—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
Snoopers’ Charter 2.0: IP Bill passed by Parliament and will become law within weeks
November 16, 2016
THE INVESTIGATORY POWERS BILL (IP Bill), which has been some 10 years in the making in various forms, has been passed by Parliament. The so-called Snoopers’ Charter was passed by the House of Lords today following a final debate examining various amendments. The Bill will therefore become law within weeks, legalising a number of secret service activities that were ruled unlawful only in October. Jenny Jones, Green Party member of the House of Lords, claimed that Parliament had “given our security services unprecedented powers to spy on us”.
Julian Huppert, the former Liberal Democrat MP who lost his Cambridge seat in the General Election last year, criticised the Conservative and the Labour parties for uniting to push it through. The law will require internet and phone companies to store comprehensive records of websites visited and phone numbers called for 12 months, and to enable police, security services and multiple other public sector bodies to access those records on demand. It will also provide the security services with the legal power to bulk collect personal communications data, and give police and security services the explicit power to hack into, and bug, computers and smartphones. These powers will largely require only the approval of the home secretary.
Visit source for more on this story
SOURCE = The Inquirer
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
Snooper’s Charter is set to become law: how the Investigatory Powers Bill will affect you
November 16, 2016
After more than 12 months of debate, jostling and a healthy dose of criticism, the United Kingdom’s new surveillance regime is set to become law. Both the House of Lords and House of Commons have now passed the Investigatory Powers Bill – the biggest overhaul of surveillance powers for more than a decade. Now the bill has been passed by both of these official bodies, it is almost law. Before it officially is adopted, however, it will need to receive Royal Assent, which is likely to be given before the end of 2016 (to match the government’s intentions and ahead of existing surveillance laws expiring).
Hacking power
For the first time, security services will be able to hack into computers, networks, mobile devices, servers and more under the proposed plans. The practice is known as equipment interference and is set out in part 5, chapter 2, of the IP Bill. This could include downloading data from a mobile phone that is stolen or left unattended, or software that tracks every keyboard letter pressed being installed on a laptop.
Web records
Under the IP Bill, security services and police forces will be able to access communications data when it is needed to help their investigations. This means internet history data (Internet Connection Records, in official speak) will have to be stored for 12 months. Communications service providers, which include everything from internet companies and messenger services to postal services, will have to store meta data about the communications made through their services.
Visit source for more on this story
SOURCE = WIRED
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
Click to access Draft_Investigatory_Powers_Bill.pdf
—————————————————————————–
Investigatory powers bill gets Lords Ping Pong reading – What is it?
November 16, 2016
It would allow police and intelligence officers to see the Internet connection records without a warrant.
Described as an ‘authentic May bill’ from when Prime Minister Theresa May was Home Secretary the bill seeks more powers for monitoring internet behaviour and use. Peers are expected to consider Commons amendments on public telecommunications systems, interception without lawful authority and civil liability. The Bill passed its first commons vote in March 2016 and moved to committee. The bill passed in June with Labour support after negotiations with the government on bulk data collection. The bill will have a Ping Pong debate in the House of Lords.
The bill proposes new powers for police forces and UK intelligence agencies for tracking web use and interception of communication. It also proposes the allowance of bulk collection of data on communications and bulk interception. The establishment of a new Investigatory Powers Commission to oversee the use of invepowers. The bill would require service providers to retain ‘connection records’ of UK internet users for one year – this would record which web sites were visited but not which pages and not the full browsing history.
Visit source for more on this story
SOURCE = CBR
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
IP Bill Is Most Extreme Surveillance Law Ever Passed in a Democracy
November 3, 2016
The U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Bill, also known as the Snooper’s Charter, is an extraordinary document. It grants the state the ability to harvest information in bulk and to process and profile it without suspicion. Companies can be compelled to hack their customers and weaken their security systems. Innocent people’s devices can be hacked in “bulk” in order to get closer to unspecified targets.
All of these practices appear to have existed for many years, in secret and without a Parliamentary vote. Hidden creative interpretations of our existing laws allowed so-called “bulk powers” to gather information about millions of people, secretly tap internal cables belonging to Google or Yahoo! and to hack foreign companies, such as Belgium’s national telecoms provider, turning them into Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) surveillance conduits. The only reason we know, of course, is because of Edward Snowden’s actions, revealing what the U.S.’s NSA and Britain’s GCHQ were up to.
Visit source for more on this story
SOURCE = Newsweek
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
Press freedom danger if MPs vote in section 40 by the back door
October 27, 2016
Bear with me on this. I have to get through a little bit of recent history before I reach the point. I’m going to risk the devil-in-the-detail cliché because it is so apt. For the last couple of weeks, several newspapers have been getting into a lather about the possible triggering of section 40 of the crime and courts act. Editorial writers and columnists decried it as a threat to press freedom. It is, said the Daily Telegraph, “a pernicious measure that would see libel costs awarded against any newspaper which is not a member of a government-approved regulator”
It would mean that even if a paper won a legal action, successfully defending itself against a claim, it would have to pay the claimant’s costs. The Daily Mail called it “an appalling piece of legislation”. The Times argued that it sought “to corral independent news organisations into a form of state-backed regulation that is itself inimical to freedom of expression”. In company with most newspapers, it was sticking by the regulator set up by publishers, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), which has refused to seek official recognition under the royal charter created in the wake of the Leveson inquiry.
Visit source for more on this story
SOURCE = The Guardian
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
UK Lords Weigh ‘Illegal Spying’ Ruling Over Snoopers Charter Powers
October 31, 2016
SOURCE = Sputnik
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–
4TheRecord 