GMES Security Service
[gmes.info] A number of areas in which security applications could benefit from the services offered by GMES have been identified. These areas are: Border surveillance; Maritime Surveillance; Support to EU External Action. In the area of Border Surveillance, the main objectives of the EU are to prevent unauthorised border crossings, to reduce the number of […]
WALL-E Look-a-Like Wins British Robot Showdown
[blog.wired.com] Over the past week, Copehill Down Village, the British Army’s urban combat training facility, saw its oddest contest ever — one that involved flying saucers, swarming robots, remote-control buggies, and inventors from all over the country. This was the Ministry of Defence’s Grand Challenge, to develop new technology for urban reconnaissance.
Malicious gossip could cost you your job
A recent landmark ruling by the High Court takes the UK one step closer to becoming an “informant society” along the lines of the former East Germany or Soviet Union. [theregister.co.uk] El Reg previously reported on the case of deputy head, John Pinnington, who was fired from his job when an enhanced criminal record background […]
Freedom, Security, Privacy – European Home Affairs in an open world („The Future Group“)
[statewatch.org] […] The timetable for a Programme following the Hague Programme is tight. In June 2009, a new European Parliament will be elected. In autumn 2009, the present European Commission will be replaced by a new College. In parallel, the Hague Programme will be coming to an end. Against this background, the proposal for a […]
Preempting Justice : Counterterrorism laws and procedures in France
[www.libertysecurity.org] The report looks at how France uses a vaguely defined ‘terrorism association offense’ to arrest large numbers of people based on minimal evidence. Human Rights Watch documented credible allegations that terrorism suspects are subjected to oppressive questioning in police custody, linked to a policy that delays a suspect’s access to a lawyer. Many suspects […]
Frattini asks for a European database containing the fingerprints and DNA of Roma children
‚If Europe does not adopt this solution, we will adopt it anyway‘ [statewatch] ‚The first way to protect a minor is to give him an identity and a document‘. The Italian foreign affairs minister, Franco Frattini, believes that a European database containing the fingerprints and DNA of all the children of the Roma ethnic group(*) […]
Internet coup! NETCU anti-protest guide hits the public domain
[bristle.wordpress.com] Oops! Police at the Climate Camp in Kent have dropped a clanger – or more specifically a copy of their demonstrators=turrists handbook, the NETCU Policing Protest Pocket Legislation Guide (“For Police Use Only”). NETCU? Who they? Well, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit “forms part of the national policing response to domestic extremism”, and […]
MMOG For Military Training
Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) for the military has been proposed by Army game-designer Dr. Roger Smith. "Potentially an MMOG could be created which adheres to the physical and behavioral reality of the world and provides an ‚always on‘ environment in which to execute training, something like World of Warcraft, but focused on the military […]
Deadly U.S. „buzzers“ fray nerves in Pakistan
[in.reuters.com] Pilotless U.S. drones armed with missiles have stepped up patrols over Pashtun villages on the Afghan-Pakistan border, hunting for Taliban and al Qaeda militants and fraying nerves below. Pashtun villagers living on the frontier call them "buzzers", and the aircraft have increasingly taken to the skies, causing sleepless nights and occasionally raining down death.
Keep Your Hands Off My Laptop
Unless You Got Probable Cause [huffingtonpost.com] The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its ruling on USA v Arnold this past Friday that Customs and Border Protection agents are free to seize your laptop at the border without probable cause. On July 10 the 9th Circuit denied the petition for en banc review of their […]
New Killer Drones Invade Airshow
[blog.wired.com] A slew of armed, unmanned aircraft were on display at last week’s Farnborough air show — some for the first time. The debuts included the Schiebel S100 Camcopter, kitted out as a hunter-killer with Thales‘ new Lightweight Multirole Missile. As the name suggests, the Camcopter was originally built with other payloads in mind, but […]
Killer Drone’s Iraq Debut
[blog.wired.com] The MQ-9 Reaper (pictured), a bigger version of the famed Predator drone, flew its first mission over Iraq on July 18, according to the Air Force. The armed Reaper deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 and first saw combat in the fall of that year. British officers compared the 5-ton bird to a "mini A-10." […]
The bloody battle of Genoa
[guardian.co.uk] When 200,000 anti-globalisation protesters converged on the Italian city hosting the G8 summit in 2001, all but a handful came to demonstrate peacefully. Instead, many were beaten to a pulp by seemingly out-of-control riot police. But was there something more sinister at play? And will the victims ever see proper justice?
2008 G8 summit public results on „Counter-Terrorism“
During the past years the United States and to a lesser extent the European Union have adopted a "counter-terrorism" policy that constitues a serious infringement of human rights, civil liberties and privacy right. One major vehicle for pushing this policy and forcing it on less powerful states have been the summits and workgroup meetings of […]
UK: Bluetooth is watching: secret study gives Bath a flavour of Big Brother
Covert monitoring system raises privacy issues Signals can be used to track mobile phone users [guardian.co.uk] Tens of thousands of Britons are being covertly tracked without their consent in a technology experiment which has installed scanners at secret locations in offices, campuses, streets and pubs to pinpoint people’s whereabouts. The scanners, the first 10 of […]
European Police Chiefs Task Force (EPCTF) Expanded Troika Meeting
[ue2008.fr] The European Police Chiefs Task Force (EPCTF) meeting will be held on 11 July 2008 at the Paris-Sorbonne University and will be jointly chaired by the general directors of police and national gendarmerie. The meeting will bring together the Chiefs of Police of the acting Trio Presidency of the Council of the European Union […]
G8: An Underevaluated Actor in the International Mobilisation against Transnational Organized Crime
[essex.ac.uk] The role of the G8 is under-studied within the current academic literature on international norms against transnational organized crime and more recently, against terrorism. This gap in the literature is essentially due to the lack of transparency of the G8’s activities and the high degree of confidentiality that surrounds the G8’s expertise in the […]
International conference: „The continuum of violence. Europe, from G8-2001 until now“
Tuesday 22 july 2008 | 5.30 Pm | Munizioniere di Palazzo Ducale, Genoa Download presentation and fact sheet (pdf) Speakers: Salvatore Palidda, sociologist, University of Genoa, Title: “Violence of Neo-con Powers”, Language: Italian Jean-Pierre Masse, sociologist and hacktivist, SciencesPo – Paris, Title: “Les multiples visages de la repression dans la France contemporaine” [The many […]
Countering Insurgency and Terrorism Summit 2009
The Swedish National Defence College and the UK Defence Academy debate effective measures to combat trans national threats. [ctsummit.com] “Countering insurgency and terrorism is a highly topical subject, and one on which thinking is fast-moving. This international conference will be an important opportunity for those who want to keep up-to-date with the latest developments to […]
Transportable autonomous patrol for land border surveillance (TALOS)
[cordis.europa.eu] The main objective of TALOS multidisciplinary project is to develop and field test the innovative concept of a mobile, modular, scalable, autonomous and adaptive system for protecting European borders. The conventional border protection systems are based mainly on expensive ground facilities installed along the entire length of the border used only to observe, detect […]