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PIRACY PLAN ‘IS ILLEGAL’

Mick Meaney — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:31:49 +0000

Brendan Abbott

PLANS to suspend the internet accounts of “copyright pirates” who illegally download and swap films and music could breach human rights.

Broadband providers and consumer rights groups warned yesterday “persuasion not coercion” was the way to stop piracy.

Stephen Timms, minister for Digital Britain, said previous schemes, which only cut users’ broadband speed, were not enough.

Internet service providers could also be allowed to take action against pirates.

In the year to July 2008, 6.5 million Britons illegally downloaded music and films.

Equality group takes racist BNP to court over ethnic exclusion

Mick Meaney — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:38:25 +0000

THE Equality and Human Rights Commission has begun legal action against the British National Party over concerns about ethnic restrictions on its membership.

The commission issued county court proceedings against the party after voicing concerns in June about its constitution and membership criteria.

The BNP said it intended to clarify the word “white” on its website, but the commission said it believed the party will continue to discriminate against potential or actual members on racial grounds.

“The BNP’s membership criteria appear to restrict membership to those within what the BNP regards as particular “ethnic groups” and those whose skin colour is white. This exclusion is contrary to the Race Relations Act.”

John Wadham, a commission director, said: “The BNP has said that it is not willing to amend its membership criteria, which we believe are discriminatory and unlawful.

“The commission has a statutory duty to enforce compliance, so we have today issued county court proceedings against the BNP. However, the party still has an opportunity to resolve this quickly by giving the undertaking on its membership criteria that the commission requires.”

Government allows staff to abuse privacy laws

Mick Meaney — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:40:33 +0000

Councils are failing to prosecute staff caught using a sensitive government database to snoop on celebrities and members of the public, disclosures under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed.

Computer Weekly has established that staff from at least 34 local authorities have misused the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Customer Information System (CIS) database to look up personal details of the public.

The database, which holds 92 million records on the population, underpins the government’s ID card programme. It stores sensitive data such as ethnicity, relationship history and whether someone is being investigated for fraud.

Nine staff have been quietly sacked from their local authority jobs for abusing the database, nine have been given official warnings, two have been suspended, four resigned and six had their database access privileges removed, Freedom of Information requests lodged by Computer Weekly have revealed.

But none of the local authorities have chosen to bring prosecutions against their staff for abusing their access to the CIS database.

Abuse of access rights

The revelation has promoted accusations that local authorities and the DWP are trying to keep the breaches quiet.

Phil Booth, national organiser for campaign group No2ID, said, “They are reluctant to prosecute because that will give the wrong message that the database is insecure from the inside.”

“These are the people we are supposed to be able to trust,” he said.

“It is the job of the keepers of the National Identity Register to keep external hackers out. The problem is insider access by people already authorised.”

Local authorities are required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that permits them to access the “restricted data” on the CIS. It contains the threat of criminal prosecution of staff who abuse their access rights.

“DWP will consider prosecuting individuals for misuse of information held on CIS. DWP will support your local authority to ensure appropriate disciplinary or prosecution action is taken in serious cases,” it states.

The Memorandum of Understanding gives the DWP rights to withdraw CIS access from local authorities when “any individual user is suspected of misusing the system”.

Data and the law

But many of the councils told Computer Weekly that their decision not to prosecute staff who have used the CIS database to snoop on members of the public was taken in consultation with the DWP.

Peter Sommer, an expert witness in computer crime cases and visiting professor at the London School of Economics, said the breaches have raised concerns that the law might be too weak.

The Computer Misuse Act could be used to prosecute someone for unauthorised access to a database, he said, but not for looking at information they should not see on a database they are authorised to use.

The Memorandum of Understanding between local authorities and the DWP says that requirements to keep data on the CIS database confidential are “underpinned by legislation” in the Data Protection Act 1998, the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

“[This] binds DWP and your local authority to handle customers’ personal information in confidence… Your local authority has an explicit responsibility for the security of the information and is accountable for the actions of users with access to the CIS,” it says.

The Social Security Administration Act 1992 could be used to send people to prison for snooping on social security databases they were otherwise authorised to access, but only if it were proven they had disclosed their findings to others, say experts.

In at least one instance, a council worker passed on information to a family member. The worker was given a warning.

A DWP spokesman said, “It is the duty of local authorities to consider and enforce what is appropriate, including legal action against their employees.”

National Identity Scheme

A Home Office spokesman said the CIS breaches should not reflect badly on the National Identity Scheme, which is still in development. The CIS might be pegged as the biographical store for the Identity Scheme, he said, but Home Office data would be stored separately from data held by the DWP and protected by “strict access controls”.

“IPS [Identity and Passport Service] will make the systems supporting the National Identity Scheme as secure as possible, building on an excellent track record with the current passport database,” he said.

Mark Ballard

Biometrics system for foreign students

Mick Meaney — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:59:28 +0000

A parliamentary committee has echoed universities’ concerns over the robustness of the biometrics system that will be used for visa applications by students.

The Home Affairs Committee looked at the role of the National Biometric Identity Service (NBIS) in student visa applications as part of a report into migration processes.

UK universities can guarantee that foreign students applying for visas will attend under the sponsorship management system, which is part of the NBIS. Under the scheme, students must submit their fingerprints and other identifying characteristics at biometric collection points overseas for holding in the NBIS database.

However, as approximately eight per cent of university funding comes from those foreign students, and because many government IT projects have failed, universities are concerned that the enrolment of students will depend on the untested NBIS, the committee said.

“Given the unfortunate propensity of previous large-scale Home Office IT systems to fail, we fully sympathise with the nervousness felt by universities about a sponsorship management system which relies entirely on a Home Office IT project,” said the report, released on Saturday. “The consequences for the reputation, functioning and finances of UK businesses and educational establishments of any failure of the system at peak times of the year, are potentially dramatic.”

A spokesperson for the UK Border Agency (UKBA) told silicon.com sister site ZDNet UK on Wednesday that while the part of the NBIS that deals with the sponsorship management system will be launched in the autumn, the majority of the system is already running.

“Much of our IT system is already in place and is working well,” said the spokesperson. “The final part of the system, which will be used by colleges and universities, will go live in autumn of this year. We have been working with colleges for nearly a year to develop the system and we have a robust and independently verified testing plan.”

In addition, the UKBA does not have enough collection points overseas, the Home Affairs Committee said in its report, citing incidences of people having to travel to different countries to give their fingerprints. This has slowed the visa application process, said the committee.

“The requirement for applicants to provide biometrics in person for visas and the inevitable delays associated with this process seems to be causing disproportionate delays and expense to applicants,” said the report. “The challenge with providing biometrics is especially acute for migrants in certain parts of the world where biometric collection centres are few and far between, such as certain African countries.”

The committee added there were insufficient numbers of biometric collection centres in most countries aside from the US, and recommended the government should establish more biometric capture points, including the provision of mobile biometric-collection centres, “as a matter of urgency”.

The UKBA spokesperson added that while the agency had no plans to increase the number of biometric collection points, it was working to improve the application process.

“Visa applications can be lodged at 250 places worldwide,” said the spokesperson. “We are continually seeking ways to make biometric collection more accessible to our customers and have agreements in place with many foreign governments to use already established collection points. Where people need to travel urgently we can and have made special arrangements to facilitate their journeys.”

The seven-year NBIS contract was awarded to IBM in April.

Original article: MPs show lack of faith in biometrics IT system from ZDNet UK

Internet firms condemn “unwarranted” invasion of people’s privacy

Mick Meaney — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:52:17 +0000

A proposal to allow Cheltenham listening post GCHQ to monitor any email, phone call or website visit of people in the UK has been condemned by internet firms.

The London Internet Exchange, which represents more than 330 companies, including BT, Virgin and Carphone Warehouse, says the Government’s surveillance proposals are an “unwarranted” invasion of people’s privacy.

The £2 billion project, pioneered by former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, would allow the Benhall-based intelligence headquarters access to the records of internet providers in an effort to maintain its defences against terrorism.

The firms will be asked to collect and store vast amounts of data, including from social networking sites such as Facebook, although intelligence workers will not be able to view the actual content of emails and phone calls.

But the companies, who would have to co-operate with ministers for the scheme to be implemented, say the Government has misled the public about the extent to which it plans to monitor internet activity.

A private submission from the London Internet Exchange to the Home Office said: “We view the description of the Government’s proposals as maintaining the capability as disingenuous – the volume of data the Government now proposes we should collect and retain will be unprecedented.

“This is a purely political description that serves only to win consent by hiding the extent of the proposed extension of powers for the state.”

The criticism is the latest blow to the scheme. Ms Smith was forced to abandon plans for a giant database of internet records in April following privacy concerns.

She tried to salvage the project by announcing £2 billion of public money would instead be spent on helping internet providers to retain information for up to 12 months.

But the London Internet Exchange said the proposals were unworkable.

It said: “We aren’t aware of any existing equipment (an internet firm) could purchase that would enable it to acquire and retain such a wide range of data.

“In some common cases it would be impossible in principle to obtain the information sought.

A spokesman for GCHQ said: “The Home Office has consulted publicly on its proposals.

“It recognises that this is a complex and sensitive subject with a fine balance to be made between protecting public safety and civil liberties.

“GCHQ is providing technical advice and support to the Home Office and has no plans to monitor all internet use and phone calls in Britain.”

Immigrants face high-tech scans

Mick Meaney — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:55:25 +0000

IMMIGRANTS in Derbyshire are to undergo compulsory hi-tech facial scans as part of a national UK Border Agency crackdown on illegal workers.

Information from the scans will be used for new identity cards for the foreign nationals, which will be issued to 90% of immigrants in Britain by 2015.

Biometric scanners, such as those used in the scheme, will also take facial images for voluntary National ID cards which the Government plans to introduce later this year.

Derby’s Passport Interview Office – the only place immigrants can be scanned in the East Midlands – dealt with its first two foreign nationals yesterday.

It will take about 10 days for their cards to be processed after which they will need to use their card to prove their identity to employers, universities, colleges and at border control.

Border Agency officials say the cards will be a more secure form of identification than passports and birth certificates, which can be forged.

The scanners take 16 measurements of the face, which are then stored as data on an encrypted chip embedded in the cards.

Fingerprints data taken at the passport offices will also be stored on the chips.

It is hoped the cards will prevent fraud such as that by Iraqi Taha Morad in Derby from 2005 to 2007.

The Derby Telegraph previously reported how the 36-year-old had no legal right to be in Britain but managed to trick three job agencies and the Department for Work and Pensions so he could get a job and claim benefits.

UK Border Agency senior executive Glen Carr said that, at the moment, Derby’s passport office was only dealing with people applying as a student, or based on marriage, to live in the UK. Other foreign nationals would be scanned over the next three years.

They will be told that they need to get scanned after they apply.

Mr Carr said: “We are only dealing with a few foreign nationals for now while the equipment is tested but by the end of the year the Derby office will be dealing with about 80 people a day.

“Employers need to ask the foreign national for their card. There’s a hotline they can ring to find out if the interviewee has permission to work in the UK.

“Customs officers will have the information to hand at airports, etc.”

Mr Carr said scanners for reading the cards were currently in production but that it was not yet clear how they would be used.

Gail Adams, UK Border Agency regional director said the ID cards showed the Government’s tough policy on illegal workers.

She said: “These cards will help us stop people illegally accessing benefits and make it easier than ever to crack down on illegal working.”

ID cards and the snooper state

Mick Meaney — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:23:14 +0000

IT IS simply wrong of James Hall, CEO of the Identity & Passport Service, to suggest that the personal information stored on the National Identity Register is equivalent to the data already collected for passports.

The passport database requires only a single name and address at the time of application, together with a copy of the holder’s passport photograph.

Schedule 1 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 (http://tinyurl.com/IDsched1) describes 50 classes of information that may be stored on the ID database.

These data include every name by which an applicant has been known, every place of residence (in the UK or elsewhere), a photograph, signature, fingerprints and “other” biometric information (eg iris scans), national insurance number, driver number, passport and identity card numbers issued by other countries, and much else besides.

Anyone enrolling on the ID database will be subjecting themselves to lifelong reporting requirements. There are severe financial penalties for failure to keep the authorities notified of any change of detail.

Furthermore, the ID database will store information of a kind that no government department has ever had access to before, except where the security services have placed suspects under surveillance.

The national identity register’s audit trail will record every occasion on which an identity is verified, such as stays in hotels and visits to clinics, providing a detailed profile of every citizen’s life.

Dr Geraint Bevan, Glasgow

UNDER the Identity Cards Act 2006 the Identity and Passport Service has become a branch of the snooper state. Everyone registered for an identity card will subsequently have to report every change in their circumstances on pain of a fine of up to £1,000, and be forced to re-register every ten years or face more large fines. Greatly increased amounts of information about citizens will be kept on a new £6bn database, funded by inflated £77 passport fees. Logging ID card usage in the database will allow government to monitor citizens’ daily lives.

No democratic government has ever tried to track its population’s movements in this way. Whitehall’s identity cards scheme has no place in our country, and must be scrapped immediately.

Andrew Watson, Cambridge

Freedom of Information Act to be extended

Mick Meaney — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:24:14 +0000

The Freedom of Information Act looks set to be extended to include four new bodies.

The government has published its response to a consultation launched in October 2007 about which new organisations, if any, should fall under its remit.

The quartet is: the Financial Services Ombudsman, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, Academy schools and the Association of Chief Police Officers which volunteered to be brought under the Act.

Consultations with Network Rail and utility companies about possible inclusion within the Act are due to take place.

A statement from the Ministry of Justice said: “The government’s response reflects the considerable support for extending the Act.

“A further consultation will now be undertaken with those proposed for inclusion within the scope of the Act.”

Among those who responded to the consultation were the Press Complaints Commission, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Newspaper Society and Campaign for Freedom of Information.

The latter welcomed the news but was disappointed at the scope of the proposals.

It said: “The Act allows contractors providing services on behalf of a public authority to be brought under its scope, if the provision of the service is a function of the authority. However, the government is not proposing to designate any contractors.

“The Campaign had argued that private health bodies providing surgical or diagnostic services under the NHS should be subject to the Act as should providers of social care services and educational and criminal justice services.

“People’s rights to know about the quality of a public service they receive should be the same, whether the service is provided by a public authority itself or by a private body under contract to the authority.”

Stop the War Coalition barred from Downing Street

Mick Meaney — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:01:25 +0000

Anti-war campaigners were refused access to Downing Street yesterday to deliver a letter calling for troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan.

About 100 noisy demonstrators crossed Whitehall to take up a position in front of the gates leading into the street, chanting and waving banners.

And a group of four protest organisers were told they would not be allowed access to hand the letter in to No 10.

MP Jeremy Corbyn and veteran peace campaigner Tony Benn were among the group hoping to take the letter to Downing Street.

But they were told it had “been decided” they would not be allowed in.

Mr Corbyn said: “It’s a shabby way of treating the majority of British people who are alarmed by the loss of life in Afghanistan.”

The rally was organised by the Stop the War Coalition to mark the death toll of British military personnel in Afghanistan, which has surpassed that of troops in Iraq.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: “They wouldn’t allow us in and when I asked why not the policeman at the gate said, it’s been decided’. By whom we don’t know.”

Demonstrators were asked to cross back over the road and position themselves behind the barriers.

But they continued to occupy the space in front of the Downing Street gates, chanting: “What do we want? Troops out. When do we want it? Now.”

The letter to be handed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown read: “The tragic deaths of 15 British soldiers in just over one week, including three who were barely 18 years old, has highlighted the need for British troops to be withdrawn from an unwinnable and unjustified war.

“The argument that British troops are in Afghanistan to bring stability, security and democracy is simply refuted by the facts.

“The lesson of history is clear. The Afghan people have always resisted any attempt to invade or occupy their country. All attempts to do so over the past 150 years have only brought horrific levels of death and destruction, both to the Afghan people and the invading armies.”

Mr Benn said it was an “unwinnable war”.

DNA of thousands of innocent people held by police

Mick Meaney — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:16:30 +0000

MORE than ten people have their DNA recorded and stored by Redbridge Police every day, the Guardian can reveal.

A total of 3,654 samples of genetic material were taken in the borough last year - with only 368 of these subsequently being destroyed, a Freedom of Information request as found.

And 2,201 samples have been taken on under-18s since the beginning of 2006 – the vast majority of whom innocent of any crime - prompting fierce complaints from parents.

Elizabeth Canavan, 39, of Merlin Road, Aldersbrook, said she would not want any of her children’s DNA on record.

The mum-of-four said: “I think it’s a bit intrusive and there’s sort of the assumption of guilt there.

“It’s a bit Big Brother when the Government knows even your children’s intricate body chemistry.”

The European Court of Human Rights ruled last December that all DNA samples of innocent people held by police must be destroyed as holding such information “could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society”.

However, the British Government has since been fighting this ruling.

Paul Donovan, of Dangan Road, Wanstead, told the Guardian that readers were right to be concerned.

The 46-year-old said: “It seems rather worrying as it seems like they are trying to build up some sort of database of youth in the area.

“If a person is convicted of a crime then the police should be able to keep their DNA on record for a specific time but if the charges are dropped or they are found innocent in a court of law then these records must be destroyed.

“Again, it’s the creeping hand of the Big Brother state. We all want to be safer but it’s the old equation of give us your liberty and we’ll give you security and it depends how much liberty we are willing to part with.

“The basic assumption in this country is that you are innocent until proven guilty and this is heading towards the other way around. We shouldn’t be lying back and taking it.”

Borough Commander Chief Supt Peter Terry said: “Since its introduction DNA has provided the police with approximately 400,000 leads to the possible identity of offenders.

“In 2007 – 2008 over 17,000 crimes were detected in which a DNA match was available.

“People cannot be arrested purely to obtain DNA and although samples obtained following arrest can help detect crimes, we do not actively seek to obtain DNA for this purpose.

“These figures relate to all DNA that has been taken on the borough, not just from Redbridge residents or indeed for Redbridge crimes.”

Charlie Campbell