By MICHAEL SETTLE | A new system should be introduced to ensure that the growing number of CCTV cameras are used properly, Ann McKechin, the Labour MP for Glasgow North, will propose in the House of Commons this week. She said: "Seventy percent of CCTV is operated by private companies. There are 16 different types of system operated by public authorities in the Strathclyde Police area. We need a system that ...

As the current spate of murders and knife-related attacks reaches a new high with another four violent deaths, we should maybe get things in a proper context. Millions of pounds are being committed to the prevention of terrorism, not least of which is the proliferation of CCTV cameras and the government's determination to force ID cards on us all. To my knowledge, few if any of these recent stabbings have ...

By D. PARVAZ | If you're wondering how desperate of a pickle we're in in our "war on terror," check out the following item: The Department of Justice is mulling over whether to let the FBI investigate U.S. citizens and legal residents without evidence of wrongdoing. Instead, investigators would be allowed to use racial profiling, targeting, according to The Associated Press, "Muslim, Arabs or other racial and ethnic ...

DAWN | The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit to stop the US government from conducting surveillance under a new wiretapping law that gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labour, legal and media organisations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential ...

What we learned in December, 2005 that George Bush and the telecoms were doing -- listening in on the private conversations of American citizens without warrants -- is a felony under clear U.S. law, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine for each offense. Anyone can go read the section of FISA -- right here -- that says that as clearly ...

Today, in a blatant assault upon civil liberties and the right to privacy, the Senate passed an unconstitutional domestic spying bill that violates the Fourth Amendment and eliminates any meaningful role for judicial oversight of government surveillance. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was approved by a vote of 69 to 28 and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush shortly. This bill essentially legalizes the president’s unlawful warrantless ...

By Robin Turner | USING CCTV cameras to spy on dog owners who fail to clear up their pets’ mess is perfectly acceptable, Wales’ most controversial police chief claims. In his blog, the outspoken North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom dismissed the debate on alleged misuse of CCTV as “a bizarre hue and cry”. And he maintained a tidy environment had a much bigger impact on most people’s lives than the ...

guardian.co.uk | Human rights and freedom of information legislation should be extended to cover charities and social enterprises that deliver public services, such as care homes, a report said today. The government already contracts out a range of services – including employment training and social care – to the voluntary sector and is keen to encourage more third sector service delivery. Today's report ...

AP | U.S. military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay resume this week even as new legal challenges could throw the system into further turmoil. Five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are to appear Wednesday and Thursday for pretrial hearings in the Bush administration's special tribunal for terrorism suspects. Their trials have not yet been scheduled. The suspects could get the death penalty if convicted of ...

AP News | A federal judge overseeing Guantanamo Bay lawsuits ordered the Justice Department to put other cases aside and make it clear throughout the Bush administration that, after nearly seven years of detention, the detainees must have their day in court. "The time has come to move these forward," Judge Thomas F. Hogan said Tuesday during the first hearing over whether the detainees are being held lawfully. "Set aside every ...

By Ryan Singel |On Tuesday, the Senate resumes considering whether to hand new dragnet spy powers to the nation's spooks and to grant retroactive amnesty to telecoms that secretly helped the government spy on Americans without warrants for five years. The Senate seems set to bless the president's secretive program and to free some of the nation's largest corporations from the indignity of due ...

WEST Australian Police have asked the state government to authorise them to take a DNA sample from anyone who is arrested, even for minor offences such as trespassing. WA Police can now take samples only from people charged with or suspected of an offence that carries a minimum jail sentence of 12 months. According to a report in The West Australian, police made the request for greater powers in ...

By Ellen Nakashima |   The United States is negotiating deals with European countries to exchange fingerprint and DNA data in criminal and terrorist cases, and in some circumstances to transfer data on race or ethnic origin, political and religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Such agreements are a condition for granting citizens of newer European Union member states ...

By Bradley Olson | With Congress on the verge of outlining new parameters for National Security Agency eavesdropping between suspicious foreigners and Americans, lawmakers are leaving largely untouched a host of government programs that critics say involves far more domestic surveillance than the wiretaps they sought to remedy. These programs - most of them highly classified - are run by an alphabet ...

The Guardian | I've got the opening scene of a dystopian thriller all worked out. It's a hot summer night in a typical suburban flat. A young woman (let's call her Alison) stands over the body of her boyfriend, who she's just killed in a fit of madness. A crime of passion. She didn't mean to do it, but gah - now look at the ...