A cross-party collection of MPs have tabled an early day motion calling for new data protection controls to protect people against the rise in targeted advertising. The thirteen MPs signed the Commons motion which suggests an ‘internet bill of rights’ along with giving more power to the Information Commissioner’s Office to deal with privacy issues. This follows widespread concern that the WPP group, a global advertising and marketing company, may have profiles of up to half a billion internet users, which the motion suggests may include almost all British citizens. They also criticise the behaviour of Google during the Street... Continue reading

For the first time, Big Brother Watch has uncovered the true extent to which Police abuse their access to confidential databases. This report follows allegations yesterday that former Downing Street Head of Communications Andy Coulson paid the Police in order to receive privileged information. Between 2007 and 2010: 243 Police officers and staff received criminal convictions for breaching the Data Protection Act (DPA). 98 Police officers and staff had their employment terminated for breaching the DPA. 904 Police officers and staff were subjected to internal disciplinary procedures for breaching the DPA. A full breakdown of results by local police authority... Continue reading

Following the publishing of the ICO’s annual report this morning, the European Parliament has approved reforms to the Commission’s Data Protection Directive of 1995. These are designed to give more control to individuals over any information held on them by organisations and companies, as well as placing a responsibility on those bodies to inform people of any data breaches which occur involving their personal information. Axel Voss, the German MEP, wrote the report for the European Parliament, which had demanded more accountability from businesses with regards to data breaches. E.U. citizens will now be able to delete, correct or block... Continue reading

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, appeared on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning to discuss the unwillingness of private companies to accept free data protection audits from the ICO. In their annual report, released today, the ICO revealed around a third of the 603 breaches reported in the 2010/11 period occurred in the private sector. Although public bodies make up the majority of the breaches, they are obligated to report them, unlike the private sector. A mere 19% of business who were contacted during the period agreed to an audit, this compares to 71% in the public sector.... Continue reading

At Big Brother Watch, we have long warned about the pernicious nature of the European Arrest Warrant and how it can be misused to persecute those who have either commuted no crime at all or an offence so minor that international extradition would be inappropriate. Alex Deane, a member of the Big Brother Watch Advisory Council has written to the Home Secretary in order to seek clarifications from her surrounding the case of Dr Migel-Angel Meizoso, a Spanish national whose extradition is currently being sought by his home nation: "I am writing to draw your attention to the case of... Continue reading

WPP and an Internet Bill Of Rights - call on your MP to sign Robert Halfon MP's EDM Big Brother Watch supporter Robert Halfon MP has this week tabled an Early Day Motion - a parliamentary procedure through which MPs can draw attention to a particular issue - regarding the WPP Group and their boast of having built up a database containing information on "almost 100%" of the public. For more information, click here. The Early Day Motion reads as follows: "That this House is deeply concerned that privacy is gradually being eroded by private companies using the internet to... Continue reading

Big Brother Watch supporter Robert Halfon MP has tabled an Early Day Motion - a parliamentary procedure by which MPs can draw attention to a particular issue - regarding the WPP Group and their boasts of having built up a database containing information on "almost 100%" of the public. For more information, click here. The Early Day Motion reads as follows: "That this House is deeply concerned that privacy is gradually being eroded by private companies using the internet to obtain personal data and selling it for commercial gain; notes that the latest problem is with WPP Group plc, the... Continue reading

Big Brother Watch is currently in the process of conducting an investigation, a report on which will be released in the coming weeks, into an aspect of Police policy. In order to do this, we have submitted Freedom of Information requests to Police forces across the country. Statutorily, public service bodies are obliged to respond to Freedom of Information requests within a mandatory period of twenty working days. An overwhelming majority of Police forces have responded to our request in time, with the information we requested enclosed. Sadly, Northamptonshire Police do not appear to think that Freedom of Information laws... Continue reading

At Big Brother Watch, we have long warned about the insidious growth of the database state; a trend which threatens privacy and opens up millions of people to the potential of their data being lost or stolen. In the long run, we hope that our highlighting of concerns surrounding this topic will lead to more private and public sector operations adopting "privacy by design" into their interactions with members of the public so that people are better able to keep track of what information is held on them and why. Sadly this belief in privacy is not held by the... Continue reading

Big Brother Watch has long campaigned against the overly intrusive methods used by airport security staff. There are numerous examples of such intrusions, from the forced use of body scanners in British and American airports to the intimidating pat-downs many young children have been forced to endure. We have yet, however, to hear of a case as shocking as that of a wheelchair-bound 95 year old woman who was forced to remove her wet adult nappy in order to allow US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspectors to pat her down before a flight. The lady, who is suffering from advanced... Continue reading

Welcome to the Big Brother Watch newsletter! This week formal launch of the new Police National Database, a system which will link together intelligence and criminal records information held by Police forces across the United Kingdom. This new database will hold information on up to fifteen million people across the United Kingdom – almost a quarter of the UK’s population. Up to six million of these people will be people who have never been convicted of carrying out any offence. The database will also contain information about people who have been subjected to violent physical and sexual attacks. While it... Continue reading

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Today saw yet another assault on the rights of smokers on the floor of the House of Commons. Alex Cunningham, who is apparently the Member of Parliament for Stockton North, today moved the 'Smoking in Private Vehicles Bill' - a move to ban adults from smoking in their cars when children are present. The bill passed the House of Commons by a margin of 78 to 66 but, due to the constraints of parliamentary time, it is unlikely to ever become law. Big Brother Watch's position on this proposal is clear: MPs should stop treating adults like children. You control... Continue reading

This morning, the infamous online hacking group LulzSec issued a statement claiming to have obtained a copy of the entire 2011 Census database. Big Brother Watch Director Daniel Hamilton has written an piece for The Commentator responding to the news: "The claims this morning from increasingly infamous hacking group LulzSec that they have obtained a copy of the entire 2011 Census are profoundly concerning. "They come, however, as no surprise to Big Brother Watch who have for months been warning the public about the risks of this information falling into the wrong hands. "If these rumours are proved to be... Continue reading

The Canadian Information Commissioner Ann Cavoukian has this week issues a warning to consumers about the risks associated with personal smart phones and other devices automatically collecting data on the user's location. In a report published by her office, Cavoukian argues that privacy should be designed into these systems in order to avoid mobile operators and third parties building up vast logs of information about an individual's personal movemnents without their prior consent. At present, the majority of people are unaware of the privacy implications of much of the technology they carry around in their pocket. There is a reasonable... Continue reading

Daniel Hamilton and Alex Deane, the current and former Directors of Big Brother Watch, have today written an joint article for Politics.co.uk on the case for abolishing Control Orders and their replacement with effective alternative measures to fight terrorism. "Control orders are nothing new. They were first introduced in the United Kingdom six years ago in the Prevention of Terrorism Act under the auspices of "protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism". "Control orders give the home secretary the power to impose more stringent conditions on the movements and daily lives of individuals than those the Burmese... Continue reading

Welcome to the Big Brother Watch newsletter! It was another busy week for the Big Brother Watch team with news of a new national Police database which is set to hold the details of a quarter of the population, calls for the government to review controversial stop-and-search powers and a scandal surrounding the covert surveillance of Julian Assange. Each of these stories - and much more - are explored in more depth below. As always, please do get in touch with us if there is a case you'd like our assistance with or a story you'd like to draw our... Continue reading

By Maria Fort Recently I landed at Heathrow Airport after a trip to the US. Upon returning to London, I was looking forward to getting to my flat and preparing to go back to work the next morning. I was home and I could relax after a long flight. But first, immigration. Did I mention I’m foreign? After waiting in the queue, I made my way to the UKBA officer to whom I handed my passport, landing card and residence permit, or more accurately, my foreign national ID card. The agent briefly looked at my passport to see that the... Continue reading

We at Big Brother Watch have long complained about the unwillignness of the Information Commissioner to effectively use his powers to name, shame and fine those who are guilty of gross abuses of data protection law. While these powers are used rarely, they are occasionally utilised for good effect. One case where the ICO has shown a willingness to act is against Surrey County Council for their incompetence in e-mailing personal medical and welfare data of hundreds of people to the wrong recipients on three seperate occasions. According to a report in the Surrey Herald: "A member of one of... Continue reading

Big Brother Watch frequently receives reports of the Police deploying heavy-handed tactics against members of the public, but the case of 49 year old Jacqui Thompson from Carmarthen is a truly shocking example of gross disproportionality. The parish councillor landed herself in trouble with the Police after attending a Carmartenshire Council meeting and filming proceedings to upload the video to a local blog examining planning concerns. When she refused to leave the meeting at the request of council officers she was forcibly rejected from the meeting by four Police officers and held at a Police station for several hours. Full... Continue reading

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Welcome to the Big Brother Watch Newsletter! It was another busy week for the Big Brother Watch team with a scandal surrounding Facebook's use of facial recognition technology, Citigroup's compromising of the banking data of 200,000 of its customers, Stoke on Trent's efforts to hit motorists with even more parking fines and UK government moves towards imposing a UK-wide internet firewall. Over at the blog, we have started posting a 'links of the day' topic each evening to make it easier for less regular visitors to keep in touch with news from our colleagues across the privacy and civil liberties... Continue reading

Many thanks to the Big Brother Watch supporter who this morning kindly sent us a link to a fascinating section of the National Policing Improvement Agency's website. On the website, you can find a map of the 43 Police forces across the UK and information about the way in which they use the national DNA database. The information for each county is broken down by the by gender, current age and visual appearance of individuals included on the database. You can find the data here. Do let us know if you find any gems. Hat-tip: JNH Continue reading

Guest post by Nick Pickles The UK Government is currently considering the possibility of a UK-wide firewall, which (simply put) would give the Government the ability to block access to websites from the UK. The argument has mainly been made around file-sharing sites, and to a lesser extent child pornography, and of course the Government insists that it would never be used for political reasons. Yet the example of the Arab Spring and the subsequent activities of Governments in shutting down social networking sites (or more disturbingly, setting up spoof sites to entrap potential trouble makers) should not be forgotten.... Continue reading

Regular visitors to the Big Brother Watch blog will be aware that BBW has long campaigned for a change in existing laws to allow intercept evidence to be used in terrorist trials. Big Brother Watch Director Daniel Hamilton has today outlined the case for the ban to be lifted in an article for the Total Politics magazine's 'The Idea' feature: "As long as the ban on the admissibility of intercept evidence remains in place, so do the many strange anomalies connected to it. While British courts cannot hear domestic intercept evidence, they frequently secure convictions based on overseas intercepts. Similarly,... Continue reading