An online petition demanding that the UK government repeal the newly installed surveillance laws made possible by the Investigatory Powers Bill has now passed the threshold for debate in parliament. It needed at least 100,000 signatures, but has continued on since then and is closing on on 120,000 at the …
Read More »Investigatory Powers Bill passes without a hitch
Update: Following a vote in the House of Commons, MPs have passed the Investigatory Powers Bill with a majority of 444 to 69. With backing from both Labour and the Conservatives, the opposition from the Liberal Democrats, Green Party and the Scottish National Party failed to make much of a …
Read More »Privacy International unveils staggering social surveillance in UK
Privacy International has managed to unearth thousands of documents which details decades of in-depth spying on British citizens by the country's intelligence agencies: GCHQ, MI5 and MI6. With minimum safeguards in place, those organisations have been snooping on British citizen's medical records, work histories and the online petitions they've signed, …
Read More »Apple joins firms calling for block of Snooper’s Charter
It didn't take long for politicians to jump on the recent attacks in Brussels, as further evidence that the Theresa May driven Investigatory Powers Bill, more colloquially known as the Snooper's Charter, is needed. This despite many of the world's major tech firms claiming otherwise and now Apple has joined the likes …
Read More »Investigatory Powers Bill re-drafted, more of the same
Yesterday saw the British government publish the latest draft of the Investigatory Powers Bill and though it promised to take into consideration the three committees that have attacked it, addressing their 100+ concerns, it hasn't. In many cases it has ignored major problems raised by various parliamentary bodies and has …
Read More »Despite calls for change, Snooper’s Charter to be rushed through
The Investigatory Powers Bill, Theresa May's revamped “Snooper's Charter ” as it has so often been termed, is set to be published in full later today, re-introduced to parliament on the 14th and voted on by the 22nd. This is far faster than it was ever meant to be pushed …
Read More »Watchdog attacks government over Investigatory Powers Bill
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament, a previously rather quite organisation has stepped out of the shadows to lambaste the British government over its proposed Investigatory Powers Bill, often termed the Snooper's Charter. It claims that the bill “lacks clarity,” and wants to see privacy protections, “form the …
Read More »Information commissioner attacks UK’s new Snooper’s Charter
Independent public data rights authority, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has attacked plans by the government to push through the Investigatory Powers Bill, often called the Snooper's Charter. It claims that there is little justification for some of the measures it wishes to push through and claims that it weakens …
Read More »Sky to introduce internet watershed for all new customers
Taking the initiative following the British government's interest in bringing forward the Investigatory Powers Bill, Sky has announced that it will be introducing its filtering system automatically for all new customers (it won't even ask first) and will even go so far as to instigate a watershed-like system. Before 9PM, …
Read More »Frankie Boyle takes Theresa May to task over government snooping
“We haven't had a Stasi or a Gestapo in Britain, so are intellectually lazy about surveillance,” said Tory MP David Davis recently, and that's something a lot of people seem to agree with. Following the publishing of the draft version of the Investigatory Powers Bill, proposed by Theresa May last week, …
Read More »Draft Investigatory Powers Bill will have ISPs record customer data
One of the big issues privacy campaigners and some ministers had with the ‘Snooper's Charter' or as it was officially termed, the Draft Communications Data Bill, was that it would have made it mandatory for ISPs to record their customer's online actions for up to 12 months. While that was shot …
Read More »Theresa May: Conservatives will reintroduce Snooper’s Charter
Although the last 12 hours of British politics have been surprising and tumultuous right across the country, it seems clear at this point that the Conservatives will remain in power and will by all likelihood, have a confirmed majority in government before long. That means that many of its plans …
Read More »Pirate Party attacks attempt to sneak through Snooper’s Charter
A proposal put in place by a group of lords for changes to the counter-terrorism bill, currently set for debate on Monday next week, has attempted to sneak in many measures from what was branded the “Snooper's Charter,” with the hope that they can pass it before the next general …
Read More »Nick Clegg to attack ‘Snooper’s Charter’
Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is set to outline his and his party's continued distaste for the nicknamed, “Snooper's Charter,” after PM David Cameron announced that last week's terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine was a sign we needed greater digital security. The “Snooper's Charter,” or …
Read More »NZ Prime Minister vs Kim Dotcom, who you got?
Internet mogul Kim Dotcom is set to go head to head with New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key, this Wednesday, in an intelligence and security committee to discuss potential changes to the GCSB bill, which would give the intelligence agency increased powers for surveillance of NZ citizens. Essentially, it would …
Read More »Despite public hate for PRISM, British MPs still want snooper charter
PRISM has been a major story across tech blogs the world over in recent days. In the wake of it we've seen a lot of reactions: Anonymous got mad and starting firing off hacks and leaked documents and people have signed petitions asking for amnesty for the NSA leaker Edward Snowden, …
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