Civil liberties - new material (61)
01 November 2005
Mitteilungen der Humanistischen Union e.V. No. 190, III/2005, pp 28. This issue of the newsletter of the German civil liberties group explains the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on the illegality of preventative interception of telecommunications and its impact on Bavaria's police regulation. It also includes a legal assessment of the decision of the Constitutional Court that annulled the German law implementing the European Arrest Warrant as well as the HU's campaign against the attempt by the regional government of Lower Saxony to withdraw the non-public elements of data protection from the remits of its data protection officer namely, to transfer the control of adherence to data protection rules in the private sector to a government department (regional interior and sports ministry). Available from info@humanistische-union.de
Crude Designs: The rip-off of Iraq's oil wealth, Greg Muttitt. PLATFORM, November 2005, pp46. This important report is published by PLATFORM, with Global Policy Forum, the Institute for Policy Studies (New Internationalist Project), the New Economics Foundation, Oil Change International and War on Want and reveals how planned oil policy in Iraq, originating in the US State Department, allocates the majority of the country's oil fields (64%) for development by multinational oil companies. Philip Thornton, in the Independent newspaper, has estimated that this "privatisation" will cost Iraq US$200bn. Available at http://www.waronwant.org./?lid=11112
Keeping Broadcasting Public: The BBC and the 2006 Charter Review, Tom O'Malley. Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, September 2005, pp36. This pamphlet considers the 2006 review of the BBC's charter and argues that community groups, trade unions and local political parties should intervene in the debate.
MISC - Multi-systems & Internet Security Cookbook. Issue 1, Oct-Dec 2005, pp 82, EUR 8,50. First issue of a new bi-monthly German language computer magazine offering advice on practical defences to interception and laws relating to security. One central problem of technology and security is that software intended to fend off interception can also be used for interception (dual principle); this issue concentrates on the limitations of anti-virus programmes, intrusion prevention and detection systems and personal firewalls. Regular features cover new technological developments in IT security. Available from redaktion@miscmag.de.