's Wally books in south London.

Google's Ed Parsons said the company would black out any photos if homeowners objected to their properties being on display using an online application form.


A group of youngsters are pictured larking around with a traffic cone in Edinburgh


A man feeling  worse for wear is helped by his antler-wearing colleague on a stag do in Shoreditch, London


REMOVED: This picture of a man making the 'V' sign in Cardiff has been taken down


Over zealous facial recognition software has fuzzed out Bobby Sands' face on a mural on Falls Road in Belfast

'Privacy is really important to us,' he said. 'We recognise that there have been concerns about that and we think we have addressed those concerns.'

He added: 'The images you see on Street View are the same images you would see if you were to walk or drive down the road yourself.'

The pictures are detailed enough to please even the most critical curtain twitcher. They reveal the scrawls of graffiti vandals and whether lawns are manicured or streets littered.

 
The same man, who is one of our workers, is caught on camera twice on two different days in West London by the Google Street View cameras


The Falls Road in Belfast

Some of the camera cars have captured the less seemly side of British life. One image shows a man being sick on the pavement, another a van driver making a rude gesture and a third a group of stag party revellers. Unless there is a complaint they will be viewable until the pictures are updated in a few years time.

In America images revealed a man apparently entering a sex shop and two women sunbathing on a lawn of a university campus.


End of the road: Union Grove in Aberdeen in the most northerly road captured by the Google car

Britain's data watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office was so concerned about Street View that it wrote to Google last year asking for privacy guarantees.

Yesterday it said: 'We are satisfied that Google is putting in place adequate safeguards to avoid any risk to the privacy or safety of individuals.

'Further, there is an easy mechanism by which individuals can report an image that causes them concern to Google and request that it is removed.'


Irony: Banksy's 'One Nation Under CCTV' graffiti in London is captured by the Google Car

But the campaign group Privacy International says website could be an invasion of privacy.

A spokesman said: 'These images are being captured without people's permission for commercial use, and we believe that is not legally acceptable.

'They are also putting into place a system for updating these images in the future, and for storing the images digitally where they could be misused.'


A street with a view: Regent Street in London


The quaint cobbled street of The Shambles in York has been captured by a high-tech Google vehicle

BRITISH CITIES CAPTURED BY GOOGLE:

ENGLAND: Southampton, London, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford, Norwich, Coventry, Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Scvnthorpe, York, Newcastle

SCOTLAND: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen

WALES: Swansea, Cardiff

NORTHERN IRELAND: Belfast, Lisburn

[Libertarian Perspective]

Right I better tell my sister about this, I can clearly see her house in london  on this as well as her car. This is worrying. Although I must admit it is very good to see landmarks in detail.

[matrixcutter]

Secret ID card reviews published at last
Posted By: Philip Johnston at Mar 19, 2009 at 19:19:08
Tags: Freedom of Information Act, Gateway reviews, ID cards, immigration, terrorism

After fighting tooth and nail to block their publication, the Government has finally been forced to cough up the so-called Gateway reviews of its decision to proceed with ID cards.

Followers of this saga will know that the Information Commissioner had told the Government to publish the confidential documents and this decision had been upheld on appeal. But Ministers fought to the bitter end against the request under the Freedom of Information Act.

The reviews show that all the big arguments deployed for ID cards - they will stop terrorists, curb crime, limit immigration etc - were just so much eyewash.

Astonishingly, given the subsequent cheerleading for ID cards from senior officers, the police weren't as enthusiastic as the Government had hoped (though that was because people would not be forced to carry the cards) and neither were immigration officers.

The review also identified a string of "important risks" of launching the scheme, including its sheer scale, the problems of collating the data and the unreliability of biometric data. We don't often hear ministers emphasise these points, do we?

"The scheme does less good than hoped, with perceived benefits seemingly not on a scale to justify the costs and some erosion of public support for the scheme," the report states, though this is dismissed byt he Government because it is four years old. Well, it is now; but it might have helped frame the debate if was known at the time.

The funny thing is that if the Government had not made such a song and dance about keeping them secret, these reviews would probably have passed largely unnoticed. Now, however, they expose the hypocrisy of ministers who talked up the efficacy of ID cards while knowing that their own review talked it down.

When the scheme was given the go ahead in 2004, the review cautioned that "a great deal of further work is required to establish a solution that is feasible, affordable and achievable with a high degree of certainty." The Identity and Passport Service sayst these concerns have now been addressed; yet how are we to know that?

Here were are in the middle of a major economic crisis and the Treasury has just released figures showing we are more in debt than we were in 1976 when the IMF had to bail out the country. Yet billions can apparently be found to set up a database of all citizens that even those on whose behalf it is being established doubt will do much good.

The fact is the state has long wanted a population database and it is using the threat of terrorism and other security considerations as a justification for establishing one.

The Tories say they will scrap the plan if they get into office. They must be held to that promise.

-----

Obviously the Tories won't scrap the plan because it is a necessary part of a long-term agenda that was conceived decades ago.  If the Tories require an event that gives the appearance of an excuse for scrapping the plan, then the black ops boys will no doubt be more than happy to earn their money.

7/7 Ripple Effect - [1 of 7]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY2NXPl625A

7/7 Ripple Effect - [2 of 7]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E177j-bH9Vs

7/7 Ripple Effect - [3 of 7]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwLiaU-KStA

7/7 Ripple Effect - [4 of 7]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vBrSN9vuIs

7/7 Ripple Effect - [5 of 7]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycPqPTBcX10

7/7 Ripple Effect - [6 of 7]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlx1vZIlIv4

7/7 Ripple Effect - [7 of 7]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfsdF8tHde0

The Establishment obviously doesn't want people pointing out the facts above previous "terrorist" events:

"Man sought by UK authorities over alleged sending of DVD" (irishtimes.com) - Feb. 11, 2009.

"Message from Mr. Hill arrested for mailing a DVD" by Gabriel O'Hara (wiseupjournal.com) - March 16, 2009.

Support John Anthony Hill -- Transcript Excerpt from March 17, 2009 Alan Watt RBN Show:

March 17, 2009
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN:
Chained, On Your Knees, For Posting DVDs:
"John Hill's been Charged 'Sending DVDs
To High Court Judge,' Wig Down to His Knees,
Sent as Evidence for Consideration,
May Earn John (60 Yrs Old) Life Incarceration,
For 'Attempting to Pervert Course of Justice'
Says the Warrant, All Haughty and Blusterous,
Extradition Hearing to be Held, Four Courts, Dublin,
On Thursday 19th, Outcome Could be Troublin',
If Successful it Moves to Crown Court, Westminster,
Now Used to Try Terrorists, Blind Justice, Old Spinster,
Charges All Vague, Attempt to Set Precedence?
For Extraction of Future Troublesome Residents,
'7-7 Ripple Effect' Asks Questions, Deserves Support,
Let's Hope Reporters Cover This Man in Court"
***Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - March 17, 2009 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)
***LISTEN / DOWNLOAD

Topics of show covered in following links:
"Message from Mr. Hill arrested for mailing a DVD" by Gabriel O'Hara (wiseupjournal.com) - March 16, 2009.
"Man sought by UK authorities over alleged sending of DVD" (irishtimes.com) - Feb. 11, 2009.
Video: "7-7 Ripple Effect" (youtube.com).
"Banned hyperlinks could cost you $11,000 a day" by Asher Moses (smh.com.au) - March 17, 2009.
"IMF poised to print billions of dollars in 'global quantitative easing' " by Edmund Conway (telegraph.co.uk) - March 16, 2009.
"The Whitehead Lecture: Major Foreign Policy Challenges for the Next US President" by Zbigniew Brzezinski at Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs) - Nov. 17, 2008.
• MP3 AUDIO
"Ponzi scheme victims to get tax relief, IRS says" by Drew Hasselback (nationalpost.com) - March 17, 2009.

-----

23 Mar 2009
Scrapping ID cards won't save billions, Tories warned
Tory plans to spend billions on new prison places by scrapping ID cards have suffered a setback after the Home Office claimed they would only save a fraction of the near £5 billion programme.

[Godfather77]

UK plans comprehensive terror law
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Fuill article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7957431.stm

The UK's new counter-terrorist strategy will be the world's most comprehensive, the Home Office has said. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith wants the paper - to be published on Tuesday - to go into more detail than ever before in the interests of public accountability.

The paper will reflect intelligence agencies' opinions that the biggest threat to the UK comes from groups aligned or inspired by al-Qaeda. It takes into account recent attacks on hotels in the Indian city of Mumbai.

The paper - called Contest Two - will update the Contest strategy developed by the Home Office in 2003, which was later detailed in the Countering International Terrorism document released in 2006.

Over the last six years the strategy has been split into four strands - Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare - to try and hamper all aspects of the terror threat. These include preventing radicalisation of potential terror recruits to disrupting terror operations, reducing the UK's and vulnerability and ensuring the country is ready for the consequences of any terror attack.

A Home Office spokesman said the new paper would take account of the way the terror threat has evolved and how the authorities are learning lessons from events.

The terrorism threat level, set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, has since July 2007 been "severe". This means a future terrorist attack is thought to be highly likely - but not thought to be imminent.

By 2011, Britain will be spending £3.5bn a year on counter-terrorism, the Home Office has said.

[matrixcutter]

Stasi HQ UK... where details of all your journeys are secretly logged and kept for a decade
By Jason Lewis
Last updated at 10:13 PM on 21st March 2009

This anonymous office building on a business park near Heathrow Airport is where the Government has begun monitoring millions of British holidaymakers using its controversial new 'terrorist detector' database.

The top-secret computer system - tied into the airlines' ticketing network - makes judgments about travel habits and passengers' friends and family to decide if they are a security risk.

Like something from a science-fiction film, the Home Office has designed it to spot a 'criminal' or terrorist before they have done anything wrong.


Snoop centre: The 'Status Park 4' building near Heathrow monitors travellers

The building's address is, some might say sinisterly, called Status Park 4.

But the intrusiveness of the system at the heart of Government's so-called 'e-Borders' scheme has provoked such fury among civil liberties campaigners that some consider it akin to a modern-day Stasi headquarters.

All the information passengers give to travel agents, including home addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, passport details and the names of family members, is shared with an unknown number of Government agencies for 'analysis' and stored for up to ten years.

But even as the 'profiling' system goes live, its reliability is being called into question.

An internal Home Office document obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveals that during testing one 'potential suspect' turned out to be an airline passenger with a spinal injury flying into Britain with his nurse.

'Suspect' requests likely to cause innocent holidaymakers to get 'red flags' as potential terrorists include ordering a vegetarian meal, asking for an over-wing seat and travelling with a foreign-born husband or wife.

The system will also 'red flag' passengers buying a one-way ticket and making a last-minute reservation and those with a history of booking tickets and not showing up for the flights.

A previous history of travel to the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iran will also trigger an alarm, as will those with a record of sponsoring an immigrant from any of these countries.

Starting during the Easter holiday rush, millions of people will be checked by the new National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC).

By the end of the year the NBTC, which is recruiting 250 staff, will have been relocated to another office near Manchester Airport and will be analysing the movements of 120million UK travellers.

Initially it will target airlines but will be expanded to check passengers on ferries and trains, including some journeys within the UK.

At the heart of the system is a highly classified computer algorithm designed to pick out people to be searched, questioned by security staff or barred from flying.

An internal Home Office Border and Immigration Agency document explains how Britain's new system will work.

Written by Tim Rymer, head of the Joint Border Operations Centre, the forerunner to the new NBTC, it explains how it will use 'Passenger Name Record' (PNR) information given when travellers buy a ticket.

The document, written in March last year after a trial examining 30million passengers, reveals: 'PNR is checked against profiles of behavioural patterns which indicate risk activity.


Not welcome: The sign at the entrance to the HQ

'Profiles are run to identify behaviour, not to identify individuals, and are based on evidence and intelligence.'

Mr Rymer revealed that the information secured from the airlines for e-Borders would then also be available to other unnamed Government departments and held for up to ten years.

He wrote: 'E-Borders acts as a single window for carriers to provide data to Government.'

The system is bound to cause concerns about the handling of confidential personal data.

But Mr Rymer reported that he was 'confident our use of PNR data is proportionate and complies with robust data-protection safeguards'.

Intending to show how his team double-checked the computerised suspect reports, Mr Rymer admitted: 'Profiling identified a potential suspect; however further examination of his booking details revealed that the passenger was suffering from a spinal injury and was being escorted by a nurse.

'In this way the PNR information enabled the passenger to be eliminated from the profile match.'

Others flagged up then eliminated as suspects included travellers with comments on their bookings including: 'Please treat passenger with sensitivity - death in the family' or 'Wheelchair requested - broken leg'.

The system was originally designed to identify suspect freight shipments.

Until now international no-fly lists have been based on painstaking intelligence and people's criminal records.

But the Border and Immigration Agency's new 'rule-based targeting' system works by building up a complete picture of passengers' travel history and the detailed information they give to airlines and travel agencies when booking a flight.

It compares these answers and requests to other government databases and also shares the information with other countries around the world. The computer then makes value judgments about whether peculiar decisions and requests fit its secret terrorist or criminal profiles.

In the United States, where the Department of Homeland Security has been running a similar system for several years, people with a poor driving record have been subjected to further checks.

The American system has also been criticised for awarding so-called 'terrorism points' to passengers depending on their level of 'suspicious' travel activity.

The Home Office argues the e-Borders system will 'transform our border control to ensure greater security, effectiveness and efficiency'.

'To do so,' the department says, 'we will make full use of the latest technology to provide a way of collecting and analysing information on everyone who travels to or from the United Kingdom.'

But the UK system, and others across Europe that all share their passenger data, are facing increasing criticism.

The EU's Home Affairs Committee is currently carrying out an inquiry examining whether the use of profiling, particularly when it focuses on particular ethnic groups, is illegal.

In searching for terrorists, and flagging people who have travelled to the Middle East or Pakistan, the system is likely to pick out a high proportion of Muslims.

In its initial report the EU committee says using this data is against EU regulations and the practice is leading to a lack of trust in law enforcement and the fear of discrimination.

It adds that it is 'concerned [the] system providing for the collection of personal data of passengers travelling to the EU could provide a basis for profiling...on the basis of race or ethnicity'.

And the EU report continues: 'Repeated concerns raised by the [European] Parliament in connection with racial, ethnic and behavioural profiling in the context of data protection, law-enforcement co-operation, exchange of data and intelligence, aviation and transport security, immigration and border management and anti-discrimination measures have not so far been adequately addressed.'

-----

Research related articles (from prisonplanet.com):

Beware, Big Brother is watching your trips abroad: Government plans to store details of ordinary people’s journeys into and out of UK
Jacqui Smith’s ‘Stasi’: Now even more council jobsworths can demand your details and issue fines
Millions of passengers’ details ’should be given to the Government’
All travel plans to be tracked by Government
Them and us child register: Politicians and celebrities can keep their details off a controversial new database
£1,000 penalties for out-of-date ID details
Huge fines if ID card details wrong
Royal Mail, shops and private firms to bid for right to fingerprint us for new ID cards
Interpol Details Plans For Global Biometric Facial Scan Database
Man Facing Terror Charges For Sending E Mail
Details Emerge on new WTC Collapse Videos
Police ’secretly taped Damian Green arrest’

[matrixcutter]

The U.K. wants your Twitter chatter under surveillance
The Inquisiter
Category: Technology Author : Steven Hodson Posted: March 18, 2009
Tags : Government, security, spying, uk

Not happy with pushing the EU Data Retention Directive which would make ISPs store communication data for 12 months Vernon Coaker, the U.K. Home Office security minister, now wants all social networking sites and IM messaging service monitored as well. The Interception Monderisation Programme (IMP) is the government proposal for legislation to use mass monitoring of traffic data as an antiterrorism tool.

The IMP has two objectives; that the government use deep packet inspection to monitor the Web communications of all U.K. citizens; and that all of the traffic data relating to those communications are stored in a centralized government database. The problem is that social networking sites aren’t covered by the directive

Social-networking sites such as MySpace or Bebo are not covered by the directive," said Coaker, speaking at a meeting of the House of Commons Fourth Delegated Legislation Committee. "That is one reason why the government (is) looking at what we should do about the Intercept(ion) Modernisation Programme, because there are certain aspects of communications which are not covered by the directive.

Source: Security – CNET News

There is some opposition to this move but given the country’s predilection to treating everyone as a subject of surveillance it is hard to see this not happening.

-----

Related Posts

Screw the telcos help - government can find your cell phone by itself
Soldier’s Pillow Talk Getting NSA Hot
So you think your data is safe eh
BBC shows what happens when you buy a botnet
Law Enforcement 2.0 – cops going social
I bet Britons are wishing for a modern day Guy Fawkes
Kaspersky site hacked to exposed sensitive data
$250 plus a little war-driving equals stolen identities [VIDEO]

-----

Research related articles (from prisonplanet.com):

Security services want personal data from sites like Facebook
Britain’s digital surveillance: Hiding from Her Majesty’s ‘black boxes’
‘Einstein’ replaces ‘Big Brother’ in Internet surveillance
Facebook backs down, reverses on user information policy
Surveillance of Skype messages found in China
Jacqui calls Vodafone man to run massive snoop database
Comcast Guilty of Net Neutrality Violations
Social websites harm children’s brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist
Citizen journalists told to stop using Twitter to update on Bombay attacks
New surveillance program will turn military satellites on US
Facebook Connect tracks friend’s activities on other websites
‘Big Brother’ warning over Government database that records EVERY phone call and e-mail in Britain

[EvadingGrid]

UK to announce 60,000 strong STASI TERROR FORCE

Its gonna get a lot worse before it gets better

[Godfather77]

UK to announce 60,000 strong STASI TERROR FORCE
Its gonna get a lot worse before it gets better

Good find EvadingGrid. 

Brown is so very wrong the biggest security threat to our country and other countries are the corrupt politicans, bankers and arms industry looting our countries from within and removing our freedoms to protect their own interests. 

This is simply another headline grabber from New Labour to distract and raise tension amongst the gullable public.

60,000 civilians to get lessons in how to spot terrorists as Jacqui Smith warns of random attacks
23rd March 2009
Full artlce:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1163954/60-000-civilians-lessons-spot-terrorists-Jacqui-Smith-warns-random-attacks.html

Sixty thousand civilians are being trained to spot terrorists, Gordon Brown revealed yesterday.
In the latest Labour anti-terror initiative, huge numbers of staff on rail networks, at airports, shopping centres, public buildings and sports venues have been picked out by MI5 and the police to be taught how to watch for 'suspicious behaviour' and respond swiftly in the event of an atrocity.

The Home Office plans are likely to raise questions over the effectiveness of an army of amateur 'terrorist-watchers'.

There are fears they will swamp the police and security services with spurious alerts or single out law-abiding British Muslims, which could also inflame religious tensions.

Citing security grounds, the Home Office would not provide details of the training, which MI5 helped to draw up, beyond that it centred on improved vigilance and response to terrorist attacks, including evacuation and crowd-control procedures.

Writing in a Sunday newspaper, the Prime Minister said the public 'should be under no illusion' that 'the biggest security threat to our country and other countries is the murderous agents of hate that work under the banner of Al Qaeda'. 

Home Office insiders acknowledged that for many of the 60,000, the training will merely build on similar duties they undertake as part of their everyday work.

The ambitious scheme is the latest in a series of Labour schemes on terror which have met with limited success. It was announced as Home Secretary Jacqui Smith prepares to publish tomorrow what she claims is the Government's most detailed counter-terrorism strategy to date: Contest Two. It will take in lessons from the November attacks in Mumbai.

[matrixcutter]

Council uses spy plane with thermal imaging camera to snoop on homes wasting energy
By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 12:40 AM on 24th March 2009

Our movements are already tracked by CCTV, speed cameras and even spies in dustbins.

Now snooping on the public has reached new heights with local authorities putting spy planes in the air to snoop on homeowners who are wasting too much energy.

Thermal imaging cameras are being used to create colour-coded maps which will enable council officers to identify offenders and pay them a visit to educate them about the harm to the environment and measures they can take.


A council has spent £30,000 using a spy plane carrying a thermal camera to determine which homes are wasting energy.

A scheme is already under way in Broadland District Council in Norfolk, which has spent £30,000 hiring a plane with a thermal imaging camera.

It said the exercise has been so successful other local authorities are planning to follow suit.

But critics have warned the crackdown was another example of local authorities extending their charter to poke their noses into every aspect of people's lives.

Broadland, which covers towns including Aylsham, Reepham and Acle, hired the plane from a Leicestershire-based company for five days at the end of January.

The aircraft took images of homes and businesses, with those losing the most heat showing up as red, while better insulated properties appear blue.

The council's head of environmental services, Andy Jarvis, said the original plan was to target businesses but it was realised the scope could be extended to include residental properties.

'The project we put together was for a plane to go up on various nights flying strips of the district and taking pictures,' he said.

'Through those images, a thermal image photograph can be created in which you can pick out individual properties which are losing a lot of heat.

'We do a lot on domestic energy conservation already and realised it would be useful to see if any of the homes which were particularly hot were properties where people had not insulated their lofts.

'We were also able to look at very cold properties and think we might have picked up people on low incomes who are not heating their homes because they cannot afford to.'

More than half the UK's carbon dioxide emissions come from the domestic sector, which includes property and transport.

Almost 60 per cent of a household's heat is lost through uninsulated walls, lofts and windows, costing the average home £380 a year.

Insulation is estimated to reduce each home's carbon emissions by around two tonnes annually.

The first city in the UK to make a heat-loss map was Aberdeen, while the first local authority in England was Haringey Council, in London - although environmental groups at that time said they viewed the practice as a 'gimmick' of little real value.

The TaxPayers' Alliance has added concerns about the issue of privacy.

Chief executive Matthew Elliott said: 'People are sick and tired of being heckled and spied on by local government and this council has shown an utter disregard for the man on the street.'

He added: 'We're in a recession and you would have thought this council had better ways to spend £30,000.

'Taxpayers are already footing the bill for innumerable advertising campaigns at a time when families are struggling to make ends meet.'

But Conservative-led Broadlands insisted the heat-loss map would allow officers to pinpoint offenders and point out how to get help and grants to improve insulation to cut carbon emissions.

Council leader Simon Woodbridge said the project would 'effectively pay for itself within a few weeks in terms of the amounts of money we can help people to save'.

Lib Dem group leader Stuart Beadle added: 'Cameras are in place all over today and we have to accept them. So long as the right guidelines are in place and it will bring benefits, I think the scheme is a good thing.'

Britain now has more than four million CCTV cameras - a fifth of those in use around the world - and around 8,000 speed cameras.

Almost 500 local authorities have been using anti-terrorism powers brought in under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to launch a string of bizarre investigations.

These have included checks on dog fouling, putting bins out on the wrong day and people trying to cheat school catchment area rules.

[Godfather77]

Straight from the horses mouth - criticizing the UK government will soon be a criminal offense and you will be likened to an extremest or even a terrorist. 

Demoracy RIP 24/03/2009

New anti-terror strategy warns of chemical attack threat
Tuesday 24 March 2009
Full article:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/24/anti-terror-strategy-government

Changing technology means the prospect of a chemical or biological terrorist attack in Britain is now more realistic, says the government's updated counter-­terrorism strategy published today.

The document confirms that the government intends to challenge radical views that "reject and undermine our shared values and jeopardise community cohesion" and it will do this by supporting groups and projects through the £70m-a-year Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) programme.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said the government had no intention of outlawing such views or criminalising those who hold them, but she added: "We will not hear these views in silence. We should all stand up for our shared values and not concede the floor to those who dismiss them."

The document defines those who reject "shared values" as scorning the institutions and values of parliamentary democracy, dismissing the rule of law, and promoting intolerance and discrimination on the basis of race, faith, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Smith said those who publicly voiced homophobic views would be open to challenge.

The home secretary said the measures would ensure that local authorities understood the risk to community cohesion posed by some organisations.

[Godfather77]

What this article doesn't say is that in return for this new bill of rights, citizens would be obliged to:-

• treat public sector staff with respect

• live in a green way

• vote and perform jury service

• report crimes to the police

• pay taxes and obey the law

Jack Straw's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities is 'spin' and will never work, say Opposition MPs
23rd March 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1164068/Jack-Straws-Bill-Rights-Responsibilities-spin-work-say-Opposition-MPs.html

Jack Straw will today set out plans to introduce 'human rights' to housing, healthcare, education and freedom from poverty. But the flagship proposal for a 'Bill of Rights and Responsibilities' – delayed by a Cabinet row – was condemned as unworkable by critics.

The Government believes a declaration of rights and responsibilities could become the 'living embodiment of a nation'. New entitlements such as rights to good healthcare, education and welfare payments could be added to traditional freedoms such as trial by jury and free speech.

Ministers are also considering a 'right to equality' and a right to sufficient pay on which to live. 

The new rights would be offset by responsibilities, such as a duty to look for work in return for receiving benefits or a duty on parents to look after their children.

Mr Straw's deputy, Michael Wills, said there may be a case for not making the new rights enforceable in the courts, but added: 'Words have power in their own right.

'They can move us and mould our society even though they are not law.'

Opposition MPs warned that a legally-enforceable charter would mean a deluge of court cases, add to the burden of red tape and anger voters tired of Britain's 'rights culture'.

[matrixcutter]

"If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."
- George Orwell

-----

British police 'guilty' of terror law abuse
Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:26:40 GMT


British police, at London demonstration

A British parliamentary committee finds the police guilty of misusing counter terrorism laws and being too heavy-handed toward protestors.

As thousands in London prepare to take to the streets for next months G20 summit, the House of Parliament's select committee on human rights has criticized the police for being too heavy-handed in their preparation for protests.

According to the committee, British police have manipulated legislation such as the counter terrorism laws in dealing with protestors, have resorted to intimidation and have abused its stop-and-search powers.

"The right to protest is a fundamental democratic right and one that the state and police have a duty to protect and facilitate," said the committee's chairman Andrew Dismore.

"Of course, there is a balance to be struck between the rights of protestors, the police and the public but the state must not impose restrictions unless it is necessary, and proportionate, to do so," Dismore added.

In 2008, campaigners claimed that the police had used 1,500 officers, including riot police to deal with 1,000 protesters at Climate Camp in Kent.

The committee also found that police were too heavy-handed with journalists reporting on demonstrations, saying it is "unacceptable that individual journalists are left with no option but to take court action against officers who unlawfully interfere with their work".

In response to the parliamentary report, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement, saying, "Human rights and the right to protest are at the heart of our policing philosophy."

The report found no "systematic" human rights abuse but recommended changes in the law and policing methods and urged protesters and police officers to work together to avoid further violence.

-----
 
Related News

British police brutality exposed
Britain trains civilian anti-terror force
Over 1,000 convicts in UK police force

[Godfather77]

The headline should read innocent man killed by police! 

Caught on camera: The moment G20 bystander was 'flung to the ground' by police
07th April 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1168315/Caught-camera-The-moment-G20-bystander-flung-ground-police.html

Walking home, hands in his pockets, this video shows the moment newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson was attacked from behind by a baton-wielding police officer. Hours later Mr Tomlinson, aged 47, who appeared to be playing no role in the G20 protests that brought parts of London to a standstill last week, was dead.

The dramatic film shows that Mr Tomlinson did not speak to police or offer any resistance, before police - some in riot gear, others with police dogs - surged up behind him. Then a police officer appears to strike him from behind with his baton, hitting him on his upper thigh. The same officer then rushes up behind him again and uses both hands to push Mr Tomlinson along the floor


Walking home: Ian Tomlinson walks ahead of police officers armed with dogs and batons


Mr Tomlinson goes flying after being pushed by a police officer


Mr Tomlinson falls to the floor following the push


Bystanders are left to help Mr Tomlinson up from the ground

A post-mortem initially ruled that Tomlinson, who was married, died from natural causes, but the death is now being re-examined following numerous eye-witness claims that police attacked the man without provocation.

The footage, shot by a fund manager, was handed to The Guardian newspaper, which is planning to give a dossier of information to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which has already opened an investigation into the death.

The fund manager told the paper: 'The primary reason for me coming forward is that it was clear the family were not getting any answers.'

Witnesses have claimed that Mr Tomlinson had already been hit with batons and thrown to the floor by police, who had blocked his route home before the video was shot. Some said they saw police officers attack Tomlinson, with one witness, Anna Branthwaite, reporting how - in the minutes before this footage was filmed - she saw police pushing Tomlinson.

'A riot police officer had already grabbed him and was pushing him', she said.

'It wasn't just pushing him - he'd rushed him. He went to the floor and he did actually roll. That was quite noticeable.

'It was the force of the impact. He bounced on the floor. It was a very forceful knocking down from behind. The officer hit him twice with a baton when he was lying on the floor.

'So it wasn't just that the officer had pushed him - it became an assault.

'And then the officer picked him up from the back, continued to walk or charge with him, and threw him.
'He was running and stumbling. He didn't turn and confront the officer or anything like that.'

This contradicts the official police statement, which simply described attempts by police medics and an ambulance crew to save his life after he collapsed.

An IPCC spokesman said tonight: 'The IPCC has been made aware of the footage broadcast on a national newspaper's website.

'We are now attempting to recover this evidence. We will be assessing this along with the other statements and photographs that have already been submitted.'

The IPCC appealed for anyone who saw Mr Tomlinson at about 7.20pm to come forward.

A Metropolitan police spokesman confirmed they were aware of the video but they were unable to comment while the IPCC carried out its investigation.

[Godfather77]

So if the police want to destroy evidence, search someones' home without permission, stop someone without any justification, seize goods or even fine people for whatever reason should they be allowed to?  Obviously not because if police or even a government can decide on what rules they adhere to and what they do not then this makes a total mockery of democracy and freedom.  Yet this is now the state of Britain today.     

Police to keep DNA samples of innocent people until they reach 100 years old
07th April 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1168174/Police-DNA-samples-innocent-people-reach-100-years-old.html

Police want to keep the DNA, fingerprints and photographs of innocent men and women until they are 100, a memo reveals. Officers say that even if an individual is cleared of wrongdoing after their samples have been taken, there is no reason to remove their details from the database.

The police memo was uncovered by Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green. He wrote to police on behalf of two constituents whose samples were taken by police but were never convicted of an offence - and asked Nottinghamshire Police to remove the samples.

But the force replied that 'records will be retained on the Police National Computer until that person is deemed to have attained 100 years of age'.

This applies to samples, fingerprints, photographs and footwear impressions. The force's data protection officer said: 'I can advise you that any arrest that does not result in a charge does not constitute the removal of samples and records from police systems.'

Mr Green said: 'How many 100-year-olds are committing serious crimes? It would be laughable if it was not such a serious attack on the privacy of innocent people.

'The DNA database ought to be an important tool in fighting serious crime. Clogging it up with the records of the elderly and innocent makes it much less useful.'

The memo is likely to fuel controversy over the Government's DNA database, which contains genetic profiles of thousands of innocents.

Ministers' policy of indefinitely holding the DNA of innocent men and women has been ruled illegal by the European Court of Human Rights.

But Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has yet to say how the ruling will be implemented. The Home Office said it would 'fully comply' with the court's ruling 

[Godfather77]

CCTV cars snap distracted drivers
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7994449.stm

New CCTV cars to catch drivers using their mobile phones or being otherwise distracted at the wheel are being piloted by Greater Manchester Police. The small Smart cars, which have a 12ft (3.6m) mast with a camera attached, are parked at junctions to monitor traffic.

Two cars are currently being piloted in Greater Manchester, the first of their kind in the UK. Anyone seen driving while distracted - eating at the wheel, playing with the radio or applying make-up for instance - is filmed by the cameras.

Later, a letter is sent to the owner of the car, in many cases along with a fine.

Anyone caught using their mobile will be asked to pay £60 and have three points added to their licence. Fines could also be handed out to anyone who is thought to be driving without due care and attention, or similar offences. 

The scheme is only a few weeks into the pilot, so figures on the numbers of people who have been caught using this technology are unavailable.

But the CCTV cars have already attracted criticism from people who argue they are an infringement of people's privacy. Paul Watters from the Automobile Association (AA), said he had reservations about the cars, and would watch the pilot scheme with interest.

"CCTV enforcement lacks connection with the driver until after the event and some drivers might regards it as Big Brother.

"We think that most drivers would prefer police in cars to dish out tickets on the spot and instil better driving behaviour," he said.

If the scheme is seen to be a success in reducing the number of accidents, those behind it hope it could be rolled out across the UK.

Some councils already use Smart cars with cameras to track parking and bus lane offences.

[Godfather77]

Snoopers use 007-style bugs to catch illegal fly-tippers
17th April 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1171611/Snoopers-use-007-style-bugs-catch-illegal-fly-tippers.html

Tracking devices could be fitted to vans, lorries and skips to catch those suspected of dumping rubbish illegally. Officials want to use the James Bond-style gadgets to track people dodging strict disposal rules when they get rid of material such as tyres, rubble and asbestos.

Unknown to most of the public, the bugs have been deployed for years by officials from the Environment Agency to tackle fly-tipping. But their use was suspended recently after a warning by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners watchdog that such operations are unlawful.

Now the agency wants to use the tactic again and has threatened to go to court to have the issue resolved in a test case. The Agency insists that it only wants to bug organised criminal gangs who dupe construction firms and others into paying to have waste taken away only for it to be dumped in fields or warehouses. 

But critics are concerned that it is another infringement of civil liberties and that if the technology is given the green light once more it could be used on softer targets. It is the latest dispute to arise from the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which gives public bodies covert surveillance powers to prevent crime and terrorism, and protect public safety.

When tracking suspected fly-tippers, Environment Agency staff attach tiny transmitters to suspect vehicles. Once engaged, the devices emit a continuous signal that is picked up by a radio receiver operated by agency investigators waiting nearby. They can then pinpoint the location of the vehicle to within a two-mile radius.

But the Office of Surveillance Commissioners says using tracking devices to monitor the suspected dumping of illegal waste constitutes undue interference in private property.

Its latest inspection report into the Environment Agency, obtained by the Daily Mail under freedom of information rules, reveals: ' Instructions were sent out to all Agency staff to cease this form of covert activity.' However, it adds: 'The Agency is considering using the tactic in a future investigation in an effort to have the matter decided upon by a Crown Court at the least.'

This could set a legal precedent, but the prosecution could be thrown out if the court decides using the tracking devices is illegal.

[Godfather77]

Caught on video... another G20 policeman lashes out at protester
18th April 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1171818/Caught-video--G20-policeman-lashes-protester.html

Disturbing new pictures last night raised further questions over the police’s ‘disproportionate’ handling of the G20 protests in London.

Film released by the environmental campaign group Climate Camp shows an officer apparently punching a protester in the face. The victim’s head rocks back and another officer appears to try to restrain his colleague by pulling him back.



In another development, a separate claim by a 23-year-old man that officers hit him on the head and pushed him to the ground became the third G20 incident to be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

In the first, a policeman has been interviewed under caution on suspicion of manslaughter after a second post-mortem examination revised the cause of death of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson. Mr Tomlinson, 47, from East London, was struck and pushed over by a policeman during protests on April 1 and died of abdominal bleeding, not a heart attack as first thought.



The IPCC is also investigating claims by unemployed former drug addict Nicola Fisher, 35, from Brighton, that she was hit in the face by a police sergeant and then hit on her legs with his metal baton.



The IPCC said in a statement: ‘The IPCC has received over 185 complaints relating to G20. Just under 90 complaints are about the use of force by police officers during the protests.’  And in another development last night, it was revealed that City of London coroner Paul Matthews denied the IPCC permission to attend the first post mortem on Mr Tomlinson.

IPCC chiefs were said to be ‘furious’ at the ban. The examination concluded Mr Tomlinson died of a heart attack, which has now been contradicted by the second post-mortem, to which   IPCC officials were given access.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne said last night: ‘The case for a full independent inquiry into the policing of protests is now compelling. It looks more and more as if there was a cover-up by people in the Metropolitan Police about the circumstances of Ian Tomlinson’s death.’

Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesman David Howarth, who was at the G20 protests as a parliamentary observer, said the attack seen in the latest footage was ‘disproportionate’. He said: ‘These shocking videos make it clear that the policing, even of peaceful protests, was disproportionate and heavy-handed.

[Godfather77]

Police ‘should be punished for covering up ID’
17.04.09
Full article:- http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23677372-details/Police+should+be+punished+for+covering+up+ID/article.do

Boris Johnson's deputy mayor Kit Malthouse called for those who fail to wear their shoulder numbers to face disciplinary action as the Standard revealed a constable with his identity number concealed.

The officer, a constable trained in first aid, was directly defying Sir Paul's order that they should be worn at all times after riot police at the G20 protests hid their badges.

Scotland Yard said it was trying to track down the officer seen in Parliament Square last night by an Evening Standard photographer. He refused repeated requests to identify himself and only co-operated after a sergeant intervened. His superiors are now likely to be questioned over their conduct as well.


Undercover: the police constable at the Tamil demonstration outside
Parliament without the epaulette (ringed) that should display his identity number

Mr Malthouse said: “The policy of the Met Police is very clear. The public have the right to be able to identify any uniformed police officer and so badges should be worn at all times. We support the Commissioner's decision to hold officers to account when they purposely conceal their identity.”

The Home Office also criticised officers who fail to wear their epaulettes, insisting the “public has a right to be able to identify” them.  A Yard spokesman said: “Where provided, epaulettes with identifying letters and numerals or insignia of rank must be worn and must be correct and visible at all times.

“It is the responsibility of all police officers, and their supervisors, to ensure this policy is followed.”

But there was no statement from the commissioner, who is now facing a mounting crisis over his leadership.

A member of the Metropolitan Police Authority said the problem of officers failing to wear their shoulder numbers had been going on “for some time” and “serious questions” will be raised over the issue.

Today there were calls for the officer's immediate suspension and more questions over Sir Paul's leadership of the force, already engulfed in crisis since the death of Ian Tomlinson, 47, who had a heart attack during the G20 riots after being pushed and struck with a baton by a masked officer.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: “There is no place for secret police in Britain. Failure to show identification is a slippery slope towards a police state.”

[Godfather77]

Russian journalist blasts 'Big Brother Britain' and compares it to life in the old Soviet Union
21st April 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1172083/Russian-journalist-blasts-Big-Brother-Britain-compares-life-old-Soviet-Union.html

A Russian journalist believes the level of surveillance is worse in ‘Big Brother Britain’ than it was in Russia during the Soviet era.

Irada Zeinalova, who is based in London, said she felt she was being constantly spied on by security cameras. She highlighted how in the UK the level of monitoring is such that even rubbish bins have computer chips fitted so councils can check what householders are throwing out.

‘Security has got absurd,’ she said. ‘I don’t like that level of intrusion into my private life.

‘London is a Big Brother city. It is all watched by cameras. Even in the days of the USSR you couldn’t imagine such a number of cameras or observers.

Your moves are even monitored by your bus tickets.  There are CCTV cameras on every building and computer chips on the rubbish bins.

‘They can tell a lot about your life by studying your rubbish bin. All aspects of your life are plainly visible here.’

‘They explain the CCTV cameras on every corner by fighting terrorism and crime – but sadly it doesn’t solve the problems,’ she told the Moscow newspaper Komsololskaya Pravda in an interview.

‘Watching the rubbish bins, they waste more money than on the actual fight with the problems.’

On a different note, Mrs Zeinalova added: ‘And as for smokers – they are treated like lepers here.’
She said the English believed they were ‘masters of the world’.

‘The Englishmen’s position is: let all the rest of the nations argue about who is the master of the world, we won’t take part in it. We know who is the master.’

[Godfather77]

Jacqui Smith's new snooping plan to track every internet click
24th April 2009
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1173300/Jacqui-Smiths-new-snooping-plan-track-internet-click.html

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will face angry protests on Monday as she unveils plans to store details of each internet click the public makes.

The proposed expansion in surveillance powers could see every web user assigned a unique ID to track activities. It would allow the State to snoop on social sites such as Facebook and auction platform eBay for the first time.

Miss Smith warns the move is necessary to prevent terrorists exploiting technologies to hatch plots. She will seek to reassure the public by saying town hall stasi will have no access to the information.
But the Office of the Information Commissioner has described the move as a ‘step too far for the British way of life’.
 
Phil Booth, of the NO2ID privacy campaign, called the plan ‘Stalinist’ and a ‘complete abhorrence’.
Under current laws, details of all phone calls and texts are stored for a year by network operators.

They can be accessed by the police and security services and, in some cases, various public authorities.
Under the new proposals, data would be stored by internet service providers and made available on demand or, more controversially, held on a giant database.

The database, which would also contain details of phone calls and texts, could be controlled by the Government or another body.

[EvadingGrid]

Then they will leave a copy of the said database on a commuter train ?

Even the sheeple dont trust the uk govt.

[Godfather77]

Facebook entries, text messages and phone calls will be logged under new surveillance powers
27th April 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1173870/Facebook-entries-text-messages-phone-calls-logged-new-surveillance-powers.html

Facebook messages, texts and internet addresses will all be logged and stored under new laws proposed by the Home Secretary today. Jacqui Smith said phone and internet providers would be legally obliged to retain records of customers' calls and internet usage.

The information, to be stored for a year at a cost of £2bn, would be available to police in the event of criminal investigations.

The plans are likely to appease those who expressed fears about the security and cost of a single database, but civil liberties campaigners are certain to argue they would be an excessive intrusion into personal privacy.

Ms Smith said: 'My key priority is to protect the citizens of the UK, and communications data is an essential tool for law enforcement agencies to track murderers and paedophiles, save lives and tackle crime.

'It is essential that the police and other crime-fighting agencies have the tools they need to do their job. However, to be clear there are absolutely no plans for a single central store. 

Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: 'It is a hallmark of free societies that whilst the police target criminal suspects, government does not monitor the entire population.
'The authorities say that this consultation is about maintaining existing surveillance capacity, but the record of recent years suggests ever-larger ambitions.

'They ruthlessly defend Government secrecy but show a creeping contempt for our personal privacy.'

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: 'Everywhere we look, the Government seems to be building a database to track one aspect of our lives or another. We must not allow ourselves to become a Big Brother society.'

Former director of public prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald added that leaks were inevitable. He said last year: 'All history tells us that reassurances like these are worthless in the long run. In the first security crisis, the locks would loosen.

[DAVIDENGLAND]

''Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: 'It is a hallmark of free societies that whilst the police target criminal suspects, government does not monitor the entire population.
'The authorities say that this consultation is about maintaining existing surveillance capacity, but the record of recent years suggests ever-larger ambitions.''

And you're proposing to do what about it Shami??? Errr nothing because you are a bought and paid for shill.

[Mike Philbin]

does anyone actually know why our Governments are actively pursuing these Draconian measures?

it's certainly not for safety, in light of a 7/7 military exercise that went LIVE in 2005 .................

anyone?

[DanishD00D]

Thought police muscle up in Britain

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25361297-7583,00.html

if this has been posted elsewhere please remove post...

a few cut/pastes from article

In the past 10 years I have collected reports of many instances of draconian punishments, including the arrest and criminal prosecution of children, for thought-crimes and offences against political correctness.

A 10-year-old child was arrested and brought before a judge, for having allegedly called an 11-year-old boya "Paki" and "bin Laden" during a playground argument at a primary school (the other boy had called him a skunk and a Teletubby). When it reached the court the case had cost taxpayers pound stg. 25,000. The accused was so distressed that he had stopped attending school. The judge, Jonathan Finestein, said: "Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old boys because of political correctness? There are major crimes out there and the police don't bother to prosecute. This is nonsense."

Finestein was fiercely attacked by teaching union leaders, as in those witch-hunt trials where any who spoke in defence of an accused or pointed to defects in the prosecution were immediately targeted as witches and candidates for burning.

Hate-crime police investigated Basil Brush, a puppet fox on children's television, who had made a joke about Gypsies. The BBC confessed that Brush had behaved inappropriately and assured police that the episode would be banned

Muslim parents who objected to young children being given books advocating same-sex marriage and adoption at one school last year had their wishes respected and the offending material withdrawn. This year, Muslim and Christian parents at another school objecting to the same material have not only had their objections ignored but have been threatened with prosecution if they withdraw their children.

[DAVIDENGLAND]

does anyone actually know why our Governments are actively pursuing these Draconian measures?

it's certainly not for safety, in light of a 7/7 military exercise that went LIVE in 2005 .................

anyone?

Yeah I think it's a control thing (Panopticon). It works on many levels, one being the thought that you are always being watched. For example I've talked to Asian taxi drivers here in the UK and mentioned a few websites that they should go on and they turn around and say that they can't because they are being 'watched'. That's how it works, it makes you comply with the authorities and not question them. As the technology becomes more advanced can you imagine the profiling that they will be able to do on people? And also the implications of that? It's total mind control. People will be afraid to venture off the well trodden roads of convention for the fear of having a 'black mark' against their name.

[Mike Philbin]

yeah, BUT WHO f**kING CARES?

I mean, calming down and trying to express logic, there's not a sufficient system to judge and imprison us all?

So, why are they doing it? What's their plan, wasting our money like this?

Why are our politicians so f**king spineless? Or do they have access to the Global Agenda and are all covering their ass (another term for spineless)

Where is Boris Johnson when you need his take-no-bullshit approach?

[EvadingGrid]

Actually I think the UK or Japan would be the safest places, basic because people are not going to resist, they will just form an orderly queue.
 

[Mike Philbin]

Met face grilling over G20 policing
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090430/tuk-met-face-grilling-over-g20-policing-6323e80.html

[Godfather77]

This is rather a hollow victory as DNA profiling will probably be mandatory for ID cards & even passports in the near future. This is were the next fight for liberty lies.

Police DNA records of 1m innocents to be removed in victory for privacy
04th May 2009
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1177030/Police-DNA-records-1m-innocents-removed-victory-privacy.html

The Home Secretary will respond this week, saying that DNA fingerprints of those who are innocent in the eyes of the law will be deleted - removing an estimated 800,000 entries from the 5.1million-strong database.

The police will in future be barred from storing DNA profiles indefinitely unless suspects are convicted, although it remains unclear how long they will be allowed to keep the data while a long-running case is being dealt with.

Ministers have long defended the existing rules, claiming that the crime-fighting benefits when the DNA database matches offenders to forensic samples from crime scenes outweighs the impact on individual privacy.

But in the wake of the landmark legal defeat Jacqui Smith yesterday announced a dramatic U-turn, and will this week publish a consultation on the future of the DNA database - which is seen by critics as a key building block of a 'Big Brother' surveillance state.

She is expected to include plans to destroy all physical DNA samples including mouth swabs, hair and blood, in response to growing concerns that they could be shared with third parties such as health and drug companies hoping to gauge people's vulnerability to particular diseases by analysing their genes.

The Home Secretary said yesterday: There has to be a balance between the need to protect the public and respecting their rights. Based on risks versus benefits, our view is that we can now destroy all samples.' 

Civil rights groups gave a guarded welcome to the move, but warned that more far-reaching reforms are needed and said the Government deserved little credit for being forced into the reforms.

'This is not a privacy-friendly Home Office,' said Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty.

'Any developments in this area are because the Home Office has been dragged here by the European Court of Human Rights.'

[Godfather77]

Jacqui Smith's secret plan to carry on snooping
May 3, 2009
Full article:- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6211101.ece

The home secretary has vowed to scrap a ‘big brother’ database, but a bid to spy on us all continues

Spy chiefs are pressing ahead with secret plans to monitor all internet use and telephone calls in Britain despite an announcement by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, of a ministerial climbdown over public surveillance.

GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, is developing classified technology to intercept and monitor all e-mails, website visits and social networking sessions in Britain The agency will also be able to track telephone calls made over the internet, as well as all phone calls to land lines and mobiles.

The £1 billion snooping project — called Mastering the Internet (MTI) — will rely on thousands of “black box” probes being covertly inserted across online infrastructure.

The top-secret programme began to be implemented last year, but its existence has been inadvertently disclosed through a GCHQ job advertisement carried in the computer trade press.

Last week, in what appeared to be a concession to privacy campaigners, Smith announced that she was ditching controversial plans for a single “big brother” database to store centrally all communications data in Britain. However, she failed to mention that substantial additional sums — amounting to more than £1 billion over three years — had already been allocated to GCHQ for its MTI programme.

Informed sources have revealed that a £200m contract has been awarded to Lockheed Martin, the American defence giant. A second contract has been given to Detica, the British IT firm which has close ties to the intelligence agencies.

The sources said Iain Lobban, the GCHQ director, is overseeing the construction of a massive new complex inside the agency’s “doughnut” headquarters on the outskirts of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

A huge room of super-computers will help the agency to monitor — and record — data passing through black-box probes placed at critical traffic junctions with internet service providers and telephone companies, allowing GCHQ to spy at will.

An industry insider, who has been briefed on GCHQ’s plans, said he could not discuss the programme because he had signed the Official Secrets Act. However, he admitted that the project would mark a step change in the agency’s powers of surveillance.

At the moment the agency is able to use probes to monitor the content of calls and e-mails sent by specific individuals who are the subject of police or security service investigations. Every interception must be authorised by a warrant signed by the home secretary or a minister of equivalent rank.

The new GCHQ internet-monitoring network will shift the focus of the surveillance state away from a few hundred targeted people to everyone in the UK.

“Although the paper [work] does not say it, its clear implication is that those kinds of probes should be extended to cover the entire population for the purposes of monitoring communications data,” said the industry source.

Ministers have said they do not intend to snoop on the actual content of e-mails or telephone calls. The monitoring will instead focus on who an individual is communicating with or which websites and chat rooms they are visiting. 

[EvadingGrid]

Jacqui's secret plan to 'Master the Internet'

'Climb down' on central database was 'a sideshow'

Spy chiefs are already spending hundreds of millions of pounds on a mass internet surveillance system, despite Jacqui Smith's announcement earlier this week that proposals for a central warehouse of communications data had been dumped on privacy grounds.

The system - uncovered today (3rd May 2009) by The Register and The Sunday Times - is being installed under a GCHQ project called Mastering the Internet (MTI). It will include thousands of deep packet inspection probes inside communications providers' networks, as well as massive computing power at the intelligence agency's Cheltenham base, "the concrete doughnut".
 
Sources with knowledge of the project said contacts have already been awarded to private sector partners.
One said: "In MTI, computing resources are not measured by the traditional capacities or speeds such as Gb, Tb, Megaflop or Teraflop... but by the metric tonne!.. and they have lots of them."

The American techology giant Lockheed Martin is understood to have bagged a £200m deal. The BAE-owned British firm Detica, which has close links to MI5 and MI6, as well as to GCHQ, has also been signed up to help on MTI.

A spokeswoman for GCHQ said the agency does not comment on individual contracts. "GCHQ works with a broad range of industry partners to deliver a complex portfolio of technical projects," she said. Detica also declined to comment, and Lockheed Martin did not return calls.

Sources said MTI received approval and funding of more than £1bn over three years in the October 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. GCHQ, like MI5 and MI6, is funded out of the opaque Single Intelligence Account. For 2007/8 the planned budget for the three agencies was over £1.6bn.

GCHQ began work on MTI soon after it was approved. Records of job advertising by the agency show that in April 2008 it was seeking a Head of Major Contracts with "operational responsibility for the ‘Mastering the Internet’ (MTI) contract". The new senior official was to be paid an annual salary of up to £100,000.

The advertisment also indicated that the head of Major Contracts would be in charge of procurement on MTI and be expected to forge close links with the private sector.

According to sources, MTI is a core piece of the government's Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP). On Monday of last week, the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that under IMP, rather than build a central warehouse, responsibility for storing details of who contacts whom, when and where will be imposed on communications providers.

The news was welcomed by privacy advocates and civil liberties campaigners, but sources described it as a "side show" compared to the massively increased surveillance capability that MTI will deliver. It will grant intelligence staff in Cheltenahm complete visibility of UK Internet traffic, allowing them to remotely configure their deep packet inspection probes to intercept data - both communications data and the communication content - on demand.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "We opposed the big brother database because it gave the state direct access to everybody’s communications. But this network of black boxes achieves the same thing via the back door."

GCHQ's spokeswoman said: "GCHQ does not discuss 'how' we use data, as this may lead to revelations about our capability which damage national security.

"GCHQ is constantly updating its systems in order to maintain and renew its capability."
Advocates of MTI and IMP say they are essential if intelligence agencies are to maintain their capability to monitor terrorist and other criminal networks.

A Home Office consultation on the storage of communications data is now open. Meanwhile, work and spending on the all-seeing system to intercept and retrieve it is already underway.

Nota Bene


Nothing can protect you from this kind of interception, in particular TOR / Privoxy are completely bypassed rendering them utterly useless.

Also by deduction similar systems will be put in place or are already in place in other countries like the USA.

[Godfather77]

This is TOTALLY outrageous!!!

We have a situation here were the British government is not just banning people from entering the UK for exercising freedom of speech but are DICTATING what values people can believe in and what the public are alllowed to say.   

I am disgusted that most British newspapers are reporting on this like its' a good thing when it is clearly just the tip of the iceberg and setting a huge precedent.

Ironic the majority of terrorist threats are from UK born radicalised citizens that New Labour allowed to live here in the first place. 

US shock-jock, Jewish extremist and Hamas MP on list of 16 banned from UK
05th May 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6225382.ece

A former member of the Ku Klux Klan, a neo-Nazi, a Hamas MP and a Jewish extremist are among 16 people named today as being banned from entering the UK. Also on the list published by the Home Office is a US “shock jock” talkshow host whose views on Islam, rape and autism have stirred controversy in America.

The 16 are among 22 people excluded in the five months to March. The Home Office has not identified the other six on security grounds.

Today's move follows changes to the law in 2005 which widened the criteria for imposing a ban to include people who promote hatred, terrorist violence or serious criminal activity.

The list includes Erich Gliebe, the leader of an American neo-Nazi group, Michael Savage (real name Michael Weiner), a radio presenter in America, Mike Guzovsky, a Jewish extremist, and Stephen “Don” Black, a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan.

Also on the list is Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, an American Baptist pastor and his daughter, Shirley, who were barred last year for their homophobic views. The two have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality.

Also on the list of those banned between October and March is the Hamas MP Yunis al-Astal.

Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, the former leaders of a violent Russian skinhead gang which committed 20 racially motivated murders, are also banned. They are currently in jail.

The others are the preachers Wadgy Abd El Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim, Abdullah Qadri al-Ahdal, Safwat Hijazi and Amir Siddique, the Muslim activist Abdul Ali Musa (previously Clarence Reams), the Hezbollah terrorist Samir al-Quntar and Nasr Javed, leader of a Kashmiri terror group.

Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, told BBC Radio 5 Live that people should be free to enter the country, regardless of their views.

“If they step over the line and break the law, it's at that moment the law should be enacted, not beforehand,” he said.

“If people are keeping their odious views to themselves, that's their business. We should not be in the business of policing people's minds.”

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said that granting free speech did not provide a licence to preach hatred and that those banned had overstepped the mark with the attitudes they had expressed. She said that naming them enabled people to see the sort of unacceptable behaviour we were not willing to have in this country.

Ms Smith added: “Coming to this country is a privilege. We won't allow people into this country who are going to propagate the sort of views... that fundamentally go against our values.”

Ms Smith announced in October the tightening of rules determining who could come to the UK.

A “presumption in favour of exclusion” was introduced that meant it would be up to the individual concerned to prove they would not “stir up tension” after arrival.

The full list:

Abdullah Qadri al-Ahdal
Yunis al-Astal
Samir al-Quntar
Stephen Donald Black
Wadgy Abd el-Hamied Mohamed Ghoneim
Erich Gliebe
Mike Guzovsky
Safwat Hijazi
Nasr Javed
Abdul Ali Musa
Fred Waldron Phelps Snr
Shirley Phelps-Roper
Artur Ryno
Amir Siddique
Pavel Skachevsky
Michael Alan Weiner

[Godfather77]

Once again this shows the total illegality of the current British Government.   

DNA profiles of innocent to be kept for 12 years despite European ruling
07 May 2009
Full article:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/5287450/DNA-profiles-of-innocent-to-be-kept-for-12-years-despite-European-ruling.html

The DNA profiles of innocent people will remain on the national database for up to 12 years despite a landmark European Court ruling that they should be deleted. Some innocent children will also have their profiles kept for a similar period although the majority will have them deleted within six years.

The proposals have been drawn up after the European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that a blanket policy of retaining profiles of innocent people indefinitely was illegal. It means up to 850,000 DNA profiles, plus a similar number of fingerprints, of people never convicted of a crime will eventually be wiped from the database but the Home Office was accused of doing the bare minimum to abide by the ruling.

An impact assessment for the Home Office said the plans may not meet the requirements of the European Court while civil rights group Liberty is already planning legal action claiming the proposals will still breach human rights.

The Home Office warned removing the profiles would result in around 4,500 fewer crimes being detected each year.

The move will mean adults arrested but not convicted of serious sex or violent offences, or terrorism, will have their profiles held for 12 years before they are deleted. The same applies for children aged under 18.

Adults not convicted of any other offence will have profiles automatically erased after six years.

Those aged under 18 in that category will have them deleted after six years or when they reach 18, whichever is the sooner. However, if they are arrested and not convicted of a second offence they will stay on for six years whatever their age.

All genetic material taken from suspects, such as blood or swab samples, will be destroyed.

The proposed retention periods are far greater than Scotland, where the profiles of innocent people are kept for a maximum of five years and only in the most serious offences.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "This well-spun proposal proves that the Home Secretary has yet to learn about the presumption of innocence and value of personal privacy in Britain.

"Wholly innocent people - including children - will have their most intimate details stockpiled for years on a database that will remain massively out of step with the rest of the world. With regret we shall be forced to see her in court once more."

Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said: "The Government just doesn't get this. People in Britain should be innocent until proven guilty. Ministers are just trying to get away with as little as they possibly can instead of taking real action to remove innocent people from the DNA database. It's just not good enough."

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: "Once again, the Home Office is fighting an undignified rearguard action designed to give as little as possible in response to the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights."

[Godfather77]

So if this infromation was going to be released within a matter of months why are MP's considering calling in the police?  The obvious reasons are:

• MP's wanted this information released after the local and EU elections in June to spare embarrasment

        AND

• MP's planned to not release the list in its' entirity

MPs tell Scotland Yard: find mole who revealed expenses to press
May 9, 2009
Full article:- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6252037.ece

Senior government figures and MPs from all parties want Scotland Yard to find the individual responsible for copying the scans of MPs’ expenses, receipt by receipt, dating back to 2004.

MPs denounced the early publication of their receipts by The Daily Telegraph, two months before Parliament was due to release an edited version  of the information on its website.

Lurid rumours have for weeks been circulating at Westminster suggesting that publication will prompt immediate resignations, the emergence of extramarital affairs and cases of abuse that border on fraud. There have even been suggestions that MPs have been placed on suicide watch by party whips fearful of the effects that the release will have on their mental health.

The release, however, less than a month before the European and county council elections, could hardly have come at a worse time for the political parties.

But at a meeting, Parliament’s in-house lawyers told MPs that the person who duplicated the vast volume of MPs’ invoices and other material had committed a breach of contract but not a criminal offence.

The businessman offering to sell the disks containing the scans is also unlikely to have breached data protection legislation, the committee was told. Under Section 55 of the Data Protection Act, the sale of personal information is unlawful unless there is a public interest defence.

Lawyers believe that the information cannot be deemed personal because the High Court and Information Tribunal ordered its release last year and a strong public interest defence could be argued.

Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, is understood to be monitoring the situation but not planning immediate action, believing there is likely to be a strong public interest defence for the publication.

The Members’ Estimates Committee, which is chaired by the Speaker and oversees the running of Parliament, was split yesterday over whether to call in the police.

MPs believe it will be virtually impossible for the police even to identify the mole. It would involve high level surveillance and computer forensics to examine the hard drives of employees in Parliament and the Stationery Office. They are also worried that news that MPs were calling in the police over the mole would only add to the appearance that they have something to hide.

[Dok]

Right then, fall into line you 'orrible little pupils! Government wants the military to run state schools

The Armed Forces will be drafted in to run state schools under plans to drive up discipline and respect in classrooms.
Ministers are in talks with defence chiefs about taking over a handful of schools and turning them into military academies.
Alongside daily lessons, pupils would be expected to take part in activities such as drills, uniformed parades, weapons handling and adventure training.
The first state schools set to gain 'military academy' status are understood to be based in Portsmouth and Colchester.
The controversial scheme will initially be in areas where there are a large number of military families, but is set to be rolled out across the country.
Ministers believe that children in failing schools would particularly benefit from a military-style education because it would give them role models and a more structured existence.
But the plan is likely to raise fears among teaching unions that the academies could turn into tough 'boot camps' or recruiting stations.

Last year, union leaders accused the Army of giving children 'misleading propaganda' about life in the Armed Forces.

The National Union of Teachers also vowed to back any teachers who wanted to boycott the services' recruitment drives.

The latest idea comes as the Government prepares to launch a major extension of the 'school cadet force' scheme in deprived areas.

Gordon Brown is a strong supporter of the military's involvement in schools, which he believes teaches young people discipline and pride their country.
The first academy school dedicated entirely to the Armed Forces was announced last week, giving the Ministry of Defence a role in state education for the first time.

The Duke of York's Royal Military School in Dover, which offers boarding places for the children of military personnel, will also offer 200 extra places to youngsters from non-military backgrounds.

But senior Whitehall sources have revealed that the Army is looking at taking over a secondary state school in Portsmouth, while the Parachute Regiment is considering running a secondary school in Colchester.

Last night, critics of the scheme cast doubts over whether the over- stretched Armed Forces have the funding or resources to take on extra educational responsibilities.

The sources also stressed that no pupil would be forced to take part in any activity against their will.

One said: 'This is not about teaching pupils to shoot people. The Armed Forces can be a force for good in our schools and teach important skills including teamwork and respect.'

Schools Minister Jim Knight said: 'Academy status for the Duke of York's is ideal and will mean they can continue to march to the beat of their own drum by retaining their military ethos and curriculum.

'I hope this is just the beginning of an even closer relationship between our Armed Forces and schools, particularly with providing boarding facilities for those families who are often on the move and in garrison town communities.'

However, David Laws, Liberal Democrat Education spokesman, called the policy 'yet another Labour gimmick'.

'While many schools would no doubt benefit from a dose of Army discipline, there is real doubt as to whether this is a clear policy or just another Gordon Brown gimmick,' he said.

'Hazel Blears recently warned against Government gimmicks but it seems as though the Prime Minister has yet to take note.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1178508/Right-fall-line-orrible-little-pupils-Government-wants-military-run-state-schools.html