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 US Surveillance Court Rules FBI Mislead Court
The US Senate has released a previously secret decision by the the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court that found that the FBI had mislead the court in 75 cases
where it had requested permission to monitor communications for national
security purposes. The court also found that procedures used by the government
to share the information for criminal cases violated the law. The DOJ had
tried to prevent the release of the decision, which wasissued in May 2002. Washington
Post editorial. (Washington Post, 22 August 2002).
Romanian Commission
Says EU Ambassador's Phone Was Not Tapped.
The investigation launched by the parliamentary commission overseeing the
activity of Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) has concluded that the SRI
has not tapped EU Ambassador to Romania Jonathan Scheele's telephone, RFE/RL's
Bucharest bureau reported. Commission Chairman Ion Stan told journalists
on 21 August that the investigation shows that Iasi Prefect Corneliu Rusu
Banu -- who recently submitted his resignation over the affair -- has received
no information from the SRI about telephone conversations between Scheele
and local journalists. Stan also said that the commission he heads intends
to present a draft law on amending legislation authorizing the SRI to wiretap
telephones. (RFE/RL, 22 August 2002).
EU Considering
New Internet Surveillance Requirements
The Council of the European Union is considering a proposal
by the Government of Belgium to require that all countries adopt new laws
that require countries to retain information on users online activties and
location for one to two years. The information could be used to investigate a wide variety
of crimes including "participation
in a criminal organisation, terrorism, trafficking in human beings, sexual
exploitation of children", drug trafficking, money-laundering, fraud, racism,
hijacking and "motor vehicle crime". This follows up on recent changes to
the 1997 Telecommunications Privacy directive that aollowed countries to
change their laws. Statewatch
report and documents. (The Guardian 20 August 2002).
UK
Info Commissioner Challenges Legality of Data Retention.
The Information Commissioner has released
a legal opinion questioning the legality of the data
retention provision of the Terrorism Act 2001. The opinion
found that becuase the information can be obtained for
other purposes besides national security, it violates
the Human Rights Act. (The Guardian, 30 July 2002).
See the new PI
UK Surveillance page for more infomation.
Serbian Prosecutor
Orders Bugging Investigation.
Public prosecutor Rade Terzic said in Belgrade on 13
July that he has ordered police to investigate and,
if warranted, file criminal charges in the imbroglio
opened recently by General Nebojsa Pavkovic, RFE/RL's
South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported.
Pavkovic said that some of Kostunica's aides wanted
the army to break into the Serbian government's communications
department in 2001, which prompted Kostunica to charge
that the Serbian authorities were bugging his telephone.
Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said on 14 July
that his ministry will precede with its investigations despite
calls by some of Kostunica's aides for a delay. (RFE/RL,
15 July 2002).
Australian Senate Rejects Wiretap
Amendment.
The Australian Senate voted on 28 June to reject
the Telecommunications Interception Legislation Amendment
Bill 2002. The bill would have allowed for warrentless
interception of email, SMS, and voicemail messages.
EFA briefing.
UK Government Drops Plans to Expand
Surveillance law.
The UK Home Office announced on June 17 that
it was dropping plans to expand the number of government
bodies who can conduct surveillance. The proposed chances
would have allowed local governments, quangos, and a
variety of non-law enforcement government agencies to
spy on the web activities of users without a court order.
Home Secretary David Blunkett admited it was a "blunder."
(BBC, 18 May 2002).
European Parliament Votes to Allow ISP Traffic
Surveillance
The European Parliament voted on 30 May on amendments
to the new Communications Privacy Directive proposed
by Spanish Conservative MEP Ana Palacio that would allow
countries to order ISPs to monitor and retain information
on all users for an extended period of time. A coalition
of 40 NGOs wrote
to the EP asking them to reject this effort. Statewatch background report on issue. Online petition
from stop1984.org.
Azerbaijani Opposition
Protests Amendments to Communications Law
The United Opposition Movement issued a statement
on 21 May condemning as "illegal" and anticonstitutional
amendments enacted several days earlier to the communications
law, Turan reported. Those amendments empower the country's
intelligence services to conduct phone taps. The statement
said that provision could be intended for use against
the opposition. (RFE/RL, 22 May 2002).
South Korean Wiretapping, Data Requests up in 2001.
Wiretapping and requests for information were up sharply
in 2001, according to a report released by the Ministry
of Information and Communications. Wiretapping requests
were up 21 percent to 2,884 cases. The rise was due to
a 65 percent increase in cases in taps by National Intelligence
Service. Goverment departments made 270, 584 requests
for data from telecommunications companies in 2001 up
68.6 percent from 2000. (Korea Times, March 25, 2002).
New Zealand Preparing Digital
Wiretap Bill, Crypto Demands.
The New Zealand Ministry of Justice is preparing the
Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Bill the
require Internet Service Providers, mobile phone companies
and others to revise their systems within 18 months to
make them more easily interceptable by police and intelligence
agenices. The government would pay NZ$3 million for the
capability. (New Zealand Herald, March 21,
2002). The Law Reform Commission has also issued a study paper recommending that 3rd parties
with access to encryption keys provide the keys to the
police. Individuals would still not be required to hand
over their keys. (New Zealand Herald, March 19,
2002).
Canada Approves Anti-Terrorism
Bill.
The Canadian Parliament approved C-36, the Anti-terrorism
Act, on November
28 with some minor amendments. The bill enhances wiretapping,
allows the Communications Security Establishment (NSA's
baby brother) to monitor Candians and limited the Access
to Information Act. The bill was strongly criticized by the Information
Commissioner and many of the provencial privacy commissioners.
EU Forum on Data Retention.
The European Commission held a forum on November 27 on requiring
Internet Service Providers and other telecommunications companies
to retain transactional information about users' activites.
EU Working Paper. Online Discussion on Data Retention. PI
submission to the committee.
South Africa Drops Wiretap Bill
South African government has reportedly dropped plans
to adopt the Interception and Monitoring Act. (PDF). The Parliament held hearings on the Act on August 28, 29 and
31st. and in October The Act would allow for wirespread
surveillance in the name of protecting national security,
does not require a court order to monitors users' web browsing,
and mobile phone location and prohibits communications technologies
that are not wiretap capable. PI comments to the Parliament.
 European Parliament Committee Votes
on Spam and Data Retention
The European Parliament's Citizens' Rights and Freedoms,
Justice and Home Affairs Committee voted 22-12 with 5 abstentions
on June 11 on changes to the directive on telecommunications
privacy to allow for spam and to limit ISPs retaining data
for law enforcement purposes. under the new changes, article
15 on data retention now requires that any surveillance
must be "necessary, appropriate, proportionate and limited
in time measure within a democratic society" and "These
measures must be entirely exceptional, based on a specific
law which is comprehensible to the general public and be
authorised by the judicial or competent authorities for
individual cases. Under the European Convention on Human Rights
and pursuant to rulings issued by the Court of Human Rights, any
form of wide-scale general or exploratory electronic surveillance
is prohibited." The changes were proposed by Marco Cappato
a Radical MEP from Italy. He said:
"The Civil
liberties committee expressed itself in favour of a strict
regulation of law enforcement authorities' access to personal
data of citizens, such as communication traffic and location
data. This decision is fundamental because in this way the
EP blocks EU States' efforts underway in the Council to
put their citizens under generalised and pervasive surveillance,
following the Echelon model. The decision of leaving to
Member States the choice between opt-in and opt-out systems
on electronic commercial communications is a liberal approach
that respects subsidiarity, and that takes into consideration
freedom of expression (prohibiting "hidden" spamming) and the
different experiences of the Member States."
EU Votes to Require ISP Data Surveillance
The European Union Telecommunications Council voted on
27 June on proposals by the UK to modify the new telecommunications
directive to require that telecommunications providers retain
information on their users for law enforcement purposes.
Letter from the chair of the EU Data Protection
Commissioners Committee opposing the requirements. See the
S.O.S. Europe
- Statewatch Observatory on Surveillance in Europe report for more details.
 Columbian Cops Arrest for Illegal
Taps of Human Rights Groups, Others
Columbian police arrested four anti-kidnapping police
officers in April on charges they illegally tapped 2,020
local phone lines, including those of five human rights
groups as well as businesses and private homes. Human rights
group say that the taps are widespread. Police discovered
that two employees of the Association of Family Members
of the Arrested and Disappeared were being wiretapping before
they were abducted in 2000 and fear that they were murdered.
(Associated Press, April 20, 2001)
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