Police force keeps tabs on officers
[janes.com] THERE will be nowhere for Met officers to hide after July when the force plans to introduce electronic tracking of all its officers. Supervisors will be able to pinpoint the exact location of every on-duty officer in the force area when it introduces the Automated Personal Location System.
French police probe Sarkozy bank fraud
[theregister.co.uk] French police are on the hunt for fraudsters who siphoned off money from the personal bank account of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The French head of state has filed a criminal complaint about unauthorised withdrawls from his account. News of the theft, which reportedly took place last month and involved modest amounts of money, […]
8th Regional Ministerial Conference on Illegal Migrations, Organised Crime, Corruption and Terrorism
The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Slovenia, together with the Federal Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Austria, is organising the 8th Regional Ministerial Conference on Illegal Migrations, Organised Crime, Corruption and Terrorism, which will be held on 15th and 16th October 2008 at Brdo pri Kranju. [mnz.gov.si] The aim […]
Criminalising dissent
US states are spying on political activists and classifying them as terrorists in order to stifle protest [guardian.co.uk] There’s an old saying that circulates in more politically radical circles: "Protest is patriotism." In this post-September 11 world of paranoia and political expediency, however, protest, an essence of democracy, has morphed into something perfectly Orwellian: terrorism. […]
Security services want personal data from sites like Facebook
Ministers say terrorists and other criminals are using free websites as a way of concealing their communications [guardian.co.uk] The government is drawing up plans to give the police and security and intelligence agencies new powers to access personal data held by internet services, including social network sites such as Facebook and Bebo and gaming networks. […]
Overt filming/photography
Author: A/Chief Inspector Alan Thompson, Policy and Performance, Operation Emerald. MPS This briefing paper has been prepared to inform members and staff. It is not a committee report and no decisions are required. Overt filming does not fall under the Regulation Investigative Powers Act 2000 provisions, rather it is governed by an MPS Policy and […]
The secret art of video sniffing
Real-life stars of CCTV [guardian.co.uk] We are in the back streets of Cambridge on a warm April afternoon, armed with a handheld video receiver, a small portable screen and a short antenna. There are eight of us: film-makers, activists and a couple of curious hangers-on, all about to engage in in film-making’s latest form of […]
Data Retention in the European Union: When a Call Returns
[ijoc.org/ojs] Retained (via digital storage) metadata of telecommunications acts change and transform into the content of something else: a surveillance program. Originating from telecommunications as a protocol necessity, the metadata is fed into a data space that freezes and manipulates the time axis. This measurement of post-9/11 governing is only one item in an assemblage […]
Financial crisis/ Landesbanki seizure UK: How terror law was used
[guardian.co.uk] […] The freezing order for the UK assets of the [Iceland] Landesbanki, including funds of the Icelandic government, was made under authority of the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. The act was the response to September 11 2001. It created powers to "freeze the assets of overseas governments or residents who have taken, […]
French president scuttles resolution by EU Parliament
[heise.de] French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked the president of the European Commission (EC), José Manuel Barroso to oppose a passage in what is known as the Telecoms Package. The passage states that cutting off users‘ internet access – for example, because of copyright violations – requires a prior decision from a judicial authority. After […]
More than 40 Earth Observation satellites to work for GMES
[gmes.info] ESA received 12 proposals offering to provide data from more than 40 Earth Observation satellites to GMES Services over the next years. Accordingly the fleet of GMES contributing missions is constantly increasing. ESA, the European Space Agency, is the coordinator of the space component of GMES and is ensuring the flow of Earth Observation […]
UK: Government will spy on every call and e-mail
[timesonline.co.uk] Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain. GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project. Hundreds of clandestine probes will be […]
«Freedom, Security and Justice: What will be the future?»: Commission launches wide-ranging public consultation to define future priorities relating to freedom, security and justice
[libertysecurity.org] Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for freedom, security and justice, has decided to launch a wide-ranging public consultation as part of the discussions that will result in the definition of priorities for the period beginning in 2010. «The creation of an area of freedom, security and justice is still under way, […]
The External Dimension of EU Justice and Home Affairs: Tools, Processes, Outcomes
[libertysecurity.org] This working document offers a conceptual framework for understanding the processes underpinning the external dimension of EU Justice and Home Affairs (ED-JHA). Practically, it defines how the export of JHA principles and norms inform the geopolitical ambitions of the EU, i.e. the use of space for political purposes, or the control and management of […]
Nicolas Sarkozy sends mounted police to patrol worst Paris schools
Mounted police are to start patrolling schools in Paris’s toughest suburb as gang violence among pupils increases. [telegraph.co.uk] France’s public security department, the DDSP (Direction départementale de la sécurité publique) announced the initiative following a bottle of acid being thrown at teachers last week. It was the latest in a series of attacks involving delinquents, […]
Europe’s GMES/Kopernikus: Dual-Use Eyes in Space
[defenseindustrydaily.com] Over at C4ISR Journal, “Europe’s declaration of independence” covers a EUR 2.3 billion (about $3.6 billion) Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) satellite constellation. EADS-Astrium will build the satellites, which fit into the growing trend toward “civil” satellites whose fine resolution and advanced sensors give them dual-use potential. Euroconsult in Paris predicts that […]
Security research for a safer world
[europa.eu] Making Europe more secure for its citizens while maintaining civil rights and liberties is the goal of European Security Research. By co-operating and coordinating efforts on a Europe-wide scale, the EU can better understand and adequately respond to risks in a constantly changing world and enhance its competitiveness at the same time. Innovative technological […]
Illegal database held by local police in Sada (Galicia)
[statewatch.org] On 14 August 2008, it surfaced that the local police in Sada (A Corunha) has been holding an illegal archive that includes personal data and photographs of people identified during night-time patrols, taken with a Polaroid and with a white wall in the background, as well as the personal details of some minors.
Albania selects Sagem Sécurité for secure ID documents
Sagem Sécurité (SAFRAN Group) announced today that it has won an international call for tenders from the Albanian Ministry of the Interior to set up a production and distribution concession for electronic passports and identification cards. Sagem Sécurité will supply a complete secure ID document production system, based on its latest-generation Automated Fingerprint Identification System […]
New airport screening ‚could read minds‘
US security officials could soon be screening potential terror suspects with a new type of technology capable of detecting "hostile intent". [telegraph.co.uk] The Department of Homeland Security is testing a type of body scanner that seeks out invisible clues that a person might be harbouring criminal intent, such as raised body temperature, pulse and breathing […]