International Law

I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist !

Posted on August 12, 2009
Obviously inspired by the Icelanders are NOT Terrorists" campaign, which highlighted just how inept and internationally embarrassing Gordon Brown and his henchman Alistair Darling's mis-handling of the Icelandic banking crisis, there is now another protest against this Labour government and its army of jobsworth apparatchik bureaucrats, who are making life hell for ordinary, law abiding photographers (i...

New Enemies - part 3 of BBC Radio 4 - MI6: A century in the shadows

Posted on August 10, 2009
The last part of the 3 part BBC Radio 4 series MI6:A century in the shadows entitled New Enemies, has provided a few glimpses into the current world of UK Government "intelligence". However, as is always the case, this programme raises more questions than were answered by the senior current and former heads of the Secret Intelligence Service, Joint Intelligence Committee, diplomats, and politicians etc...

ACPO policy: The Management and Use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Posted on August 01, 2009
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has published: The Management and Use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (.pdf 892Kb) The policy advice on the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), is mostly common sense, especially regarding actual roadside ANPR with at least two other mobile patrol vehicles to actually stop and search vehicles which have been flagged up by the ANPR / Police National Computer / Local Intelligence database system...

ACPO policy on ANPR: The Management and Use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Posted on August 01, 2009
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has published: The Management and Use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (.pdf 892Kb) The policy advice on the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), is mostly common sense, especially regarding actual roadside ANPR with at least two other mobile patrol vehicles to actually stop and search vehicles which have been flagged up by the ANPR / Police National Computer / Local Intelligence database system...

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Home Office: UK identity card image unveiled

Posted on July 30, 2009
The Home Office has announced: UK identity card image unveiled The ID card image shows the information contained on the face of the card, including photograph, name, date of birth and signature, and the card's unique design. It will hold similar information to that currently contained in the UK passport as well as a photograph and fingerprints on a secure electronic chip - linking the owner of the card securely to their unique biometric identity...

Which was worse - the MI6 website spelling mistakes or the MI5 website Cross Site Scripting vulnerability ?

Posted on July 29, 2009
The mainstream media like the Mail on Sunday, and The Sun, quoting the Conservative party spokesman and former military officer Patrick Mercer MP, have pointed out the embarrassing spelling mistakes made on the Secret Intelligence Service MI6 website Frank, a security officer, might have been expected to know there aren't three Ls in patrollling while, elsewhere, drivers taken on for chauffering duties (as opposed to chauffeuring) will be carrying out saftely checks and graduates can expect to have a great carees after joinging the service...

Gordon Brown maintains the dilution the Wilson Doctrine again

Posted on July 25, 2009
Buried amongst the flurry of Government publications on the last day before the deliberately extended Parliamentary Summer to Autumn Recess, was Prime Minister Gordon Brown's latest utterance on the Wilson Doctrine. UPDATE: there were, by our count, an astonishing 1463 Parliamentary Written Answers published on this Last Day Before the Summer Recess...

RIPA Commissioners Annual Reports for 2008

Posted on July 22, 2009
Regulation of Invesigatory Powrs Act 2000 (RIPA) Commissioners Annual Reports for 2008 (self censord, with a confidential annex): Report of the Intelligence Services Commissioner for 2008 - The Rt. Hon. Sir Peter Gibson Report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner for 2008 - The Rt...

Terrorism Threat Level = SEVERE - what is anyone doing any different from before ?

Posted on July 21, 2009
Yesterday the Security Service MI5, dutifully alerted us via email, that the Terrorism Threat Level had been reduceda notch from SEVERE to only SUBSTANTIAL Current threat level The current threat level is assessed as SUBSTANTIAL (as of 20th July 2009 - see threat level history for previous changes)...

How they do Lawful Interception of mobile phones and broadband internet in Switzerland

Posted on July 20, 2009
Pending the publication of the RIPA Commissioners' Annual Reports, which might possibly be online on Tuesday or Wednesday, we would like to remind journalists, broadcasters and bloggers etc. not to confuse the meaningless statistics on the number of Communications Data requests (hundreds of thousands ? How many Subscriber Details, how many Location Data request, how many full Communications Traffic Data history requests ?) , with the meaningless statistics about the number of electronic communications Interception Warrants and Certificates (a couple of thousand ?)...

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill - SOCPA to be replaced by Public Order Act powers in 250 metre Area around Parliament Square

Posted on July 20, 2009
ParliamentProtest.org.uk blog - Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill - repeals SOCPA ss 132-138, but substitutes new enabling powers in a 250 metre Area around Parliament Square The Labour Government has today published its long awaited Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill The Good News - the abhorrent and undemocratic requirement for Prior Written Authorisation by the Police and arbitrary Restrictions on small or spontaneous demonstrations, near Parliament seems to be on its way to being repealed...

Satellite jammers in Iran ?

Posted on July 20, 2009
Are these pictures of satellite jamming equipment on the top of the huge Milad Tower in Iran ? Or are they just mobile phone antennas ? According to Tehran Bureau - Jamming devices ? (4 more detailed pictures) From an Iranian source in the Middle East [unconfirmed] | "Satellite jamming devices (manufactured locally by Saberin Co...

RIPA Commissioners Annual Reports to be published on Tuesday 21st July 2009, just as Parliament breaks up until 13th October

Posted on July 17, 2009
The Labour Government, fearful of by-election results, public opinion polls, the media, the Opposition and some of its own backbenchers, has reduced the amount of time available for Parliamentary scrutiny and "Westminster Village" media interest, by sneakily and unnecessarily extending the Summer Recess from the end of business this Tuesday 21st July until Tuesday 13th October i...

National Policing Improvement Agency annual report and accounts 2008-09 - mobile handheld computers, ANPR database, DNA database, PNC, IMPACT, Aircell for the Tube, Prüm

Posted on July 15, 2009
Reading the National Policing Improvement Agency annual report and accounts 2008-09 we were reminded of our previous Spy Blog article: Police Receive £50 Million For 10,000 Hand Held Computers i.e. £5,000 each - are they gold plated ? - new window">Police Receive £50 Million For 10,000 Hand Held Computers i...

BBC Radio 4 - MI6: A Century in the Shadows - Monday July 27th 2009

Posted on July 12, 2009
The BBC have emailed to suggest that this forthcoming radio programme might be of interest to Spy Blog readers, especially with the recent announcement of the appointment of Sir John Sawers as the incoming Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, and the Centenary of "the decision made by the Committee for Imperial Defence in 1909 to create a Secret Service Bureau...

"suspect your neighbours" Climate of Fear propaganda posters campaign cost £1.7 million, Terrorism Hotline costs £120,000 a year

Posted on July 11, 2009
According to a Written Answer by the Home Office Minister Admiral Lord West of Spithead, the

Metropolitan Police Service incomplete "war on photographers" advice

Posted on July 11, 2009
The Register reports: Met warns officers off photographers The return of copper plate photography? By John Oates Posted in Policing, 9th July 2009 12:59 GMT The Metropolitan Police has issued guidance to its officers to remind them that using a camera in public is not in itself a terrorist offence [...

Reminder: Home Office RIPA CoP Con closes today

Posted on July 10, 2009
There is still time to send in your response (via email) to the Home Office Public Consultation on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: Consolidating orders and codes of practice which closes officially today, Friday 10th July 2009. Ignore the attempt to only focus on the official Questions, and feel free to tell the Home Office your positive suggestions about, and constructive criticisms of, the current mess of Regulations...

Facebook, Mail on Sunday and Sir John Sawers incoming Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6

Posted on July 05, 2009
The Mail on Sunday has another exclusive story about an aspect of data privacy and security, which are two ides of the same coin: MI6 chief blows his cover as wife's Facebook account reveals family holidays, showbiz friends and links to David Irving By Jason Lewis Last updated at 11:43 AM on 05th July 2009 The new head of MI6 has been left exposed by a major personal security breach after his wife published intimate photographs and family details on the Facebook website...

Alan Johnson lies about ID Cards and £1.2 billion a year identity fraud

Posted on July 02, 2009
Spy Blog shares the sentiments and analysis published by Longrider in: Well, That Didn't Take Long... This deconstructs the Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson's appalling article in The Guardian We need identity cards, and soon. The claim that "Identity fraud" somehow costs the UK economy "£1...

UK Cyber Security Strategy - even more bureaucracy, but no financial budget, legislative power or democratic accountibility

Posted on June 27, 2009
Back in November 2007, Spy Blog commented: Countering terrorism with more quangos - more detail of Gordon Brown's security statement The Labour Government has now published, without bothering to consult the general public, its first public UK Cyber Security Strategy, "coincidentally" in the same week as the US government re-launched their own military Cyberspace Command plans...

Tor relays and exit nodes for Iran, and for the rest of us

Posted on June 21, 2009
The Twitterverse and the mainstream media seem to be convinced that Twitter and Facebook etc. are important in getting first hand reports and images and videoclips, past the Iranian government censors. Others acknowledge that these have helped to spread the story in the West, but are a bit more sceptical about what is actually being used successfully in Iran at the moment, They are also rightly critical of the pointless attempts at Denial of Service attacks on Iranian government websites etc...

NightJack blog versus The Times newspaper - are there wider implications for anonymous sources and writers ?

Posted on June 17, 2009
Some sections the UK political blogosphere and of the newspapers, are discussing the implications of the recent failed attempt by a blogger to obtain an injunction preventing The Times newspaper from publishing his name as the author of an "insider,"on the job" blog based on his experiences as a serving Police Detective Constable See the ruling by Mr...

London School of Economics: Briefing on the Interception Modernisation Programme

Posted on June 16, 2009
Researchers from the Policy Engagement Network, based in the London School of Economics Information Systems and Innovation Group, have produced a 57 page report, which is essential reading for anyone worried about the Home Office's EU Directive based mandatory Communications Traffic Data Retention laws, and their vague plans for extending this even further the Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP), the review of Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) codes of practice and legislation ...

Sir John Sawer KCMG appointed as the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service MI56

Posted on June 16, 2009
Today' saw the announcement of the appointment of Sir John Sawers KCMG as the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6 He is presumably now in the process of being briefed, to take over this role, when the present incumbent Sir John Scarlett retires in November...

ID Card scheme function creep - sneaky compulsory registration of mobile phones by the back door ?

Posted on June 15, 2009
Although it seems that the Labour Government has delayed the Parliamentary rubber stamping, originally scheduled for this Wednesday, to sometime later, perhaps next month, a couple of the Secondary legislation Draft Statutory Instruments which list some more of the the devilish detail of the National Identity Register compulsory centralised biometric database and ID Cards scheme are now available online...

Will Home Secretary Alan Johnson bother to listen to opponents of the ID Cards scheme, during his supposed review "by the end of the summer" ?

Posted on June 14, 2009
The Sunday Times seems to have been anonymously briefed again by Home Office and Downing Street spin doctors. Why does this Labour Government persist with such media manipulation and propaganda ? What harm would it do for the Home Secretary to officially announce such a Review of the policy ? Why do they have to sneak it out via a Sunday Newspaper briefing ? The Sunday Times June 14, 2009 Alan Johnson eyes ID card U-turn Jonathan Oliver, Political Editor ALAN JOHNSON, the home secretary, has launched an urgent review of the £6 billion identity card (ID) scheme, paving the way for a possible U-turn on one of Labour's flagship policies...

The Guardian reveals details of the mechanics of the failed Hotmail plot by the anti-Gordon Brown faction of Labour MPs

Posted on June 11, 2009
The Guardian has a follow up article giving some details of the mechanics of the unsuccessful "Hotmail plot" by the anti-Gordon Brown faction of Labour Members of Parliament Why plot to oust Gordon Brown failed The rebels switched from email to texts on a disposable mobile but bid to oust PM was doomed * Allegra Stratton, political correspondent * guardian...

Home Office ministers re-shuffled

Posted on June 09, 2009
Gordon Brown has handed the poisoned chalice of the post of Home Secretary to Alan Johnson, presumably to diminish his chances of becoming Labour party leader, after Gordon Brown is removed or resigns. Johnson is now the 6th Labour Home Secretary since 1997,and we have no expectation that he will be any more competent than his predecessors...

HMRC tax records centre left unguarded by Mapeley, who also run the Passport / ID Card interrogation centre buildings

Posted on June 09, 2009
The Daily Record reports: Nightwatchman left tax files centre open and unguarded while he sneaked off for a burger Jun 9 2009 By Stephen Stewart A HUNGRY security guard left highly sensitive files at risk while he went in search of a McDonald's. The nightwatchman quit his post at the Customs centre in Dundee and propped open a door so he could get back into the building as he had no keys...

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