Thanks to everyone who came along to Parliament Square this morning and made the ORG/No2ID “Big Picture” event such a success. The sun was shining as we constructed a massive 4m x 5m collage of all the photos you’ve been uploading of UK surveillance state ephemera over the past couple of weeks.

The result was [...]

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In a press conference on monday the European Commission denied a request by French President Nicholas Sarkozy, to reject an amendment voted on by the European Parliament in September’s Telecoms Package vote:

“The amendment on a new regulatory framework for telecommunications stated “no restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of end-users, without [...]

Read the rest of "EU Commission says ‘non’ as France tries to ditch key telecoms package amendment"

I’m pleased to announce that I can now reveal the location for our live collage of the hundreds of surveillance state photos you’ve been taking this week for the Freedom Not Fear, Big Picture event.
On 11 October, we’ll gather underneath the statue of Winston Churchill on Parliament Square in London to build an image showing [...]

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Today, BT will start trials of Webwise, a technology which analyses your web surfing habits in order to serve you targetted ads. If you’re a BT Total Broadband customer, you might be asked to consent to being part of this trial. Here are four good reasons not to.

You gain nothing. BT is looking to profit [...]

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Happy-snappers unite! We need as many people as possible to take photos of stuff that embodies the database state, and the UK’s world-famous surveillance society (wake up! You’ve just walked into it).
On 11 October, No2ID and the Open Rights Group will make a live collage of the images you’ve taken in a prominent location in [...]

Read the rest of "Capturing the database state: community photocall"

Back in August, we submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office, asking them to shed light on the Intercept Modernisation Programme (IMP). Over the Summer, a number of news reports had claimed that as part of this programme a new national database would be created containing the electronic communications data of the [...]

Read the rest of "Home Office extend deadline for ORG FOI request on Intercept Modernisation"

Update (24/09/08): The votes are in. The bad news is that amendment 133 was rejected (watch this space for a link to a list of the MEPs who rejected it). But the good news is that amendment 138 was passed, with a last minute oral amendment. The European Parliament voted to adopt it in [...]

Read the rest of "To do this weekend: ask your MEPs to vote for Telecom package amendments 133 and 138"

Phorm, the targeted behavioural advertising technology company, has been back in the headlines this week. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) have finally responded to the European Commission’s demand for an explanation of how Phorm’s technology conforms with EU data protection and privacy laws. Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding had asked the [...]

Read the rest of "What BERR want from Phorm - and what we think they’re missing"

Back in July, we asked you to write to your MEP about worrying last minute amendments to the EU Telecoms Package. Now, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), an independent supervisory authority devoted to protecting personal data and privacy, has commented in depth on the amendments in a 13-page report.
In reviewing the amendments, the EDPS [...]

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Over the course of the Summer, several news sources have reported a radical new surveillance plan afoot at the Home Office, dubbed the “Intercept Modernisation Programme”. Starting with The Times, who broke the story in May, reports have claimed that as part of this programme a new national database would be created containing the electronic [...]

Read the rest of "Shedding light on the Intercept Modernisation Programme"