Newswires: Surveillance | WOMBLES - News & information for anarchist direct action

Fury at Labour MPs ‘Orwellian’ tactics over DNA database vote

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:01:44 +0000

Liverpool Daily Post | LABOUR MPs were accused of “Orwellian” tactics last night after voting to make it all-but impossible for innocent people to remove their DNA from the national database. Opposition parties reacted with fury after the Government overturned a Lords amendment that would have forced the Home Office to issue specific guidelines to help [...]

Channel M Lunchtime News

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:08:26 +0000

Manchester NO2ID co-ordinator Dave Page recently appeared on Channel M news talking about the Government's proposed introduction of ID cards for airport workers. You can catch a clip at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R4-hEEmN0x8

Local Campaigners Oppose ID Cards for Foreign Nationals

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:04:29 +0000

PRESS RELEASE Date: 21st November 2008 For Immediate Release Campaigners from local Defy-ID and NO2ID groups will protest outside the immigration centre on Water Street, Liverpool on Tuesday 25th November, in opposition to the introduction of UK identity cards for foreign nationals. The groups will wear barcode signs around their necks to signify the encroaching of the database state. People from outside the EAA applying for or renewing visas for study or marriage ("students and spouses") will be required to attend one of the six immigration service centres around the UK, be interrogated, fingerprinted and have their details stored and tracked on a database system which resembles the UK National Identity Register, one of the most intrusive and insecure identity databases in the world. Northwest NO2ID co-ordinator Dave Page said "The Government is determined that everybody in this country, and UK citizens abroad, should be interrogated, catalogued and fingerprinted on its unpopular, useless control-freak database. First they're targetting a voiceless group with plenty to lose by noncompliance, but we'll all be in the firing line soon." Liverpool Defy ID spokesperson Richie Krueger added "We strongly oppose the the Government's plan. As history has proven, when governments have tried to impose this type of surveillance upon citizens, they have rolled out similar schemes by going for the most desperate or vulnerable people first. This is the first part of the Government's strategy to register all citizens in this inhumane way. Big Brother is knocking on the door and we owe it to ourselves, our children and our children's children, to send him packing. We strongly urge people to stand alongside the first people to be 'registered' and protest on the 25th November, when the Government attempt to begin implementation." ENDS Supporters of the groups will gather from 11am in Exchange Flats, before moving to Water Street between 12pm and 1pm. For more information or interview, please contact Dave Page on 07982 814 441, or via e-mail at north.west@no2id.net Liverpool Defy ID is part of a network of people, who are opposed to the Government plans for a national identity card and database scheme. For more details see http://www.liverpool-defy-id.org.uk/ NO2ID is the UK-wide non-partisan campaign against ID cards and the database state. Scroll down http://www.no2id.net for a list of 'database state' initiatives that NO2ID is actively opposing.

Street Stall, December 2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:58:41 +0000

Start: 13 Dec 2008 - 2:00pm End: 13 Dec 2008 - 4:00pm Timezone: Etc/GMT+1 We'll be running a Saturday afternoon stall in St. Ann's Square to raise awareness among the public and engage people in discussion about the National Identity Register. We'll be collecting signatures for the NO2ID petition to keep people in touch with the campaign. We'll meet in the square itself at 2pm to set up shop; feel free to join us to lend a hand or just chat. You don't need any experience or equipment, just a bit of time to spare and a friendly smile!

Liverpool 25th November: Defy ID cards - No One is Illegal

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:08:00 +0000

On 25th November, the government will begin introducing ID cards for non-EU nationals living in the UK. We invite all opponents of social control to join us at a protest in Liverpool outside Reliance House (the Border Agency’s offices and a short-term immigration prison) at 12 noon on that day. Reliance House is one of the six centres in the UK for ID cards processing. Other groups campaigning against ID cards on that day are Manchester NO2ID and Liverpool Defy ID and we hope to see Merseyside No Borders activists there as well. We will travel there as a group, meet at 9am on the steps of the Student Union of Manchester University, Oxford Road. We will try to get everyone into minibuses leaving from there or take the train together from Oxford Road station (£6.20 return with railcard) if there are too many of us. In Liverpool, assemble in Exchange Flats at 11am and then move around the corner to Reliance House, 20 Water Street, L2 8XU, for the protest from noon to 1pm. Map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=334008&y=390449&z=0&sv=L2+8XU&st=2&pc=L2+8XU&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

NO2ID's racist problem

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:18:00 +0000

My wife is American and with the new laws coming soon she will need an ID card, we were concerned about this, so I recently started looking to see what was happening to oppose this. I have been concerned by what I have found.

What Obama Can and Should Do to Stop Telecom Immunity

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:17:45 +0000

Yesterday, the New York Times ran the story "Early Test for Obama on Domestic Spying Views", describing the national security-related issues facing the incoming Obama Administration. Chief among them is the issue of immunity for telecoms that illegally assisted in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program: In perhaps the most critical test, civil liberties groups that are suing major phone companies that took part in the N.S.A. program are waiting to find out whether a federal judge will throw out the lawsuits based on immunity granted by Congress in June. The Justice Department has already moved to take advantage of the immunity provision by certifying in court that the phone companies were complying with a presidential order. But the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group that has taken the lead in the lawsuit, maintains that Congress acted beyond its powers. A hearing is set for Dec. 2. Cindy Cohn, legal director for the foundation, said that as the case moved forward the new administration could act to withdraw the immunity certification made by the Bush Justice Department. “Nothing will be over by Jan. 20,” when Mr. Obama is inaugurated, Ms. Cohn said. As President, it will be up to Obama whether or not the Administration wants to continue seeking dismissal of the lawsuits against AT&T and other telecoms based on the immunity provisions of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA). Specifically, President Obama can end the immunity process. Consistent with his previous opposition to immunity — then-Senator Obama voted in favor of Senator Dodd's amendment to strip the immunity provisions out of the FAA altogether — Obama could instruct his new Attorney General to withdraw the government's motion to dismiss the lawsuits based on the immunity statute. Or, President Obama can temporarily freeze the immunity process until he has learned all the details about the NSA program. Consistent with his support of Senator Bingaman's proposed FAA amendment to delay implementation of the immunity provisions, Obama could instruct his new Attorney General to ask the court for a temporary stay of the immunity proceedings. That would give the Administration time to review the classified details of the NSA program as well as the FAA-mandated reports about the program that are expected by this July from the Inspectors General of the Department of Justice, the NSA, and other agencies involved in the program. After having reviewed all the facts, the new administration can then re-evaluate whether it wants to continue to press for immunity in court, or drop its motion to dismiss and let the cases against the telecoms continue. Or, President Obama can choose not to appeal if the immunity statute is found unconstitutional. If, after the hearing on December 2nd, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the federal Northern District of California agrees with EFF that the immunity statute is unconstitutional and denies the government's motion to dismiss, Obama could instruct his new Attorney General to not appeal that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. All of these are things Obama could do — on his own and without any help from Congress — to stop the implementation of the immunity scheme that he repeatedly opposed during his presidential campaign. These recommendations aren't EFF's alone: as part of the transition roadmap published yesterday by a broad coalition of groups including EFF, seventeen different civil liberties organizations signed onto national security surveillance recommendations that included the proposition that President Obama should "[d]irect the Attorney General to withdraw the government’s motion to dismiss pending privacy litigation brought against telecommunications carriers for assisting with unlawful warrantless surveillance, or seek a stay of those proceedings until such time as the Attorney General, based on review of the Inspectors’ General reports required by the FISA Amendments Act, determines that a grant of immunity is appropriate." read more

EFF Joins with Coalition to Provide Policy Roadmap to Next President and Congress

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:15:05 +0000

A coalition of more than 25 organizations, including EFF, yesterday released "Liberty and Security: Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress", a comprehensive catalogue of policy recommendations on a range of critical civil liberties issues. This collaboratively-created transition roadmap, coordinated by our friends at the Constitution Project, contains 20 chapters providing policy recommendations on a wide variety of issues, from Guantanamo Bay to warrantless wiretapping. EFF has signed on as an ally in support of the recommendations in eleven of those chapters, concerning issues within EFF's mission to protect free speech and privacy on the electronic frontier. Most importantly, EFF has joined as a supporter of all the recommendations made in the area of "Secrecy, Surveillance, and Privacy", covering goals such as reigning in NSA spying, updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and reforming the State Secrets privilege (consistent with our Privacy Agenda for the New Administration), as well as combating excessive classification and urging greater transparency in government (as previously described in our Transparency Agenda for the New Administration). After the jump, you can find links to PDFs of all of the individual chapters of the transition catalogue where EFF has signed on as an ally; the entire document is available here [pdf]. We hope that you — and the next President and Congress — find them enlightening. read more

(en) Two actions of portuguese anarchists in solidarity to prisoners struggle in Greece

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:21:49 +0000

Friday, Nov.14, at 11h in the morning we distributed 200 A4-size leaflets in front and around the building of the Economy and Comerce Section of the Greek Embassy, in the center of Lisbon, leaving some of them inside the building also. The leaflets included a small introdutory text to the prisoners' struggle, a few of their demands, and a chronology of the events until that day. Besides, it also included the following text:" ---- Prison is everywhere, in all our life. Constantly we are watched, controlled, identified, listened… it is the cop, the surveillance camera, the court, the judge, the police station, and our entire reality of forced interactions. It is the fear of being what we are, of saying ...

ID Cards protest against Thales in Stockport - Monday 17th November

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:07:00 +0000

A group of student activist held a noise demo outside the offices of Thales in Stockport to protest at their involvement in ID Cards and the National Identity Register.

Eavesdropping Legislation 'Draconian'

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:37:36 +0000

New legislation within the 26-Counties allowing surveillance evidence to be used in court against an accused person, coupled with the ability of the 26-County police to request that such evidence not be disclosed to the accused is a further Draconian move, a spokesperson for Republican Sinn Féin has said.

Joint Intelligence DNA Database Described

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:55:11 +0000

Scattered details of a little-known U.S. government database containing the DNA of suspected terrorists were gathered and reported today in the Financial Times. See “Fears over Covert DNA Database” by Stephen Fidler. The Joint Federal Agencies [or more often: Antiterrorism] Intelligence DNA Database (JFAIDD) is described in a 2007 briefing slide (pdf) as “a searchable database [...]

New report on Ireland's gays reveals isolation and discrimination

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:38:32 +0000

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • November 18, 2008 - 12:49 The report found many gays are isolated A new study of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in the West of Ireland has found that nearly 70% of them have suffered some form of discrimination. 90% felt isolated at times because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The report was commissioned by LGBT West - a consortium of statutory and voluntary service providers in counties Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, including county councils, rural and city partnership companies and lesbian and gay groups. 50% of those who had experienced discrimination were verbally abused and 20% had been physically attacked

Big week coming up for RNC court actions; City of St. Paul hiding exculpatory video evidence to ruin defense efforts

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:03:36 +0000

The State's elaborately staged legal farces are really spinning into full gear this week:

UPDATE on Monday's scheduled grand jury in Minneapolis : The Grand Jury subpoenas for the six Texas activists have been withdrawn.
Last week, CRASS, the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure held a press conference to publicize how the City of St. Paul has refused to release the 6,000 hours of surveillance footage to defense attorneys. After the State was defeated in the August 2007 Critical Mass case via a few cell phone video clips, it's clear they need to manipulate the evidence in order to run out the clock, waste RNC arrestee legal supporters' time & effort, and scramble public perceptions about what happened.
Court solidarity needs your help! Many cases are going on at Ramsey County Courthouse and CRASS Court Watch needs people for Monday, Tuesday, and onward. Email rnccourtwatch@gmail.com for more info.
Help Dave Mahoney: The authorities are scapegoating Dave Mahoney (saying he is a literally a Terrorizing Finger Pointer - not to be confused with the famed Terrorist Fist Jab). It's all part of their PR strategy. Defeat the propaganda. TC Indymedia's added a button to his site.
It sounds like Bob Fletcher watched Terrorizing Dissent as he is starting to make remarks about the young woman with the flower who got ruthlessly maced on September 1st on Kellogg Blvd. However the local press seems afraid to even mention the name of the film Indymedia helped put together.

With these and more important events unfolding, Twin Cities Indymedia wants to encourage more people to plug in and help cover what's going on. Indymedia currently has a number of HD video cameras which could be used by Indy journalistas to cover demos and other events. Please contact us if you're interested. (More broadly, working on further expanding Twin Cities Indymedia is direly needed - including organizing a real video collective). More notes from the events of last week, and upcoming events that might be of interest to IMCers, below. read more

ACLU Challenges DNA Databank Expansion

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:14:38 +0000

Civil Liberties Group Concerned Over Privacy Issues MONTPELIER, Vt. — A proposal to expand the state’s DNA database is being questioned by a civil liberties group. Under the Senate Judiciary Committee’s plan, the state would start collecting genetic samples from people arraigned on felony crimes. The current law only requires DNA samples from people convicted of [...]

Taxpayers face paying millions in compensation for identity card project

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:12:56 +0000

The taxpayer will have to compensate a French firm for lost profits if the Government’s controversial national identity card scheme is cancelled at short notice. By David Barrett | Under the terms of a £5 billion contract signed by the Home Office, Thales will be entitled to claim for its lost profits if ministers call off the [...]

‘Sneak’ plan for mandatory ID cards

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:34:56 +0000

David Leppard writes in the Sunday Times: Ministers have been accused of trying to introduce compulsory identity cards through the back door, despite promises that people will not have to carry them. Lawyers at Liberty, the civil liberties group, say that little noticed clauses in the draft immigration and citizenship bill introduce new powers to make people [...]

Leeds Protest against 'ID cards for foreigners'

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:04:00 +0000

Leeds NO2ID will be protesting against the Introduction of ID cards on 24th November

Thales Protest - Monday 17th November, Stockport (Cheadle)

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:44:00 +0000

Thales is a French defence company which has been awarded the first contract to build the National Identity Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/01/thales_wins_id_card_contract/

UK’s ’secure’ child protection database will be open to one million

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:45:38 +0000

Chris Williams and John Ozimek write in The Register: More than three times as many officials will be able to access sensitive information on every child in England and Wales held in the forthcoming ContactPoint database than estimates circulated by the government suggest, research by The Register has found. ContactPoint is now scheduled to launch in January. [...]

A Transparency Agenda for the New Administration

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:31:31 +0000

This is the final post in a three-part series outlining how the new leadership in Congress and the White House can restore some of the civil liberties we've lost over the past eight years. Today's post focuses on government transparency. Previously, we've written about surveillance and intellectual property. The past eight years have seen an increase in government secrecy and a decrease in government accountability. These factors have led to record levels of distrust in our government. Here are three steps the new leadership should take to begin to restore that trust:

Leverage new technology to provide authoritative government data. It's notoriously difficult or impossible to find and manage data on legislation (both passed and proposed), on election day polling locations, on the boundaries of Congressional districts, and on government spending. All of these should be made available online for the federal and state levels, in open formats, with no intellectual property restrictions on their use, distribution or ownership.
Review the entire information-classification infrastructure and reform it to create meaningful oversight. This system has been repeatedly abused by the White House. It leaves far too much discretion in administration hands, allowing them to "capture" legislators who want to be "in the loop," forbidding them from conducting any serious investigation into the administration's illegal or questionable practices.
Restore strength to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Encourage government agencies to produce documents, instead of withholding documents under overbroad pretenses. This will allow the government to assist in uncovering misconduct. A good start would be to re-introduce and pass the Faster FOIA Act.

Compulsory ID cards for some non-EU residents - opposition planned to begin 25th Nov

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:03:09 +0000

From 25 November 2008, the government will start issuing compulsory identity cards to non-EU foreign nationals who apply for an extension of their stay in the United Kingdom as students or as the husbands, wives or partners of permanent residents. Six UK Border Agency centres have been setup to take fingerprints and photographs (Croydon, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Glasgow). Local No Borders groups are planning to oppose the beginning of 'ID cards for foreigners' noting that not all centres will be up and running immediately due to delays (as a result of which affected students are already being advised not to plan travels abroad!). It is clear that border control and identity cards are fully intertwined and must be opposed as one thing.

Ex Nihilo: A Few Words From Those Who Have Heard The Call

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:15:37 +0000

(Being A Regurgitation And Temporalization) 1: What once hypnotized have now become un-affordable luxuries. When someone can barely afford to drive to work, they cannot afford cable television. When driving long commutes becomes economically impossible, people will move out of the soon-to-collapse rural cluster developments. Or, by that point, they will have been kicked out. More and more people are faced with a common reality in the USA, a common reality that is bleak and increasingly free of illusion. But our once radiant and glowing mono-culture has trained many people into finding their niche, their group, their 'identity'. Now that the wallets are growing lighter and the daily drudgery more unbearable, these security blankets are becoming tattered and worn. They appear as they are: cheap masks dispensed by those at the top of the pyramid. These 'identities' have been manufactured for consumption and will die once no one CHOOSES to buy them. Or at least cannot afford to buy them. read more

An Innovation Agenda for the New Administration

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:19:10 +0000

This is the second post in a three-part series outlining how the new leadership in Congress and the White House can restore some of the civil liberties we've lost over the past eight years. Today's post focuses on innovation, fair use and intellectual property. On Friday, we posted about privacy and surveillance, and tomorrow we'll discuss government transparency. Today's intellectual property (IP) laws frequently fail to strike the proper balance between the rights of creators, copyright holders and the public. Powerful companies interested in maximizing their investments in intellectual property have run roughshod over the people's fair use rights. This has been especially problematic given the explosion of user generated content sites like YouTube, which celebrate creativity and innovation and actively encourage a remix culture. It is our hope that our government leaders will work to bring balance to the law. Here are some suggestions to get things started:

Repair the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Eliminate the ability of copyright holders to get statutory damages for noncommercial violations of copyright laws. Require proof of actual damages prior to any award based on copyright liability. Raise the requirements for content owners to receive preliminary injunctions against technologies in copyright cases. Congress should pass the FAIR USE Act and the Orphan Works Act.
Reform the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), emphasizing its role to promote, rather than impede, innovation. Patents, by constitutional design, are supposed to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." All too often today, patents are used to hold innovation hostage. Patent office procedures should be reviewed to ensure that patent examiners are being given the tools and incentives they need to challenge overbroad patent applications. Simultaneously, avenues for post-grant administrative review procedures should be broadened, ensuring that public interest groups can continue to raise post-grant challenges without restrictive time limitations on their participation.
Don't let the content industry use our government resources to pressure universities and others to participate in their intimidating peer-to-peer dragnet operations.
Show caution before regulating the use of technologies that limit consumer choice or consumer rights. In the United States and abroad, our government should advocate for policies that promote the ability of consumers to use technology they purchase however they choose.

Nick Clegg responds to Comment Central on tax

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:45:20 +0000

Nick Clegg responds to comments on his tax-cutting proposals on Times Comment Central web site: But I want to go further. More fair tax cuts for people who really need help. Where’s the money to pay for it? How about redirecting spending from the NHS computer systems that never see the light of day; surveillance databases [...]

ID card costs rise amid security concerns

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:33:53 +0000

Opponents of ID cards have renewed their attacks on the scheme, claiming security is being watered down even as the cost of the cards rises. By Nick Heath | Cards will only be checked against biometric details on the National Identity Register (NIR) in a “minority of cases” according to Home Office documents, prompting accusations it [...]

Jailed Iranian Immigrant goes on Hunger Strike

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:56:18 +0000

Man wants to return home, serving three-month sentence By Monisha Martins - Maple Ridge News A man who illegally entered Canada is on a hunger strike at a Maple Ridge prison. Mohammad Reza Nouri has been detained at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre since Oct. 13, the same day he landed at Vancouvers International Airport carrying a fake passport. The 40-year-old Iranian, who cant speak English, was charged the next day under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with one count each of illegally possessing a document to establish identity, using false document to enter or remain in Canada and communicating false or misleading information for immigration to Canada.

EU indicates platform for global finance summit

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:33:09 +0000

Source: EURODAD Preparations for the global financial reform summit are hotting up. EU leaders, who met in Brussels today, will apparently call on the Nov. 15 global finance meeting to agree immediately on five principles. These are to: - Increase surveillance of ratings agencies; - Align accounting standards; - Close loopholes; - Set banking codes of conduct to reduce excessive [...]

A Privacy Agenda For The New Administration

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:36:42 +0000

This is the first post in a three part series directed at restoring some of the civil liberties we've lost over the past eight years. Today's post is about our privacy rights. We'll follow this up early next week with our thoughts on intellectual property rights and government transparency. As new leaders prepare to move into the White House and Congress over the next few months, we'd like to call on them to restore Americans' privacy rights. Here's a little "wish list" we'd like to put forward:

Repeal or repair the FISA Amendments Act (FISAAA). There are a great many flaws in FISAAA, which was passed last Summer after a long and difficult fight. Most significantly, the provisions granting retroactive immunity from litigation to telecommunications companies complicit in the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program should be repealed so that the millions of Americans who have been illegally surveilled can have their day in court.
Reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). ECPA is a major law restricting the government's ability to surveil citizens and is in desperate need of reform. It has become dangerously out-of-sync with recent technological developments and Americans' expectation of online privacy. In particular, the privacy of personal data should not depend on how long an ISP has stored that data or whether the data is stored locally or remotely.
Reform the State Secrets Privilege. The State Secrets Privilege has been radically abused by the Bush Administration, particularly to shield its electronic surveillance activity from judicial review. The new administration should voluntarily reduce its use of the privilege, and work with Congress to reform the privilege and insure that claims of state secrecy are subject to independent judicial scrutiny.
Scale back the use of National Security Letters to gag and acquire data from online service providers. The REAL ID Act, with its requirement that Americans carry a national ID card, has been rejected by many U.S. states and should be federally repealed. Large-scale government data collection and data-mining projects like Automated Targeting System (ATS) should be reduced or eliminated. Invasive border-searches of electronic devices should be stopped.

Passport fees to jump by a third to more than £100 to pay for fingerprinting

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:26:07 +0000

Christopher Hope writes in The Daily Telegraph: The fee for a new passport is set to rise by a third to over £100, Jacqui Smith has disclosed. The Home Secretary also revealed that the cost to taxpayers of new identity cards will double from £30 to £60. The huge rises were necessary to pay for taking facial readings [...]

Royal Mail, shops and private firms to bid for right to fingerprint us for new ID cards

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:48:05 +0000

James Slack writes in the Daily Mail: The Royal Mail, shops and private firms are today being invited to bid for multi-million pound contracts to fingerprint millions of Britons for ID cards. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is placing the private sector in charge of gathering the biometric details of anyone who applies for a passport or the [...]

Wall Street Journal: Best of China Blogs November 5

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:50:59 +0000

China Labour Bulletin appears in this article. Copyright remains with the original publisher A daily look at what we’re reading. –Calling if for Obama on the news channel of state broadcaster CCTV. (In Chinese, and yes, the anchor really did slip and say “first black female pres…”) [Youku Buzz] read more

EFF's OurVoteLive.org Helps Over 86,000 Voters

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:05:50 +0000

Yesterday, a year-long collaboration between EFF and the Election Protection Coalition came to fruition. OurVoteLive.org, powered by EFF's Total Election Awareness project, helped EP's thousands of hotline operators and legal response teams document and respond to over 86,000 calls to the 866-OUR-VOTE voter-assistance hotline on November 4th and during early voting. Over 5,000 more calls were documented during the primaries. Now that the election is over, Our Vote Live contains the largest database of voting-related inquiries, problems, and discrepancies ever created — all searchable and visible to the general public. While important prototypes were used in prior elections, Our Vote Live was by far the most comprehensive and most successful effort to date. Behind the simple features visible to the general public is a complex system that enabled hotline call centers to provide information to callers, record their questions and complaints, and coordinate legal assistance and media outreach in response. The vast majority of the calls came from voters with one of two inquiries: 29,000 callers asked "Am I registered to vote?", and 34,000 asked "Where is my polling place?" Just trying to answer these basic questions is complicated task as up-to-date voter registration data and polling place data is notoriously difficult to find and consolidate. Catalist and The Google Elections Team did an impressive job of rounding up much of this information and helping us make it available to volunteer operators at EP's call centers. (Google's Abe Murray has a great post on the Google Maps Blog about the tangled process of assembling Google's polling location data.) A significant number of the calls to the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline reported serious problems. When they did, Our Vote Live enabled operators to coordinate a response with unprecedented efficiency. Joe Hall, who used the system to assist volunteers in his call center in New York City, writes: One thing that has become obvious is having a bonafide database record ID is gangbusters for coordinating across centers, from centers up to national and within centers. The ability to have a living entry, one you can add notes to and add follow-up information, was a big deal... often we'd finally get to one in our pile, pull up the entry and see that someone else had followed up, meaning that we could quickly move on and not waste anyone's time. As the system provided unprecedented information in close to real time, Our Vote Live was regularly reviewed by the press, election integrity advocates, and others interested in the health of the electoral process. OurVoteLive.org received close to 60,000 visitors on Election Day and was blogged about or linked to by the likes of Fox News, the New Yorker, Daily Kos, the Wall Street Journal, ">the Huffington Post, the NAACP, Common Cause and many others. We hope that the real benefits of the project are only beginning to be seen. It's been less than 24 hours since Election Day, and we (and Election Protection) are only beginning to review the data in a comprehensive way. There's a recount likely in the Minnesota Senate race, and there's a runoff imminent in the Georgia Senate race. We've heard nationwide reports of unmanageably long lines, voter intimidation, and (of course) voting machine problems. Beyond the serious problems identified in individual reports on Our Vote Live, we need substantial systemic reform of our election process, as Election Protection leaders outlined in a memo Tuesday evening. In addition to all of the things that went right yesterday, Election Day highlighted areas where the need for major improvement remains. Smart, transparent information technology will play a critical role in future reforms, and EFF will continue to work with EP and others to help make it happen. Stay tuned to EFF's Deeplinks blog for updates as the process continues. (This is cross-posted to the OurVoteLive blog.)

'Ambiguous' orders over Menezes

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:57:00 +0000

From the BBC websiteOrders given by a police chief in the case of Jean Charles de Menezes were "ambiguous", former senior officer Brian Paddick has told an inquest.He was referring to an order by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick to "arrest him [de Menezes], but whatever you do, don't let him get on the Tube".Mr de Menezes was killed in 2005 after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.Separately, a pathologist said police had led him to believe the Brazilian had "vaulted" over a Tube barrier.The Brazilian was shot seven times in the head at close range on 22 July 2005 after being mistaken for failed 21 July suicide bomber Hussain Osman at Stockwell Tube Station.During the inquest Michael Mansfield QC, representing the de Menezes family, said firearms officers interpreted Ms Dick's command as "he must be stopped before he gets on the Tube".Ex-deputy assistant commissioner Mr Paddick replied: "I think in the scenario that we had, where you have got a DSO, you have got officers with unusual ammunition, you have got a suspected suicide bomber, that order is ambiguous and it could mean one or two things depending on your frame of mind as to how you interpret it."Mr Paddick, appearing for the first time in the witness box, also said Ms Dick should only have been concerned with ordering a critical shot at Mr de Menezes.The inquest has heard how Ms Dick made a series of orders as surveillance officers followed the innocent Brazilian through south London.Mr Paddick said: "My understanding of the role of the DSO (designated senior officer) is to make decisions around when officers are confronted by a suicide bomber who is suspected of being about to detonate a device."Dr Kenneth Shorrock, who also gave evidence at the inquest, said he was told the Brazilian jumped over a barrier before "stumbling" down an escalator.The pathologist said he was given the wrong information during a "walk-through" with officers.Dr Shorrock carried out post-mortem examinations on Mr de Menezes and in the hours after the shooting he said he was given a "walk-through" with officers at the scene.When asked why there were "significant errors" in his initial report, he said: "This was what was told to me."What happened at that time was that there were a lot of officers present and we were taken through."I did not write anything down. I did not make any note of who told me what - but, at the next opportunity that I had, I got my Dictaphone."Dr Shorrock said he was not sure who told him Mr de Menezes had "vaulted" the barrier in the moments before his death.He also said he "cannot recall" if other interested parties were at the station during the walk-through."The senior investigation officer had input and I spoke to him, but I spoke to a number of people."He told the jury at the Oval cricket ground, south London, that "it was a long day" but rejected suggestions he was influenced by media reports, insisting he had made the notes before he had seen any news items.In evidence earlier in the day, Dr Shorrock said Mr de Menezes would not have survived any of four bullet wounds to his brain."Pathologists never say never, nor will any doctors, but you can survive a gunshot wound to the head if it goes into a part of the brain which is not desperately important," he said."But in this case they went in around the region above and behind the ear and they went through the centre of the brain.""Not only would death have been instantaneous, but clearly once the first bullet hit his head and went in he would have had no perception of what was going on."Mr De Menezes also suffered a gunshot wound to his back.The inquest continues.See alsoDaily Telegraph:Jean Charles De Menezes inquest: pathologist 'misinformed by police'The Times:Menezes police shoot to kill orders were unclear, inquest toldITN News:Menezes officers 'misled pathologist'

Airport ID card scheme scaled back

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:39:41 +0000

Jimmy Burns writes in the Financial Times: Controversial plans to make thousands of airport workers the first British nationals to be issued with biometric identity cards have been scaled back because of continuing opposition from the airline industry. Ministers will announce tomorrow that the planned roll-out in the sector will begin next October, later than originally anticipated, [...]

Demonstration at Thales, Stockport

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:32:40 +0000

Start: 17 Nov 2008 - 2:00pm End: 17 Nov 2008 - 3:00pm Timezone: Etc/GMT+1 Thales is a French defence company which has been awarded the first contract to build the National Identity Register. Manchester Students Against ID, the University Campaigns Collective and Manchester NO2ID will be paying a visit to Thales Information Systems' Stockport office on Monday 17th November at 2pm, to draw attention to the intrusive, expensive and useless National Identity Scheme. We will stand outside their premises, holding banners and distributing leaflets and some of those present will have whistles, drums and other forms of noise making to help draw attention - feel free to bring yours along, or not to if you don't want to. Full details from on-the-ground organiser Dan: We are intending as many people as possible to meet at the Student Union steps on Oxford Road at 1pm. We will then charge down to Piccadilly Station and get a train into to Stockport (about 9 minutes), walk to Stockport bus station and grab a bus (368/9) (11 minutes) and be straight there. Trains are every few minutes, busses every 15. If you're getting there by any other means, Thales Information Systems is on Ashurst Drive, off Bird Hall Lane, in Stockport (map link). There is also an office for Thales Maritime on the same estate, so check which one you're at. PLEASE NOTE: The police have been in contact trying to find out about the demonstration. They will use the same 'safety' argument as ever. In short, they have no rights to 'facilitate' a peaceful, law abiding protest. We do not have to ask them to express ourselves. However if ID Cards come in, then we'll be forced to do this more and more. If they are there on the day, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE THEM YOUR DETAILS. We are not doing anything law-breaky. This will be re-emphasised on the day. Any questions, give Dan a call on 07900 111025.

Gordon loses it

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:45:10 +0000

David Davis writes on the Guardian Comment is Free web site: There can be few more astonishing confessions in modern politics than the prime minister’s admission on Sunday that the government is unable to guarantee the security of our personal information on the state’s databases. This admission shatters all the previous claims that the government has [...]

Hypocrisy over war in DR Congo

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:42:37 +0000

In a recent article in the Independent newspaper, the seriousness of conflicts in and around DR Congo could not be plainer.But, as pointed out in this article by Get Loud: War Child Canada, the press often fail to point out the roots of the warfare due to colonial and corporate grabbing of land and resources that has been going on for centuries. Also it's a fact that the world's Top 5 arms producers are the members of the UN Security Council: US, Russia, France, UK & Germany. It's these Top 5 and China that have ensured Africa is awash with weapons and continue to sell arms. For example throughout the Cold War (1950-1989), the US delivered over $1.5 billion worth of weaponry to Africa. Many of the top US arms clients вЂ“ Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC) вЂ“ have turned out to be the worst in terms of violence. It's therefore more than sickening to see the leading politicians of Britain and France saying something must be done to help, which usually involves more guns and soldiers but no real change to poverty, and especially anything that would affect business as usual for corporations. At the same time our governments are making it harder for refugees to escape to Europe by their borders and identity policies and attitude to non-EU born people in general. No Borders Nottingham has and will continue to support Congolese asylum seekers who wish to stay in Britain whatever the government says about the safety or otherwise of DR Congo. It's also sickening to know that while Heckler & Koch, continue to distribute arms from their offices & depot right here in Lenton, their MP5 sub-machine gun and P7 semi-automatic pistol are being used in DR Congo. Also their older G3 assault rifle is the weapon of choice of the Janjaweed in Darfur/Sudan and were also used in the 2008 post-election massacres in Kenya. H&K is the worldвЂ™s second-largest manufacturer of handguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, machine guns and grenade launchers.

Menezes police 'out of control'

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:36:00 +0000

From the BBC websiteA commuter who was sitting near Jean Charles de Menezes on a Tube train has told his inquest that police gave no warning before killing him.Anna Dunwoodie said she believed officers were "out of control" and gave off a "sense of panic" before shooting.She claimed that the innocent 27-year-old appeared calm as a gun was held to his head.Mr de Menezes was killed in 2005 in south London by police who mistook him for a failed 21 July suicide bomber.Ms Dunwoodie was sitting two or three seats to the left of Mr de Menezes when he boarded the train at Stockwell Tube Station, south London on 22 July 2005.She told the inquest that, at the time, she thought the firearms officers pursuing Mr de Menezes were members of a gang.She said she did not hear officers shout any warning at the electrician."I would like to say that on whether I heard anything from police officers, I am very, very clear. I had absolutely no idea who they were and had they shouted I would have latched on to that," she said.She described the scene on the train as one of panic:"I think it was the man, who I now know to be a surveillance officer, (who) really seemed to be frightened or hyped up and when he was calling the other men they seemed... you know, when people are full of adrenalin and they move quickly and their movements are a bit jerky."I felt they were a bit out of control, that's what it felt like."'Shaken up'Discussing the moments before Mr Menezes' death, Ms Dunwoodie said he had closed his eyes and looked "almost calm"."I guess he had a gun pressed to his head and there was not anything he could do about it", she said.She told the jury at the Oval cricket ground that the police then shouted among themselves before the first shots "came very suddenly"."My first thoughts were that it was someone firing a stun gun."There was a break and it was my memory that there were more shots."She then explained how she was still "shaken up" when giving interviews to the police afterwards.She said: "I was really under pressure to look at a memory that was very recent and frightening."A surveillance officer, using the code name Ivor, had previously told the inquest that Mr de Menezes had stood up and walked towards him as police challenged him.But Ms Dunwoodie, who had been reading a book on the train, said she did not recall that happening.She said she felt "most frightened" of Ivor - who had also sat near her on the train.She said: "He did make me feel very nervous. My attention was drawn to him. He seemed to have stuff in his bag and there seemed to be a metallic noise."'Something illegal'She said Ivor then ran toward the door opposite herself and she later heard him shouting "there he is" while pointing at Mr de Menezes.Ms Dunwoodie added that she thought Ivor - whom it had previously emerged, had also been mistaken by police as their suspect - was her main threat.After the shooting she told how she thought "something illegal" had happened and said her first impulse was to call the police to let them know.Two eyewitnesses who sat near the carriage doors where firearms officers opened fire also said they had no recollection of any warnings from armed police.Robert Preston said he only heard police shouting "get down, get down"."It was quite a general statement and it could have applied to me," he said.Mark Whitby, a fellow passenger, added that that was all he heard too.He said: "There was not one mention of armed police."

Police 'did not identify Menezes'

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:51:45 +0000

Surveillance officers did not identify Jean Charles de Menezes as a suspect before he was shot by police marksmen, an inquest is told.

De Menezes was not identified as a suspect, says surveillance officer

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:35:00 +0000

From The GuardianA surveillance officer who was tailing Jean Charles de Menezes said today his team made no identification of the Brazilian as a suspect before he was shot by police marksmen.He tried and failed several times to get clear sight of the man's face before he boarded a bus to Stockwell London Underground station, he told an inquest into the death.Despite this his team leader was asked by the police control room to give a "percentage" of how likely it was that the man they were tailing was the suspect suicide bomber police believed him to be.The officer, known only as Ken, said: "I believe he said that it was impossible to do that but 'for what it's worth I think it's him'."Once De Menezes arrived at the underground station Ken tried again to see his face and told the jury he got a view of the man's right-hand side for one or two seconds.He followed him into the tube station, down the escalators and onto a train. He described how he pointed out De Menezes to a team of armed officers who then entered the train.But he told the jury "there was no identification from grey team (the surveillance team) at any time".The inquest had heard earlier from the firearms officer who shot De Menezes that a surveillance officer positively identified the young man as failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.The officer, using the codename C2 told the court: "I heard them say 'this is definitely our man'."Ken also told the court that armed officers shouted a warning of "armed police" loud enough for De Menezes to have heard before he was shot.He said that the firearms team were not inside the train carriage when they gave the warning but were coming through the open doors.The court had earlier heard from commuters who were sharing the carriage with the shot man that they heard no warning from plain-clothes officers before the shots were fired.Ralph Livock told the inquest that he had no idea whether the gunmen were police or terrorists when they boarded the Northern Line train on July 22 2005.His girlfriend Rachel Wilson said: "First I thought they were messing around, then I thought they were terrorists and it was only when I left the carriage and somebody moved me gently out of the way that I figured they must be good guys. Apart from that I just didn't know who they were."

UK changes tune on ID data test

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:14:57 +0000

Mark Ballard writes in The Inquirer: The UK Home Office has said it will not be using criminal data types to test the National Identity Register, a week after it said it would be using criminal data types to test the National Identity Register. The Home Office has arranged to borrow millions of fingerprint records from the [...]

The Irish dimension to the case against ID cards

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:07:07 +0000

A new briefing paper from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on the British National Identity Scheme highlights the dangers of the ID cards project.

Schneier sticks it to surveillance

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:30:22 +0000

Inglorious five-year snoop-plan Security guru Bruce Schneier has challenged the view that privacy and security are at loggerheads, suggesting the real debate is between liberty and control.…

Manchester No Borders 'pie' Phil Woolas after population control remarks

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:30:04 +0000

Custard pie in the face for Phil Woolas in Manchester... Immigration minister Phil Woolas was pied during a debate at the University of Manchester on 24th October following his remarks in the national press for more stringent population controls. The immigration minister Phil Woolas was first asked for his passport, then given an 'eco-nationalist award' and finally had a pie thrown in his face by a group from Manchester No Borders. Manchester NB also denounced his attempts to scapegoat immigrants for the ongoing economic and ecological crises. Read the full report and see a video on the Manchester No Borders website: When it's clearer than ever that the rich and powerful are responsible, by their greed, for economic and environmental woes, blame must be put where it's due. The ruling class has always used divide and rule to protect its position in society and all attempts to shift the blame must be exposed and opposed. Historically, both capitalism and the nation state have their origins in power and money grabbing ventures by a small minority (who ironically may also have immigrant origins like William the Conqueror and the Royal Family) who just love it when ordinary people turn on ourselves instead of recognising them as the true causes of poverty. Read more for a leaflet from Manchester No Borders. Follow this link for an analysis of the bogus 'overpopulation' argument.

De Menezes marksman accused of 'gross exaggeration'

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:46:00 +0000

From the Telegraph website.The police marksman who killed Jean Charles de Menezes was accused of "grossly exaggerating" his version of the shooting after realising that he had shot the wrong man, an inquest heard. The officer, codenamed C12, claimed he shouted "armed police" and only opened fire after Mr de Menezes moved towards him looking like he was about to blow himself up.But none of six other police officers who were within yards of the shooting heard the marksman issue any warning, an inquest heard.Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot dead inside Stockwell Tube station in south London on July 22, 2005 after being mistaken for Hussain Osman, one of four would-be suicide bombers who had tried and failed to blow themselves up on the city's transport network the previous day.C12 admitted that a series of errors and mistaken "assumptions" led to the shooting and that he himself had been in a position to detain Mr de Menezes before he got into the station.He described sitting in an unmarked car within "striking distance", less than 100 metres away, when Mr de Menezes got off a bus near the station entrance.But he failed to receive a series of instructions from commanders because radio communications were "awful".His superiors did not even know he was there and he had failed to tell them, the inquest heard.C12 said: "Why I did not tell them where I was I just cannot tell you. I was trying to listen to the radio, I had a lot going on, and if that is an error then I apologise for it."The officer said he did not have with him a picture of the suspect and he didn't know definitely what he looked like.He also didn't know that surveillance officers had already gone in to the Tube or where they were.He had picked up snippets of information from his malfunctioning radio and by mobile phone from colleagues.One of those was that firearms units were "moving though" and that indicated to him that the suspect had been positively identified as a suspected suicide bomber, he said.But Michael Mansfield QC, representing the De Menezes family, said no surveillance officer could remember saying that and there was no record of it.He said C12 had made a series of "assumptions" which led to him being consumed by a desire to "get rid of this man".Mr Mansfield suggested that C12 was "not in control," when he ran in to the station and on to a train.He suggested that when a surveillance officer pointed to the suspect C12 had made no assessment of the threat he posed before firing at his head.He said three surveillance officers codenamed Ivor, Geoff and Ken and three firearms officers codenamed C2, C5 and D9 had all entered the carriage when the shooting happened.Mr Mansfield said: "None of these remembers you shouting 'Armed police'. No civilian in a position to see it suggests that this happened."He also accused C12 of "embellishing " his story by suggesting that Mr de Menezes was wearing a "bulky" denim jacket.C12 said: "No, not at all, it happened as I recollect."He added: "It was the ultimate unknown threat. I was expecting a detonation at any time."The hearing continues.See also:Channel 4 News:

Peter Mandelson is telling half the oligarch story; ID cards will be next Labour deception

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:12:14 +0000

Philip Johnston, writing in the Daily Telegraph, analyses David Blunkett’s assertion that it is “economically illiterate” to suggest that savings would be made by abandoning plans for a national ID database: In 1995, a 10-year adult passport cost £18. Today, it will set you back £72. When the passport is combined with an ID card, the [...]

Immigration Minister Pied!

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:45:51 +0000

On Thursday, No Borders Manchester activists attended an event at Manchester University where the recently appointed Minister for Borders and Immigration, Phil Woolas was speaking. They first asked him for his passport, presented him with the very 1st ‘No Borders eco-nationalist award’, and then proceeded to chuck a cream pie in his face! Since becoming Border and Immigration Minister, despite [...]

My farewell plea to MPs: defend liberty

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 12:45:36 +0000

Simon Jenkins uses his final column in the Sunday Times to attack both the National Identity Scheme and the Intercept Modernisation Programme: Last week GCHQ lobbyists took to the press declaring that any opposition to Smith’s surveillance plan would be “disastrous” for national security. They even wheeled out the familiar back-up argument for those who might [...]

Privacy watchdog calls Home Office plans threat to British way of life

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:33:41 +0000

According to Out-law magazine: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said that a single database of phone and internet usage records would undermine the “British way of life”. The privacy watchdog has said that it will scrutinise Government plans for storing that information. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith last week talked for the first time about what the [...]