News online - current lead stories                                                         For full contents see: Statewatch News online with news, analysis, documentation and archives or What's New: which lists all new items on the website. The latest 20 lead items are listed below. New: Statewatch Sitemap EU: Major report from Statewatch and the Transnational Institute: NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf):127,192 copies downloaded. Executive Summary (pdf) and NeoConOpticon blog UK: Handcuff restraint of asylum seekers criticised (BBC News, link) and see: Report to the UK Border Agency on "outsourcing abuse" (link, pdf) EU: European Commission proposal: Proposal for a Directive on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings (pdf), Commission: Press release (pdf), Commission: Memo (pdf). See also: Plan to give suspects translation rights: Commission proposal would provide the right to interpretation during questioning and at trial (European Voice, link) and Defendants' rights caught up in EU institutional quarrel (euobserver, link): An EU diplomat commented: "The council regrets that the commission chose to table its own proposal, which unnecessarily duplicates our initiative and increases the procedural time needed for a result" Council of the European Union (27 governments): For full documentation see: News Online Updated: ACTA draft agreement: Joint statement: MEPs deplore Council's continued secrecy on ACTA (pdf) and see: Parliament threatens court action on anti-piracy treaty (euactiv, link): "The European Parliament defied the EU executive today (10 March), casting a vote against an agreement between the EU, the US and other major powers on combating online piracy and threatening to take legal action at the European Court of Justice.A strong majority of MEPs (663 against and 13 in favour) today voted against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), arguing that it flouts agreed EU laws on counterfeiting and piracy online." Background: Leaked ACTA draft reveals plans for internet clampdown - ISPs must snoop on subscribers or face being sued by content owners (Computerworld, link). Leaked Commission Note (pdf) and Leaked section of draft agreement (pdf): The EU (represented by the Commission) is taking part in negotiations on the drafting of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). These negotiations were launched in 2007 amongst an initial group of interested parties and then continued with a broader group of participants; to date those include Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States. See also: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) highly critical of proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA): Press Release (pdf) and Opinion: full-text (pdf). EU-USA: The Spanish Presidency wants to push for a strategic agreement between the EU and the USA in digital health-care (Spanish EU Council Presidency, link): "The Spanish Minister of Health and Social Policy, Trinidad Jiménez, met in Washington with her US counterpart, Kathleen Sebelius, and highlighted the desire of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union to push for a strategic bilateral agreement in digital healthcare. The aim is to create a scenario for clinical information exchange and technical interoperability between the project promoted by the Obama Administration and the European project." Draft question to the Council from Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert MEP (ALDE): Council pushing for healthcare records share with the US? (pdf) European Court of Justice: European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): EDPS welcomes Court of Justice's ruling strengthening independent position of data protection authorities (Press release, pdf): European Commission supported by EDPS v German government: Full-text of judgment (pdf) and the Opinion of the Advocate General (pdf) who advised the opposite view. Belgium: Developments and issues regarding Belgian regularisation policy (CIRÉ) EU Security Research: BAE Systems awarded EU contract to develop organised crime database UK: Home Affairs Select Committee report: The National DNA Database (pdf): "It is currently impossible to say with certainty how many crimes are detected, let alone how many result in convictions, due at least in part to the matching of crime scene DNA to a personal profile already on the database, but it appears that it may be as little as 0.3%—and we note that the reason for retaining personal profiles on a database is so that the person can be linked to crimes he/she commits later... it should be easier for those wrongly arrested or who have volunteered their DNA to get their records removed from the database." Italy: Harassment against migrants and Roma people Italy: NGOs criticise Italian government stance on harm reduction drug policies Spain/France: In-depth reports on the situation in detention centres for foreigners UK: Home Office: What perceptions do the UK public have concerning the impact of counter-terrorism legislation implemented since 2000? (link) DUTCH PRISON FOR BELGIANS: Under the European Arrest Warrant and the and the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters of 29 May 2000: EU doc no: 6921/10, pdf): "1 February 2010 saw the entry into force of an agreement between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium, under which the Netherlands puts at the disposal of Belgium a prison situated on Dutch territory (in Tilburg) for the purpose of enforcing Belgian sentences according to the rules of Belgian law." Full-text of agreement: Convention entre le Royaume des Pays-Bas et le Royaume de Belgique sur la mise à disposition d'un établissement pénitentiaire aux Pays-Bas en vue de l'exécution de peines privatives de liberté infligées en vertu de condamnations belges (pdf) EU: PRUM FRAMEWORK DECISION ON FINGERPRINTS: "Fishing expeditions" by large Member States leads to limits being imposed on automated searches for fingerprints on other states' national databases: In 2008 the Council of the European Union's Ad Hoc Group on Information Exchange urged restraint on the number of searches: "The varying scale of national databases, partly linked to population size, has led experts to doubt whether the databases of the less-populated States are able to deal with other States' searches. At times there are even concerns that databases may be damaged by overwhelming search volumes." (EU doc no: 14885/rev1/08, pdf). As this has not worked the Ad Hoc Group on Information Exchange has now laid down limits on the number of searches to be carried out: EU do no: 5860 rev1/10 (pdf). The big "offenders" would seem to be Germany, Spain and Italy (not figures given for the UK). German High Court Limits Phone and E-Mail Data Storage (Spiegel Online, link) Full-text of the judgment (German, link). See also: On the BVG ruling on Data Retention: “So lange” – here it goes again (link) EU Security Research: "NeoConOpticon" blog updated, see 1) BAE Systems awarded EU contract to develop organised crime database; 2) Droning on: more funding for covert EU unmanned aerial vehicle programme; 3) Governed by robots: ‘Border Security 2010' and ‘towards e-borders’ UK: Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee report: Annual Renewal of Control Orders Legislation 2010 (pdf): "We have serious concerns about the control order system. Evidence shows the devastating impact of control orders on the subject of the orders, their families and their communities." France/Algeria: Joint maritime surveillance and security operation EU: European Commission proposal to amend the Frontex Regulation: Proposal for a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) (pdf) plus Impact Assessment (SEC 149, pdf) and Summary of IA (SEC 150, pdf) France/Italy: "One day without us", day of struggle in support of migrants' rights on 1 March 2010 See also: France Urges EU to Tighten Mediterranean Borders (Inter Press Service, link) EU: Military Technology to Track Down Migrants? (Inter Press Service, link): "Arms manufacturers have been asked to advise an official European Union (EU) body on how their products can be used to stop asylum seekers entering the bloc’s territory" EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, Brussels, 25-26 February 2010: Press release, 25 February (pdf) and Council conclusions on 29 measures for reinforcing the protection of the external borders and combating illegal immigration (pdf) See also: France: Policy Ignores Deeper Questions of Migration (Inter Press Service, link) Background Note (pdf), "B" Agenda (pdf) and from now on there will be two "A" Points Agendas (Adopted without debate): "A" Points agenda: Legislative (pdf) and "A" Points agenda: non-legislative (pdf) See: Draft Internal Security Strategy for the European Union: "Towards a European Security Model (pdf) plus Press release on adoption of ISS (pdf) and see: Statewatch: EU state gears up for action: Internal Security Strategy & the Standing Committee on Internal Security (COSI) CHIP & PIN: Article by Steven J. Murdoch, Saar Drimer, Ross Anderson, Mike Bond: University of Cambridge, Computer Laboratory, Cambridge, UK Chip and PIN is broken (pdf): "In this paper we describe and demonstrate a protocol flaw which allows criminals to use a genuine card to make a payment without knowing the card’s PIN, and to remain undetected even when the merchant has an online connection to the banking network... and exposes the need for further research to bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical security of bank payment systems." UK: Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and subsequent legislation: Arrests, outcomes and stops & searches Quarterly update to September 2009 (pdf). Of 201 people arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 in the year to September 2009, 42 were arrested for non-terrorist offences and 96 were released without charge. 200,444 people were stopped and searched. UK-EU: Home Office to opt out of asylum claims EU directive (Guardian, link): "Home Office ministers are to opt out of a European directive which lays down minimum standards for the treatment of asylum claims because it would mean abandoning a fast-track process that leads to hundreds of asylum seekers being detained every year." EU: The first 1st reading "deal" of the new parliamentary session between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament: Draft Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 as regards movement of persons with a long-stay visa - Analysis of the final compromise text with a view to an agreement at first reading (pdf) and the report from the Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE): REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 as regards movement of persons with a longstay visa (pdf) Council of Europe: The future of the European Court of Human Rights: Reform of the European Court of Human Rights: joint declaration reached in Interlaken (Press release, pdf) and High Level Conference on the Future of the European Court of Human Rights Interlaken Declaration (pdf) EU: FRONTEX: Frontex Programme of Work 2010 (4MB, pdf) and see: Study on the feasibility of establishing specialised branches of Frontex (pdf) CIA RENDITION: Polish authorities deny allegations of FOIA campaigners: Poland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs denied statement of the Warsaw-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and the Open Society Justice Initiative providing fresh evidence of cooperation between the Polish Government and the CIA on Renditions). The Foreign Office spokesman described evidences presented by FOIA campaigners as 'speculations' and called for 'restraint' until the confidential investigation conducted by the National Prosecution Office was closed. The investigation was launched in August 2008 and, as a prosecutor in charge of the investigation pointed out, 'it should not be expected to draw quickly near the end'. Since 2006 Polish government officials have consequently claimed that the allegations of their involvement in the secret CIA rendition programme were unfounded. This time such a tough stance is hardly reliable given that proves of at least six CIA rendition flights which landed in Poland in 2003 have come from official flight records made available by the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA). Documents: Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) flight logs; HFHR/OSJI Explanation of Rendition Flight Records released by the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency See: Poland admits role in CIA rendition programme - Warsaw air control service confirms that at least six CIA flights landed at disused military air base in northern Poland in 2003 (Guardian, link) EU setting up intelligence "agency": The "Outcomes" (Minutes) of the Council's Article 36 Committee Article 36 Committee (11 February 2010, pdf) revealed that SITCEN (the EU's Joint Situation Centre intelligence-gathering unit) is to be "integrated" into the new EU External Action Service (EAS). This is confirmed in the euobserver story: EU diplomats to benefit from new intelligence hub (link). The Council of the European Union is planning to merge: SITCEN (110 seconded intelligence staff) which pools information, prepares reports and maintains 24/7 alert desk on open sources with two to three e-mails a day; the Watch-Keeping Capability (12 staff from police and armed forces) sends out alerts from the EU's 23 police-military missions around the world; and the Crisis Room (6 staff) operates a secure website with open source news on the 118 "active conflicts" going on globally together reports from the Commission's official 130 Delegations and offices based around the world: Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: "Mr Solana, the Council previous High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, was always frustrated because European Commission Delegations (Embassies) could not collect and act on locally gathered intelligence. To try and plug the gap he transferred SITCEN from the WEU and set up his own network of eleven Special Representatives (EUSRs) in different regions of the world. Now the merging of SITCEN, the Watch-Keeping Capability and the Crisis Room under the EAS marks the beginnings of an fully-fledged EU intelligence agency. We should be under no illusions. Despite the predictable denials it is only a matter of time before intelligence-gathering develops into intelligence-led operations with agents in the field acting to further and "protect" EU interests with its own version of MI6 or the CIA." - Full contents of Statewatch News online with news, analysis and documentation - In the News carries link to news coverage from across the EU - What's New covers all new items on the website Top reports 2004-2009 See: Tony Bunyan's column in the Guardian: View from the EU SPECIAL STATEWATCH REPORT: The Shape of Things to Come - the EU Future Group (Version.1.3) by Tony Bunyan: 51,774 copies downloaded. The report calls for a “meaningful and wide-ranging debate” before it is “too late” for privacy and civil liberties. The proposals set out by the shadowy "Future Group" set up by the Council of the European Union include a range of highly controversial measures including new technologies of surveillance, enhanced cooperation with the United States and harnessing the "digital tsunami". In the words of the EU Council presidency: "Every object the individual uses, every transaction they make and almost everywhere they go will create a detailed digital record. This will generate a wealth of information for public security organisations, and create huge opportunities for more effective and productive public security efforts." This major new report The Shape of Things to come (60 pages) examines the proposals of the Future Group and their effect on civil liberties. It shows how European governments and EU policy-makers are pursuing unfettered powers to access and gather masses of personal data on the everyday life of everyone – on the grounds that we can all be safe and secure from perceived “threats”. The Statewatch report calls for a “meaningful and wide-ranging debate” before it is “too late” for privacy and civil liberties. See also ongoing: Statewatch Observatory: The Stockhom Programme Statewatch publication: Border wars and asylum crimes by Frances Webber (38 pages, pdf - 4.685 copies downloaded: "When the pamphlet ‘Crimes of Arrival’ was written, in 1995, the title was a metaphor for the way the British government, in common with other European governments, treated migrants and especially, asylum seekers. Now, a decade on, that title describes a literal truth.... There is a frightening continuity between the treatment of asylum claimants and that of terrorist suspects. In the name of the defence of our way of life and our enlightenment values from attack by terrorists or by poor migrants, that way of life is being destroyed by creeping authoritarianism, and those values – amongst which the most important is the universality of human rights – betrayed." See also: Crimes of arrival: immigrants and asylum-seekers in the new Europe (12 pages, 1995, pdf). To order hard-copy see: Statewatch Publications EU: Major report on the: Criminalisation and victimisation of migrants in Europe (255 pages, pdf) directed by Salvatore Palidda: 16,909 downloads. EU: The dream of total data collection by Heiner Busch. Status quo and future plans for EU information systems Terrorist lists" still above the law by Ben Hayes EU: Secret trilogues and the democratic deficit by Tony Bunyan EU: Returns Directive: "Against the Outrageous Directive" speech given by Yasha Maccanico in EP Cementing the European state by Tony Bunyan, New emphasis on internal security and operational cooperation at EU level EU-SIS Schengen Infornation System Article 99 report by Ben Hayes Policing protests in Switzerland, Italy and Germany The surveillance of travel in the EU where everyone is a suspect by Tony Bunyan EU: Statewatch Report: Arming Big Brother: new research reveals the true costs of Europe's security-industrial complex by Ben Hayes (pdf, April 2006). The European Union is preparing to spend hundreds of million on new research into surveillance and control technologies, according to Arming Big Brother, a new report by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch. Press release (English) Press release (Spanish, link) Copy of full report (English, pdf) Copy of full report (Spanish, pdf) Hard copies of Arming Big Brother can be obtained from: The Transnational Institute, please send an e-mail to: wilbert@tni.org with your request. EU: "Unaccountable Europe" by Tony Bunyan (Statewatch editor) in Special issue of Index on Censorship: "Big Brother Goes Global" (December 2005) Europe: Launch of the European Civil Liberties Network (link) - The ECLN was launched on 19 October 2005 as a long-term project to develop a platform for groups working on civil liberties issues across Europe. A collection of "Essays in defence of civil liberties and democracy" was published to mark the launch the ECLN Global surveillance: Global coalition launch report and international surveillance campaign: Statewatch, with partner organisations the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Focus on the Global South, Friends Committee (US) and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (Canada) today publishes an in-depth report: "The emergence of a global infrastructure for registration and surveillance" (20 April, 2005). Statewatch report: Journalism, civil liberties and the war on terrorism (full-report/request printed copy) - Special report by the International Federation of Journalists and Statewatch including an analysis of current policy developments as well as a survey of 20 selected countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin Amercia, the Middle East and the USA (published World press freedom day, 1 May 2005) Statewatch analysis: The exceptional and draconian become the norm - G8 and EU counter-terrorism plans (updated 26 March 2005 pdf) Statewatch "Scoreboard" on EU counter-terrorism plans (pdf) agreed in the wake of the Madrid bombings. Our analysis shows that 27 out of the 57 EU proposals have little or nothing to do with tackling terrorism - they deal with crime in general and surveillance: Analysis in Spanish (March 2004) The road to "1984" Part II: Everyone in the EU will have to have their fingerprints taken to get a passport (February 2004) The Statewatch website Since its launch this website has had 9,153,619 user sessions and 41,963,021 "hits" (December 2009) In the year 2009 there were 1,263,573 user sessions with 7,305,161 "hits" Join Statewatch regular e-mail list for new stories: Join Statewatch news e-mail list Statewatch is registered under the Data Protection Act. Information supplied will be not be passed to third parties The Statewatch searchable database now holds more than 25,000 records (news, features, analyses and documentation): Search database If you use this site regularly, you are encouraged to make a donation to Statewatch to support future research. 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