UK Security Agencies Unlawfully Collected Data For 17 Years, Court Rules (theguardian.com) 56
British security agencies have secretly and unlawfully collected massive volumes of confidential personal data, including financial information, on citizens for more than a decade, top judges have ruled. The Guardian adds:The investigatory powers tribunal, which is the only court that hears complaints against MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, said the security services operated secret regimes to collect vast amounts of personal communications data, tracking individual phone and web use and large datasets of confidential personal information, without adequate safeguards or supervision for more than 10 years. The ruling said the regime governing the collection of bulk communications data (BCD) -- the who, where, when and what of personal phone and web communications -- failed to comply with article 8 protecting the right to privacy of the European convention of human rights (ECHR) between 1998, when it started, and 4 November 2015, when it was made public. It said the holding of bulk personal datasets (BPD) -- which might include medical and tax records, individual biographical details, commercial and financial activities, communications and travel data -- also failed to comply with article 8 for the decade it was in operation until its public avowal in March 2015.
Since when? (Score:3)
Secret police were never bound by law in any history book I've read.
Re: (Score:3)
What self-serving government is gong to hold accountable the agencies that give it so much power?
Re:Since when? (Score:4, Informative)
In the UK and EU in general the government, even the secret service, must abide by the European Charter on Human Rights. That includes things like not torturing people, not locking them in a hole without charge or reason, and not violating their privacy without good reason.
The issue here is that bulk data collection violated the privacy of innocent people on a massive scale for years.
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The ultimate 'watchers' are simply the best of the bunch. Just like the Alpha male gets the female, so does the Alpha agency.
In that sense.. we still live in the jungle, and this whole freedom and rights thing is just a pretty backdrop to keep the masses pacified.
Re:Since when? (Score:4, Informative)
Unfortunately, even if they don't abide, nobody really gives a shit.
I mean, has something happened after it was discovered that CIA abducted people and tortured them at black sites in Romania and Poland, with the knowledge and help of the respective governments? Nope.
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It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that if you are on a governments "watch" ie shit list, your choice to wipe with Charmin this morning was carefully evaluated.
*Note: All citizens are on said watch list
If you are on a government's hit list, you died in that bathroom of 'natural causes"
Brexit not a factor (Score:2)
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Do they still only answer to secret courts?
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Super. How many of those violating the law will serve serious prison time? I'm guessing none. In other words, the law is useless bullshit specifically designed to placate a population of sheep who don't actually give a shit. Don't worry, we've got the same thing here.
Can anyone please point out a government anywhere in the world where everyone at all levels are truly accountable for their actions and face real and lasting consequences for violations of the law under color of authority? I'm not talking about
Judgement gives no protections! (Score:5, Insightful)
And, more importantly, it doesn't say who, how, or when the individuals responsible for the initial collection and later usage of those data will be prosecuted and/or fined for their actions.
So basically this is, "yup, we have your data and you know about it. Tough shit."
Sad.
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Big Brother takes what it wants
Big Brother makes no apologies
Big Brother does not give back anything
Don't piss of Big Brother
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*off
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Alter the "take" part. All the US and UK have is digital collection. Give them what they want in full everyday. Send a cell phone on a trip everyday with boring friends.
Use the internet in full to paint a really bland, safe, boring picture of everyday interests and interactions. Go for that full basement dweller with every search, CC payment or ISP listed email linked forum post.
Buy boring
After years of digging... (Score:2)
It has been determined that the admin account for these agencies is james.bond007
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It happens everywhere, or, ALMOST everywhere. You only hear about it in the media in some countries. Or the government is not held accountable and expected to be spying on the citizens in some countries.
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Capability. "Black and Brown countries" didn't build the global telecommunications network.
And the penalty is... (Score:1)
Correct statement (Score:2)
The problem is not so much state governments spying on their own people, which this addresses, but them having other states spy on their citizens and then "sharing" the information as "metadata" and treating assumptions as if they were facts, without being subject to critique.
You're all serfs.
Wait.
No.
Serfs have rights.
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No we are all just 1's and 0's, blowing like dust in the wind
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No we are all just 1's and 0's, blowing like dust in the wind
I'm bootstrapped DNA GCAT sequences combining infinitely in response to environmental conditions, actually.
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I'm sure the day is coming when big brother will require a sample of everyone's DNA, so they can keep complete copies of everyone in digital format. Then you will taken "offline" and powered up in a Virtual Machine. They could call it 'Second Life' or something appealing like that...
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You think they don't already have a sample of your DNA?
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They can have my DNA after they pry it from my dead cold... skin cells
Hummmm, maybe you are right
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As an immigrant, I'm willing to bet there is a 95% chance that they have a sample of my DNA secretly on record. There's probably better than evens chance of over 50% of the rest of the population being collected somehow.
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The only uncertainty is what is being done with said samples right now, and what plans are in the works
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I'm sure the day is coming when big brother will require a sample of everyone's DNA, so they can keep complete copies of everyone in digital format. Then you will taken "offline" and powered up in a Virtual Machine. They could call it 'Second Life' or something appealing like that...
We already have your DNA.
No, seriously, you have no idea how easy it is.
Been to the doctor ever?
Now, the question is, is it part of an international database without privacy protocols?
Is it searchable?
Is it identifiable?
Luckily for you, it isn't.
Usually.
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Is it searchable?
I'm sure Google is working on that...
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Is it searchable?
I'm sure Google is working on that...
All the stuff posted on Google - or Chrome - is.
All of it.
Including your "private" emails. All of them. Any gmail is included.
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Dear valued citizen,
Our records indicate that you have recently purchased a new webcam from an online retailer. We would like to **offer our assistance in properly placing the camera to provide you and your wife, Jane, who has a birthday coming up, and your daughter Jill, who has just found a new boyfiend, the best protection your tax dollars can buy. If you would like our ***assistance, please wave towards the sky.
Thank You, and have a double plus good day!
** To avoid an exaustive IRS audit and full body s
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nope
we're not just serfs, we've got five data collection centers actively spying on our own people, with no check of any kind on their illegal and unconstitutional activities
we make serfs look good
And? (Score:2)
"Dreadfully sorry, old chap. Won't happen again." (until after Article 50)
Re: And? (Score:1)
You give them too much credit. When it was revealed that GCHQ was collecting this data, there was no apology in the UK. In fact, David Cameron praised the agencies, calling them "geniuses"..
I think the idea here is we should be grateful for their protection. After all, we wouldn't want anything bad to happen, would we..?
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I'm sure the human "batteries" were well protected in the Matrix...
I'm sure the chicken's in the coup are well "protected" from the fox...
Either way, you are someone's meal, when the dinner bell rings. Perhaps not your physical body, but your rights to privacy, your freedom of speech, your right to disagree with the the goven-
**Ding!
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No, but a provision of membership of the EU is that you abide by it, as soon as article 50 is triggered and the two years are up there's no longer any legal barrier to us pulling out of it, something which Theresa May has long stated she wanted to do when she was Home Secretary. Now she's Prime Minister.
needed government transparency (Score:2)
Nice to hear that despite popular opinion the NSA/CIA were never alone in what they've been doing since WW2. There was a LOT of mud slinging at the US as info regarding what our 'secret police' have been doing in our name became available but as we all really understood, it was never just the US, every country has been practicing violating human rights and its' on internal laws in the name of security for a long, long time. While this doesn't make any of it better at least we can do away with the USA bashin
Really ? (Score:2)
I thought the US was by far the fattest place on the planet, damn I am sorry.
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.. and get back to just generic hypocritical government bashing.
What is so hypocritical about government bashing? I didn't vote for them. Actually, I think it's fair to say I have never voted on the side of a winning party. Pollsters really should start using me as a bellweather for losing political candidates.
poorly worded... (Score:2)
I chose my words poorly. I wasn't implying that bashing the government(s) was hypocritical, but rather that the governments themselves were hypocritical. Here in the land of Freedom, we are routinely required to give up our freedoms so that we can stay the land of the free, and the home of the brave. Speaking of losing battles, I just got my ballot today for the national election and I am considering which losing candidate to vote for. I won't vote Hillary or Trump, and though I am registered Green party I
So obviously.... (Score:1)
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Absolutely, some senior execs will be banished to a warm beach in the Bahamas for a week or 2 and they will be ordered to delete the data *eventually*.