Digital Surveillance and the Snoopers' Charter

When 2pm, Monday 29 April
Where: Methodist Central Hall, Robert Perks Room

The report brings together leading Internet experts, lawyers and campaigners to offer credible, less intrusive alternatives to the Government's Communications Data Bill. The authors make a call for more targeted, more transparent and more accountable surveillance laws and offer a number of useful recommendations for how to achieve this.

Sign up to attend via Meet Up

Below Richard Clayton, Peter Sommer and Duncan Campbell, some of the authors of our new Digital Surveillance report, discuss their contributions and explain their views on surveillance law: 

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Debate with Ian Murray MP and Marco Biagi MSP on the Snoopers' Charter, hosted by ORG Edinburgh

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Book your tickets for now ORGCon2013 now: limited discount early bird tickets available!

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Glyn Moody is a technology writer. He is best known for his book Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution (2001). It describes the evolution and significance of the free software and open source movements with many interviews of all the notable hackers.

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Saturday 13 April

11.00am – 5.00pm

Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS 

Headline speaker: John Buckman

Book your tickets here!

What’s happening?

ORGCon North is our new digital rights conference which this year will be held in Manchester!

The event is packed with exciting speakers, panel debates and workshops. We have John Buckman, chair of the inspiring Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and founder of the record label Magnatune giving the keynote speech.

There will be further talks on copyright, data protection, Section 127 and the Communications Data Bill.

We are also offering an “unconference track” with room for any attendees, pannel guests or ORG staff to pop up a talk or debate on something you care about. This is your conference!

We'll be focusing this conference on our current key campaigns, and supporting the local groups in Manchester, Sheffield and the North East. If you haven't joined one of your local groups yet, now is the time to meet them and get involved.

There are free tickets available for volunteers - just get in touch if you would like to help on the day: ruth@openrightsgroup.org

Where can I register?

JOIN ORG now and you will not only get a FREE Ticket to ORG Con North, but also a FREE copy of Cory Doctorow's Rapture of the Nerds. (Free ticket code enclosed in your welcome email when you join).

Book your tickets below:

Who will be speaking?

See the Speakers page for details of all our exciting panelists and our keynote speaker.

 What's the plan for the day?

ORGCon North 2013 Programme:

Proudly sponsored by:

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Please join us on Monday 17 December to lobby MPs against letting the Home Office push the Communications Data Bill through.

Despite the Joint Committee's rather damning picture of the Communications Data Bill, the Home Office might ignore them, and their months of work and pages of evidence, to simply push on with their plans for a snooping state. Only last week the Home Secretary argued that there “can be no delay” because otherwise “people will die”(!)  We won’t sit by and let the CDB be pushed through despite the Committee’s Conclusions.

We need to let MPs know that what we need now is a fundamental review of surveillance laws in the digital age. It is absolutely clear that the Home Office cannot be trusted with this task as they have shown no concern for questions of civil liberties.

Please tell your MP that the CDB must go back to the drawing board and join us at Parliament:

Join us at Parliament

Monday 17 December

12-6

Meeting at the Jubilee Café

We will be in the Jubilee café near Westminster Hall all day, available with advice on speaking to your MP, negotiating the corridors of Parliament and with briefings on the CDB and party-specific perspectives on hand. We will also be able to send briefing information in advance and put you in touch with other local activists attending on the same day.

You can book an appointment for Monday to meet your MP via our MP meet up tool. If you are unable to visit London you can also use the form and letter to book an appointment with your MP at their constituency office on a time and date that suits you. If you prefer you can also get in touch with your MP via the switchboard: 020 7219 3000

If you are willing to attend and have severe difficulty getting transport we are willing to pay rail fares for some on a first come, first served basis.

Also we hope that those of you visiting London will join our Christmas party/ London supporter meet-up afterwards. Please come along and join us for a drink.

If you can't come on Monday but would like to help our campaign against the Communications Data Bill, please consider joining today.

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ORG wants you to help tell people across the UK about the dangers of mass government surveillance, profiling and data mining for supposed criminal suspects. Everyone - whether suspects or everyday citizen - will have their communications data stored.

Help fight back against the Snooper's Charter! 

Open Rights Group supporters have put together a series of public events around the UK, where you can find out about the current state of the draft Bill, and how we can kill it. 

We'll be open to your ideas, so come along and help us build the campaign across the country.
Now is a critical moment, as Parliament reports and the Government will soon decide whether to go ahead with the draft.
What we will do

• Brief you on the draft Bill
• Provide you with draft campaign materials, free leaflets and campaign tools
• Network you with people in your local area who will help us all to defeat the Bill
• Ask you for your ideas

If you Join ORG this month and book your place at this training session you will also receive an ORG t-shirt to be collected at the event, as well as the new member pack at a later date. This is to celebrate our ORG Law Fund, a drive to fund a legal position and expand ORG's work.

• Edinburgh: Wednesday, November 21, 2012
• Glasgow: Thursday, November 22, 2012
• London: Saturday, November 24, 2012 (with Index on Censorship)
• Cardiff: Wednesday, November 28, 2012
• Bristol: Thursday, November 29, 2012
• Newcastle: Wednesday, November 28, 2012
• Sheffield: Thursday, November 29, 2012
• Brighton: Wednesday, December 5, 2012
• Manchester: Wednesday, December 5, 2012
• Birmingham: Thursday, December 6, 2012

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This event is jointly hosted with INDEX ON CENSORSHIP. The “Snoopers’ Charter” - aka the Communications Data Bill - was announced in the Queen's speech in May. The Bill proposes new powers that would allow the Government to order the collection of a lot more information about who people communicate with online. Information about our use of services like Google or Facebook would be collected and accessible too easily to those working for law enforcement. The Bill as it stands will lead to too much information being collected about too many people. Access to that information will be too easy. This will result in accidental or deliberate misuse of the data leading to significant privacy harms. The Snooper's Charter is being looked at by a committee of MPs and Lords right now. We have been telling them that we want to see the powers to collect and access communications data tightened up, not extended ever further. This event will gather campaigners and activists to explore the bill in detail and plan joint campaign actions, including a mass lobbying of MPs when the bill is published.

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Date: 7pm – 7th Nov 2012

Location: Dancehouse Theatre  (Free Entry)

Manchester Central candidates will be challenged to explain how they will defend citizen's privacy and free speech online.

Recent arrests for “offensive tweets” and proposals to put the whole UK population under Internet surveillance and data collection have thrown digital issues into the forefront of political debate.

Candidates will be asked how they will protect Manchester's voters from dangerous Internet policies, and also ensure that the local digital economy is supported.

Newly formed Manchester Open Rights Group has teamed up with NUJ New Media, No2ID Manchester and Free Software Foundation Europe to run the event which is being widely promoted.

Presentations will also be followed by a Q and A and debate giving the public a chance to quiz candidates on issues effecting one of Manchester’s largest and fastest growing industries.

As well as the digital economy, we invite comments and questions on the use of the Internet for social change and views on the proposed increase in powers of surveillance.

Free Tickets are available from http://www.thedancehouse.co.uk

There is a booking cost if you book online – But you can get a free reservation by ringing the Dancehouse Box Office on 0161 2379753

Speakers

Tom Dylan – Green Party
Marc Ramsbottom- Liberal Democrats
Loz Kaye – Pirate Party
Lucy Powell (invited) – Labour
Matthew Sephton (invited) – Conservatives

with support from

Peter Bradwell – Open Rights Group
Martin Bryant - Managing Editor, The Next Web
John Robb – Louder than War

This event is a partnership between the following groups NUJ New Media Industrial Council, Free Software Foundation Europe, Manchester Open Rights Group and Manchester No2ID.

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ORG is at the Labour Party Conference

Join Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch to discuss the draft Communications Data Bill - which we've dubbed the "Snoopers' Charter". We'll be looking at what's wrong with the draft Bill and what to do about it. 

When and where? 

Manchester Central 3. Monday 1 October, 2.30pm – 3.30pm

Speakers:

Nick Pickles, director, Big Brother Watch (Chair)

Jim Killock, Executive Director, the Open Rights Group

Stella Creasy MP

Mike Harris, head of advocacy, Index on Censorship

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