CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘surveillance’ Category

Government begins RIPA review: “The Government will review the use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), the law that governs state tapping of phone, email and internet use. The law will be looked at as part of a wider review of counter-terrorism laws.“

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

UK’s secret surveillance regime ‘does not breach human rights’: “

ECHR rules sneaky RIPA peeking perfectly proper

The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a claim that the UK’s Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) violates the human right to a private life. The UK’s rules and safeguards on covert surveillance are proportionate, said the court.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

UK’s secret surveillance regime does not breach human rights, rules ECHR: “The European Court of Human Rights has rejected a claim that the UK’s Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) violates the human right to a private life. The UK’s rules and safeguards on covert surveillance are proportionate, said the court.“

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Big Brother Watch manifesto makes plea for privacy: “

Look at yourselves, insists pressure group

The latest manifesto into the lists (pdf) comes not from a party standing at election, but from a pressure group.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretaps Were Illegal – NYTimes.com

By CHARLIE SAVAGE and JAMES RISEN
Published: March 31, 2010

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration’s effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W. Bush.

In a 45-page opinion, Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled that the government had violated a 1978 federal statute requiring court approval for domestic surveillance when it intercepted phone calls of Al Haramain, a now-defunct Islamic charity in Oregon, and of two lawyers representing it in 2004. Declaring that the plaintiffs had been ‘subjected to unlawful surveillance,’ the judge said the government was liable to pay them damages.

The ruling delivered a blow to the Bush administration’s claims that its surveillance program, which Mr. Bush secretly authorized shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was lawful. Under the program, the National Security Agency monitored Americans’ international e-mail messages and phone calls without court approval, even though the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, required warrants.

The Justice Department said it was reviewing the decision and had made no decision about whether to appeal. (more…)

Report names 'enemies of the Internet'(CNET)
A report by Reporters Without Borders, which fights for freedom of the press across the world, has cited several nations for their attempts to restrict freedom on the Net. The list of Internet enemies includes what Reporters Without Borders calls ‘the worst violators of freedom of expression on the Net.’ Those nations are Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. Turkey and Russia are also currently on Reporters Without Borders ‘Under Surveillance’ list. In Russia, the Kremlin has arrested and prosecuted bloggers and censored Web sites that it considers extremist. In Turkey, Web sites that discuss the army, the Kurds and Armenians, and other topics considered taboo are blocked. Further, two democratic countries are on the ‘Under Surveillance’ watch list: Australia, which has been trying to push through an Internet filtering system, and South Korea, which sets up laws that are imposing too many restrictions on Internet users.

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

German court rejects police data snooping store: “

Leaves Euro spooks in limbo

Germany’s High Court has told police and secret services that they must stop storing email and telephone data and delete information already collected.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Home Office spawns new unit to expand internet surveillance: “

One acronym to rule them all

Exclusive The Home Office has created a new unit to oversee a massive increase in surveillance of the internet, The Register has learned, quashing suggestions the plans are on hold until after the election.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

BBC News – EU to assess piracy detection software

A human rights watchdog has asked the European Commission to assess the legality of software being used to analyse file-sharing in the UK.

The software in question is called CView and will be used by ISP Virgin Media to identify legal versus illegal traffic on its network.

The EC has said it will monitor the use of the software, following a complaint from Privacy International.

Virgin Media countered that the software posed no risk to privacy.

Privacy International has concerns about the software, designed by monitoring firm Detica.

It utilises so-called deep packet inspection, which means that it can identify actual file-names, making it possible to accurately find out what content is legal and what is not.

According to Alexander Hanff, head of ethical networks at Privacy International, use of such software is in breach of current UK law.

‘Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) intercepting communications is a criminal offence regardless of what you do with the data,’ he said.

Mr Hanff said he would file a criminal complaint if Virgin Media deployed CView.

He said the software is similar to that used by ad firm Phorm, which developed technology to monitor individual’s web use in order to better target adverts.

Trials of the technology in the UK have been put on hold while the EC investigates how it was tested.

Legal service

The UK government is in the process of creating legislation that could see illegal file-sharers identified and, potentially, thrown off the network.

But this software will not do that job, said a spokesman for Virgin Media.

‘It was never designed to capture identities. This isn’t an answer for that,’ said Asam Ahmad.

Instead the software will be used to identify how much traffic on its network is illegal.

‘We want to understand what we can do to reduce illegal file-sharing. This will tell us things such as the name of the top ten tracks being shared as well as the percentage of legal versus illegal,’ said Mr Ahmad.

Virgin Media is about to launch its own music service.

‘Double-edged’

Mr Ahmad said no date had yet been set for the trial but told BBC News it will monitor traffic on three peer-to-peer networks notorious for trading illegal as well as legal software; Gnutella, eDonkey and BitTorrent.

He admitted that potentially 40% of Virgin Media’s customers could have their data scrutinised and confirmed that it has no plans to inform them beforehand.

He also conceded that it would not be technically difficult to link up deep packet inspection technology with the IP addresses which would identify individuals but stressed that was not the plan currently.

‘These mandates have not yet been set and when it comes down to identifying individuals or prosecuting them, that is a role for content providers, not us,’ he said.

Virgin Media is involved in an ongoing education campaign, which includes sending letters to those identified as downloading illegal content on its network.

Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband news site ThinkBroadband, said the trial could be ‘double-edged’.

‘If Virgin can form a baseline for its ‘illegal’ P2P traffic, it can see how much effect any legislation has, and perhaps plan better for the letter forwarding side of things,’ he said.

But he pointed out that Virgin Media is not alone in using deep packet inspection – BT has been doing it for years, he said.

‘It is possible they may be doing exactly what Virgin are doing,’ he said.

Telephone tapping in Turkey; a measure to intimidate the judiciary?: “

The issue is tapping of telephones and other electronic communications between the citizens of Turkey. The problem reached scandal proportions with revelations that judges, prosecutors and even Turkey’s Supreme Court was being bugged.

It all began in July 2005 when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan passed amendments to the laws governing the functioning of the police, intelligence services and the gendarmerie allowing them to tap telephone conversations without a court order. The same amendment also set up a unit called Telecommunications Directorate (TIB) that was given the task of overseeing the wire tapping both in telephone and internet connections.

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(Via SantralHaber Haberleri.)