The War on Journalism: The Case of Julian Assange
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#KimDotcom Calls on #Trump to Pardon 'Truth-Teller' #JulianAssange Says It Will Help His Re-Election
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frank zappa: “The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
See These Amazing Images of Easter Island Statues With Bodies—Who Knew?
There is more to the iconic Easter Island heads than meets the eye.
Easter Island’s monumental stone heads are well-known, but there’s more to the story: all along, the sculptures have secretly had torsos, buried beneath the earth.
Archaeologists have documented 887 of the massive statues, known as moai, but there may up as many as 1,000 of them on the island. Most were carved from volcanic rock between 1100 and 1680.
While the island is a popular tourist destination, the statue’s sheer size certainly discourages the type of theft experienced at other historic archaeological sites.
The Easter Island bodies were news to us, but apparently this is not a recent discovery. Photographs of the statues undergoing excavation began circulating in May of 2012, and Live Science asserts that archaeologists have actually known about the bodies since archaeological research on the island, located 2,000 miles west of Chile, began over a century ago, in 1914.
More Easter Island excavations.
Photo: courtesy the Easter Island Statue Project.
“There are about 150 statues buried up to the shoulders on the slope of a volcano, and these are the most famous, most beautiful and most photographed of all the Easter Island statues,” Easter Island Statue Project director Jo Anne Van Tilburg told Live Science. “This suggested to people who had not seen photos of (other unearthed statues) that they are heads only.”
It was photographs of Tilburg’s 2010 excavations of two of the statues’ buried bodies that sparked online interest in the missing halves of these ancient sculptures. The images attracted so much interest when people started emailing them in 2012 that the Easter Island Statue Project’s website crashed under a rush of three million hits.
Tilburg’s work, which began in 2000, marked the first time the moai were excavated by a scientific team that thoroughly documented the process. “It’s always important to get beneath the surface of things,” she told Fox News.
See more photos of the Easter Island statues below.
An excavated statue on Easter Island.
Photo: Greg Downing.
More Easter Island excavations.
Photo: courtesy the Easter Island Statue Project.
Photo: courtesy the Easter Island Statue Project.
Photo: courtesy the Easter Island Statue Project.
Photo: courtesy the Easter Island Statue Project.
Photo: courtesy the Easter Island Statue Project.
Excavations on the Easter Island head.
Photo: courtesy the Easter Island Statue Project.
A new study shows that Easter Island society was still going strong when the first Europeans arrived.
Archaeologists have long assumed that the ancient society that erected the colossal Moai figures on Chile’s Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island, collapsed many centuries ago. Now, a new study indicates that the islanders’ civilization was still going strong when Europeans arrived in 1722.
The island was settled in the 13th century by Polynesians, and is known for the famed Easter Island “heads” (many of the bodies have been buried by erosion over the centuries).
The research, which appears in the Journal of Archaeological Science, contests the accepted timeline that the Easter Island society was already in decline by the year 1600 and its massive stone statues left to fall into disrepair.
Conducting radiocarbon dating on 11 sites on Easter Island, the authors determined the timeline of each monument’s construction. Their findings indicate that Easter Islanders were still actively building new Moai figures, and maintaining existing ones, up until at least 1750.
Trekking at Rano Raraku Volcano on Easter Island. Photo courtesy of Wheel the World.
Further supporting these results are historical documents from the island’s first European visitors. Written accounts from the Dutch explorers who arrived in 1722 found that the monuments were in active ritual use, with no signs of decline, and the same goes for the Spaniards who landed in 1770. It was only in 1774 that James Cook found the giant statues in ruins and the figures knocked over.
“The way we interpret our results and this sequence of historical accounts is that the notion of a pre-European collapse of monument construction is no longer supported,” lead author Robert DiNapoli told Archaeology & Arts.
“Once Europeans arrive on the island, there are many documented tragic events due to disease, murder, slave raiding and other conflicts,” added co-author Carl Lipo. “The degree to which [the Rapa Nui people’s] cultural heritage was passed on—and is still present today through language, arts, and cultural practices—is quite notable and impressive. I think this degree of resilience has been overlooked due to the collapse narrative and deserves recognition.”
A sacred Moai sculpture suffers severe damage in an accident blamed on a catastrophic brake failure.
The mayor of Easter Island is determined to restrict vehicular access to heritage sites after a runaway truck collided with a sacred statue. The accident caused “incalculable” damage to one of the island’s famous moai statues. The pick-up truck, which was driven by a Chilean national who lives on the Pacific island, rolled down a hill and toppled the standing figure in the crash. Preliminary investigations suggest that the accident was due to a brake failure.
Moai are sacred to the indigenous people of the island, which locals call Rapa Nui. The community believes that the monuments contain spirits, and the stone figures are regarded as living embodiments of their ancestors.
The island’s mayor, Pedro Edmunds, says he will propose new traffic rules to the city council after the accident on Sunday, March 1. The politician says he wants to ban vehicles from entering heritage and archaeological sites to protect the sculptures and avoid a repeat of the accidental damage.
He told local media outlet El Mercurio that a municipal ordinance restricting vehicle access to sacred sites was proposed eight years ago but “everyone refused.”
That reluctance looks set to change as the number of tourists continues to grow. The mayor said that around 12,000 tourists arrive each month, swelling the island’s population, which has recently jumped from 8,000 to 12,000 people.
A photo of the aftermath from the posted to the Facebook page of the Comunidad Indígena Ma’u Henua. Courtesy @comunidadmauhenua on Facebook.
The owner of the truck has been formally charged with the crime of damaging a national monument. He faces a fine of between 2,502,050 and 10,004,200 Chilean pesos ($3,000 to $12,000) as well as other criminal consequences pending the conclusion of a 90 day investigation into the incident.
The standing figures are shrouded in mystery. Archaeologists recently proposed that they were placed close their sources of fresh water—a precious resource. As well as moments to their ancestors, it turns out they may have also served a more utilitarian purpose.
Preface: NB: the dates inbetween posts need updating with events - it is not that nothing occurred during these times...ed.
Comment 05 Oct. 2020:
"05 Oct. 2020: The criminals running this stalking campaign here - apart from noticing their hacking on my pcs all the time where they eg. continue to flip the pages up and down when I'm using them, or turning the volume off all the time, or making pages i'm working on disappear - are conveniently using a post office that's been set up within the local pharmacy I use, and recruited the guy in charge of the post office to "keep an eye on me" - to stalk - especially as i wait often for ages for a bus by the usual busstop outside the pharmacy / post office to get home. This way they can not only see what i post, but monitor / track me when out in that location. They used Blondie Dave a lot in the past at this location, eg. in the Subway, but now, as I don't use that place any more, their tactics have changed, but only slightly. Today was a classic example of the guy coming out of the p.o. / pharmacy and staring straight at me, then when I saw him, he quickly disappeared back into his den - his mission done. They often set things up at this location too, abusing the council's cctv cameras there, and, as I usually have to wait ages for a bus, these rogues have plenty of time to call this p.o. stalker and give him his orders, or get other stalkers to the location. Coincidentally, the p.o. / pharmacy is next to the new cafe that's opened who they called the owner of a couple of weeks back now, spreading their smear / vendetta campaign, brainwashing him, and where Blondie Dave sits just opposite by the Subway I don't use anymore. blatantly watching me. Just after I took 2 pics recently, 5 hours apart, of this Dave character sitting staring at me by the Subway [he always followed me into after about 10 mins. of me being there [for weeks on end]]. the phone I used to take the pics was destroyed, which still hasn't been replaced, nor the phone contract either which was terminated also after being with 3Mobile for 20 years. Who needs this harassment? These characters are evil, and obsessed, and their recruited stalkers totally brainwashed by a fake cop who is abusing not only our police service + police time with his smear campaign and bs when he should be out doing what cops do and earning his wages - catching criminals. Also the council's cctv system is abused to do his dirty work, monitoring myself who has no criminal record - something that must get right up these actors noses - which is another story of the obvious setups i;ve been aware of, to get me via an arrest...."
"This hacking of mobile phones [+ pcs] has been happening to me since
2010 when i blew the whistle on a town council's crimes when removing
children from decent and good parents. Now many phones have been
destroyed, inc. my contract phone which was rendered useless by having
it's "Network Connection" completely removed from the phone's settings,
meaning i couldn't connect to my providor. 3Mobile say my a/c was fine,
and Samsung said theyed never heard of what happened to my phone before.
The phone is useless and i left 3Mobile a month ago after 20 years with
them when a new update S20 phone + new contract was due - being left
with 2 years contract payments was too risky if they destroyed this new
phone too and i couldn't guarentee this hacking not happening again by
the rogue local police who have been controlling the gangstalking
happening to me since 2010 when i began whistleblowing - it's
neverending + i'm stalked every time i go out by recruited stalkers of
all shapes + sizes and i've tons of evidence on film etc. but no
solicitor will touch the case as the police lean on them - and that's
that. IF ANYONE knows of a reputable solicitor who would deal with this
crime of stalking: PLS contact me!
They said insurance can't be got
for hacking by a 3rd party - it's uninsurable! The phone was rendered
useless leading up to a vital heart op on 2 September so i had no
emergency phone. Now i use PAYG 24/7. They are evil! And that's
without the home burglaries these evils are behind whereby expensive
items were taken from my home whilst i was out - out being watched on
the cctv + being stalked by their recruits! It's hopeless and this has
been going on 10 years since 2010!"
02 Sept. 2020 - Many more updates are needed to show the full capacity of this illegal activity by public servants in the pay of the public purse [funded by the UK taxpayer], in particular, the many instances of items removed from my home when I am not at home. Many thefts from my home were reported to police, as was the hacking [and destruction] of my 2 laptops [to date] but, naturally, nothing is done by the local police reported to, and the thefts continue, as does the hacking, even though I've changed from the Windows system to Linux on my computer - it makes no difference - I am still badly hacked almost every day. "
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There’s an #evil black op happening in #UK by rogue #police + their hired cronies with many agencies collusion inc. town councils etc-#whistleblowers+connected are especially #targeted using smear campaigns/#hacking pcs+phones They are very evil #stalking#gangstalking#Bournemouth
[NB: some pics have been deleted by you-know-who]
15 May 2020
Another broken pc, tks to hackers – guess who – the 2nd in a week, although the desktop was miraculously fixed with messages showing on my screen when it was turned on again after not operating at all with the mouse deleted and the USB ports too – these new screen messages.implying i should update the drivers [which have been fine since day one but which the hacker changed the existing drivers to “previous versions” if not deleting them totally off the machine, as was done to the USB ports, making the pc not work at all and become frozen]. This video shows my turning my Acer notebook on after it being off 2 days due to it being made unworkable [from working perfectly], especially when trying to download Nord VPN on it, which the hacker would allow at al!!! – which is working fine on the desktop. They are evil. The local police complaints replied to my complaint re: irregularities after 2 cops visited after i reported the hacking + criminal damage to my pc – more of that later
UPDATE 20 APRIL 2020
I don’t believe in hating anyone but i do these sickos – and i’m being truthful when i say i would spend the rest of my life in prison – what they have done is terrible, including home burglaries and smear campaigns to every record shop in Bournemouth + Poole – owners of those shops [+ more] told me what they were told by these rogue police with their smear campaigns. Evil sick retards – for what? exposing their dishonesty and corruption – that’s what! And what have they gained from it all? Nothing – except I am much more adept at witnessing their absolutely criminal abuse of power – and see just how much they need to hide from the inevitable – they’re being brought to book for the endless crimes committed over the years – and even very recently!!
05 April 2020
After complaining again to the so-called main police complaints agency here in the UK – the IOPC – a few weeks ago they passed my complaint on to the local police Professional Standards who found my perfectly genuine complaint without merit, and all was dismissed via a letter with the statement that I was not on the list of the police / council’s surveillance program, which can be seen here, from the council’s official site: https://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/…/CovertSurveillance.aspx .
My reply to the police stating I was not on their official list of being “covertly surveilled” via their R.I.P.A. program was that of course I’m not officially going to be shown to be on the program, and stalked as I am, as which judge – who has to endorse officially anyone whose to be put on the program – would endorse and sign for anyone if that person doesn’t even have a criminal record, which I don’t, nor mixes with known criminals. The council openly admits it’s program is designed to watch active criminals, and to watch for criminal activity which, during the 10 years I’ve been harassed and stalked I have proved I’m not involved in either, having not even been spoken to by any police or anyone about anything under the sun since at least 1984 – a whopping 36 years ago! So, they’ve all unconnected themselves from this program, but nevertheless still continue it, apparently “on the side” and illegally, as the police have stated their program is unconnected to myself. Unfortunately I have found the police to be very sadly lacking in it’s job role and whose “officers” I believe and allege are very much behind or very much connected to the many crimes of stalking that I’ve experienced, which has been ongoing since 2010/2011, with burglaries to my home happening too not long ago. I noticed stalkers – and more – operating in 2010/2011 when I would be watched and followed when leaving home for London, and returning home again, using the National Express coaches mostly, or train if possible when visiting either Musa family parent who was on remand in prisons there. Note I was not mixing with “known criminals” or anyone involved in “criminal activity” as the police / council’s RIPA surveillance dictates even though visiting friends in prison – the big difference being that the Musa parents had committed no crime and were victims of corruption – framed by that N. London council and their police in order to get their children, with the payback – thousands of pounds in bonuses for social workers etc. – that kind of obnoxious crime is prone too. The Musa parents were and always will be totally innocent of any “mistreating their 7 children” charges – the removal of their 7 children bringing a pretty penny in for the corrupt social workers involved, and all aligned to the crimes – “council contact centres” and dubious legal representives included.
Note the police are funded by local town councils, at least the one here is, and are therefore obliged to action any order the council cares to present to them, being at their beck and call 24/7. The Dorset police chief constable has blocked my emails for some time and doesn’t reply to written letters that even my MP replies to time + again. When I tweeted 2 Dorset Assistant chief constables a few weeks back re: the stalking + hacking crimes, my twitter a/c was actually closed down but reinstated 8 hours later after I appealed – the closing of the a/c perhaps being a warning to me not to tweet these local police high-ups with crimes as they don’t wish to know, let alone investigate, perhaps.
Coincidentally an unknown perp – a stalker and part of the gang here, I allege – made a death threat to myself verbally and to my face on the 18th November 2017, which was reported to the police within hour with a formal statement given and a crime number got, and an officer assigned to the case who called me a week after my making the statement. 2 weeks after the threat was made I saw the stalker again and followed him to a house nearby which he entered with a key he took from his pocket. I informed the officer dealing with the case immediately, giving him the address I’d found. After that I tried to make contact with this officer many times but it was impossible – he was always unavailable, and often “on holiday” an uncanny amount of times. Despite numerous promises from the police when calling them trying to contact the officer many times on the police 101 number during December 2017 and the whole of January 2018 – even waiting outside the police station building he was supposedly working from at times – I was totally ignored until he finally called me, out of the blue, 3 whole months later in mid-Febuary 2018, telling me he had nothing at all to report – 3 whole months from my first contact with the police about this matter, and 9 weeks since I’d spoken to this officer, telling him the perps address, a stones throw away. I couldn’t believe what was going on here. The character who made the threat has not been seen again around here – yet, as many they regularly used for months haven’t – many individuals recorded in film and photographs from numerous dates, but I know much more than I’m telling here.
Who has the power to use the council’s extensive cctv system? The council, obviously, and the police [who they fund], including any rogue police. The police Prof. Standards stated I was not shown listed in any surveillance programs, but a] were they being truthful, and b] what do they know, especially about neer-do-wells employed in the police and council here – rogue police possibly being paid by other parties. Coincidentally, the longrunning stalking and harassments i suffer bear a striking similarity to the longrunning stalking and crimes committed, allegedly, against one Carol Woods, a whistleblower in Lancashire who has described many similar occurrences happening to her as has happened to myself over many years by the same subjects – the local police and council – her hundreds of updates posted for nearly 3 years from 2016 shown here: https://butlincat.com/?s=carol+woods ]. Regarding both the local police and council ignoring my serious complaints for years – my MP is the only one who could get one complaint to the council resolved recently all was ignored after many notifications were made to the council but ignored completely regarding a faulty front street door entry system to my block of flats – a security feature on the street door that had had it’s time settings changed so that the feature didn’t work at all – for at least 2 whole years until my MP intervened recently, despite my notifying the council many times from the beginning of those 2 years onwards. Also i have an affadavit – a statement of truth – from a stalker i temporarily “befriended” in order to get info. It didnt take much for this person to tell me how they were contacted and told to go and watch me, them being told where i was. After this person turned up time after time near me, I knew something was wrong. On the final occasion when this person turned up, I confronted the person, in a friendly manner, and told them the score, and they then told me what they told me [some of which was what I suspected anyway] as they didn’t believe what was happening was right – that is, covert surveillance and the resulting harassment on someone who is no criminal, has no criminal record, and doesn’t even know any active criminals in order to simply harass, and for no other reason. It surely must be costly on the public purse – the money got from UK citizens – to stalk someone since 2011 at least and getting no arrests or proof of any crime being committed by myself at any time – the stalking which even includes visits to other countries – Wales for example, which I have visited often since 2011, with very odd things happening en route on the trains and also whilst in Cardiff and elsewhere in Wales too!
They are VERY evil, out of control, and their stalkers rewards come out of the public purse, which is scandalous.
30 March 2020
Dirty stalking controllers [rogue police] arranging for weirdos to knock on my door making out they’re looking for someone else 15.35BST today!
I went out at 4pm today – with many cameras – to go to the nearby busstop [where the stalkers always turn up within 10 mins] just to look at the lie of the land after their usual trick – 15 minutes earlier – of a stranger knocking on my front door after my street door buzzer went – i thought it was a courier delivering a parcel or i wouldn’t have bothered letting her in via the system controlled street door that needs the resident to open it electronically – when my buzzer buzzes, I press the button which opens the street door down below. The stranger came up straightaway and knocked lightly on my door. Strangers in my block have difficulty finding the right flat, 2 on each floor, but she came straight to my door with no problem – odd – i’m on the 1st floor, with the flat numbers throughout barely viewable on each door, so she must’ve been told exactly where i was, probably. I went to my front door, peering through the 12 x 12 safety glass. “Is Jackie there?” she whispered, barely audible. “WHAT?” “Is Jackie there? Oh sorry – I got the wrong block” before scuttling off. If I had a pound for every time this has happened i’d be loaded. And how come this fake calling doesn’t happen to the other flats in this block – I’ve been here years and never once seen anyone knocking on anyone’s door here by mistake – ever! Anyway,15 minutes later, I went out to clock the lie of the land, to the nearby busstop, and within 10 minutes was surrounded by stalkers – 2 old ones, including Fatty Boom-Boom who lives opposite, and SkinnyBloke who used to be a Hermes delivery driver before his drug addiction took over, plus 2 more who i’ve never seen before. Not that long ago the 2 creeps Fatty and Skinny were very active with constant stalking – Fatty usually staring out of his window at me on arriving home from being out so many times, moving his curtains about – the rest of his household – 2 more fatties – constantly stalking also when i’m out, waiting by my home often when i return too – and filmed often also. Skinny lives nearby. See the pic., the 1st is a screenshot from my Boblov device. On my mobile phone, i filmed at the same time 2 more stalkers – 1 approaching from up the road to the busstop i was stood at, staring me out as he approached, and another young kid who walked completely past, then when i left the scene after this 4th young kid had passed, he reappeared round the corner to “ask me for a light” and then asking me for money. I sussed it immediately but often when i go out now i’m approached by someone asking for money often – sometimes i give, sometimes i don’t regardless of who they are – this begging is one of these dimwit stalking controllers new ideas. They’re acting is quite good, but not quite right. What kills me is they don’t care who they send to stalk when this virus thing is so active – and dangerous. At least 3 people have died mere yards from me and we’re constantly told not to go out – only to go out for food, work, or exercise – these Sad Sacs are risking their very lives because some idiot stalking controller has told them to go out and watch what i do or who i meet – but i’ve never met anyone when out, nor anything else so their entire program is a pointless waste of time – and in 10 years they’ve never got one single thing from me. I used to go to record shops, but they’ed phone the owners and set a smear campaign in motion, so when i’d go back i’d get a completely negative reaction from these guys who were so friendly – and normal before. Some others have even told me what’s occurred. One stalker told me loads of stuff he/she shouldn’t after i began a conversation and a brief friendship – that person’s ID is protected, as is my promise to that person. It’s not hard to figure out how the person[s] are contacted + told when to go out, and how i’m dressed etc etc. It’s supposedly done to irritate, but it doesn’t even do that as it’s been going on for so long – 10 years – so that now it’s just boring. They try to rile me and try to get me to break the law [as i have no criminal record now after 35 years clean] by assaulting one of them – physically or by speaking – which i will never do as i don’t normally talk to oddballs when i’m out anyway – they approach me often, talking bs or begging for money, but then i just ignore them but film everything [i film all the time i’m out with a “Boblov” recording device – my phone is too cumbersome] – even hookers have been sent – on successive days – i guess they think i’ll think about it – being propositioned by them – but i don’t want no STD, nor can i be set up. If you saw what occurs you’d understand. The 2 other stalkers i mentioned above are filmed on my phone which i haven’t even looked at yet, but i will add asap, [the pic below is a photo, not from a film] for the sake of posterity, and for the controllers who will read this [if they can read, of course]. The 2nd pic is of the Fatty who stares at me from his street window when i’m in my kitchen opposite – there are more pics of that + there is more, but i’m saving that for court. D’you know i’ve got so lazy now i can’t even be bothered to get a legal rep. who could do my court case? I’ve approached so many solicitors [“Go to the Law Society” they say – a complete waste of time] and been knocked back, it’s surreal. But one day, when i can be bothered – if, say, another burglary occurs, which was reported with a crime number got not long ago. A cop came round, as they do, but tried every trick in the book to try and say my evidence was no good, that the lock – [which was broken upon entry, which still needs to be forensically analysed to show it’s been picked – not very well either] – was deemed to be “old” and therefore “the springs inside pack up and the lock becomes faulty”. Nonsense. These locks last 40 years – probably more. They look as far as they can inside the lock [which has been removed from my front door, and replaced] where the key enters and see no obvious marks or scratches from whatever picks the lock, and say “there’s no signs of tampering – no marks or anything” – and that’s it! That’s their theory to say the lock has not been picked, and my place not burgled with many items gone missing. Ridiculous, and hardly a feasible explanation when the entire lock that was bought new is busted inside, and is only about 18 months old, and won’t work when normally these new front door locks last forever – made by one of the best companies in the UK or anywhere. More later.
“Covert Surveillance”
It
states in this article on “Covert Surveillance” on the Bournemouth
Borough website [since deleted]: “This Act allows us to use non-obvious methods to
observe people who are suspected of committing a crime, this is known as
covert surveillance. This helps us to protect the public and prevent
crime” [from: “Covert Surveillance” https://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Privacy/ProvidingandProtectingInformation/CovertSurveillance.aspx].
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA)
This Act allows us to use non-obvious methods to observe people who are suspected of committing a crime, this is known as covert surveillance. This helps us protect the public and prevent crime.
The regulations mean that when we use covert surveillance we must make sure that it is in proportion to what is needed and doesn’t intrude unnecessarily on a person’s privacy.
The Office of Surveillance Commissioners is an independent body that makes sure we use the Act correctly. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal follows up complaints into covert surveillance that is not carried out properly.
We use covert surveillance help with specific investigations or operations where a crime is suspected and the person or people under surveillance are unaware that they are being watched.
For example, we may use covert surveillance to:
We can only use covert surveillance if it is considered reasonable and in proportion to do so. Using RIPA can only be authorised by an Authorising Officer who must be trained in using RIPA.
We are only allowed to use covert surveillance with the approval of a Judge, through the Magistrate’s Court.
Read our policy for more information about RIPA and how we use covert surveillance.
The Home Office RIPA website has more detailed information on how the Act works." [ends]
The European Convention on Human Rights [E.C.H.R.]
I am a subject of this dubious “surveillance” because, I contend, it is payback for having had cause to be a whistleblower after finding serious cases of malfeasance – courtesy of UK government employees – and I have supported others regarding many cases of similar, and what is happening to myself is not “Covert Surveillance” but rather a 10-year-long vendetta against myself, beginning after I began supporting the infamous “Hollie Greig” case, with it’s infinite instances of illegalities, but how do these highly questionable “Powers That Be” justify their 10-year-long program against myself – the situation being that I do not have a current criminal record, that I’ve not even been questioned by police about anything since 1983, nor especially since I moved to this present address in 2004, let alone has any fruits of their surveillance in 10 whole years been able to confirm any criminal activity on my behalf – mainly because there hasn’t been any! I put it to the Powers That Be in all UK government departments that these responsible for breaching various articles of the ECHR – as has happened continually to myself – should be held criminally responsible for their targeting and the wasting public funds and malfeasance and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, because so many of these stalking controller’s activities are hostilities that fall far outside the remit of the “R.I.P.A.”Act and are illegal activities – the ECHR Articles broken being =
Article 2: Right to life
Article 3: Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment
Article 5: Right to liberty and security
Article 7: No punishment without law
Article 8: Respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence
Article 14: Protection from discrimination in respect of these rights and freedoms
Protocol 1, Article 1: Right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
NONE
of these rights are achievable whilst rogues in positions of power
enforce “covert surveillance” [gangstalking etc.] upon a law-abiding
person who has no criminal record anyway, and is unlikely to gain one!
These rogues responsible for acting in breach of their government
employments need to be brought to book, and that is my aim as numerous
records kept show clearly many actions undertaken in the guise of this
project performed by the local council / police fall outside the remit
of this “Covert Surveillance” black operation eg. the hacking of phones /
computers, stalking/gangstalking to name just a couple of provable
instances, and many more nefarious actions have been recorded whereby
numerous agencies have taken part as part of this black program.
I
can say in absolute truth I have not wilfully or knowingly committed
any crime nor even been questioned by anyone over anything since 1984,
especially during the period – 10 years nearly – of this rancid “covert
surveillance” which began in earnest in 2010 by Bournemouth police /
council, for I would surely have been brought to book for any type of
crime I’ve enacted when being watched so closely – something that, in my
opinion, grieves
these program controllers greatly that I haven’t been arrested or even
questioned over anything as 10 years of surveillance getting no results
whatsoever shows. It shows just how their outrageous targeting
program has failed, yet still smear campaigns have been created and
spread against myself and stalkers turn up constantly when out, along
with other hostilities which fall far outside the remit of this dubious
program that have nothing to do with “covert surveillance”, eg. the
destruction of my mobile phones because of interference to them by these
government operatives, to many more serious actions.
And,
regarding the gangstalking – as I’ve already stated I have spoken to a
recruited stalker who told me much he/she shouldn’t have!
Known terrorist Osman Khan finished serving his 8 years from a 16 year sentence recently only to go on to murder 2 non-muslims 12 months after his release at London’s “Fishmonger’s Hall” in London. Why aren’t these characters controlling this stalking and the infinite number of stalkers and similar taking part in the abhorrent 24/7 targeting of myself “covertly surveilling” these thousands of jihadi terrorists in the UK 24 / 7 instead of myself ? This example alone shows just how much this “Covert Surveillance” upon myself is out of place and isn’t working, and this outrageous vendetta on my Human Rights and liberties needs to stop immediately – and nothing is free – the taxpayer foots the bill and it’s completely unacceptable when at least one stalker – a close neighbour who has been harassing me for years – is known and convicted drug abuser, for which I have ample evidence!
The latest outrage: Why was this allowed to happen? I am followed about and stalked everywhere I go and have been for nearly 10 years. How do the police and council justify their “covert harassment” of myself and how come atrocities like the following are let happen? UK: “Muslim known to police, screaming “Allahu akbar,” wearing suicide vest, stabs several people in London: Feb. 02 2020” https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/02/uk-muslim-known-to-police-screaming-allahu-akbar-wearing-suicide-vest-stabs-several-people-in-london?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the_2020_02_03_jihad_watch_daily_digest&utm_term=2020-02-03
“Covert Surveillance
Updated 22 Dec. 2019: #Alarming Report Reveals #Secretive #Surveillance State Powered By Your Phone’s #Location Services https://infowars.com/alarming-report-reveals-secretive-surveillance-state-powered-by-your-phones-location-services/…
IT’S A MESS HERE IN THE #UK TOO The #FBI ‘s warrant system for #spying on #Americans is a mess, the #IG report shows https://nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/ig-report-shows-way-fbi-gets-warrants-spy-americans-mess-n1098666…
and the 2nd poster being put on a nearby telegraph pole that also was removed at the same time. Everything in these comments made by myself are true sworn statements and are stored at safe addresses” [ends].
PIC OF TWITCHER – just one early pic, but there could’ve been loads.
more:
I am a T.I. [Targeted Individual] – my mobile phones, and other things – by J. Graham [butlincat] 31 Oct. 2018
To be continued and [updated].
Its comical. You get in a cab [as I did, on Sunday, to go to the station], and after a while, chatting to the driver, you find he knows more about you than you would’ve imagined. The chat goes to the subject of “corruption”, after you’ve been asked where you’re going and why? [typical probing] and one wonders who else has been “primed”, with one’s name being “flagged”, as I’ve been made aware of so many times now, when visiting agencies, or wherever, around myself, that I have no choice but to use. Different locations – different flagging. They always deny it, of course, when asked “is my name flagged on your system – what does it say?” or whatever, but I know it’s there simply by the body language or speech used from the person who’s being asked – a very telling giveaway. Try harder spooks!! Get a real life! As if they haven’t better things to do – my local plod etc. – what a joke! They began in 2010 by taking down the Hollie Greig posters I put up around me, then it progressed, till it became very obvious, and easy to spot, not much later.
They prime people with info – people you are to come into contact with. Eg. the guy “Frank”, from way back in 2011, the business owner, who came round from miles away who thought he was going to sell me a particularly worthless laptop I saw his advert for, online. What he said, mentioning America out of the blue [I had connections in America], and the way his voice and body language changed when he said it, let me know something was afoot. It was the only time he actually looked me in the eye when he said that, too. Its not common when one invites an invited person into one’s abode that they don’t look you in the eye until 10 minutes into the scene. I was thinking it was weird as it was happening – why couldn’t the guy look at me? When his entire demeanour changed ,and he said, out of the blue “I have a [family member] in America…” I knew he’d been primed and this was a fishing expedition.
Shortly after that, the monitoring began in earnest – and at one point the Internet disruption I was paying for was so bad I was having to use an Internet cafe for 6 weeks until the director of a certain well known ISP company – who I’d complained to about this interference to my service [by spooks] – could sort out my broadband problems, which they finally did, after incredible hassle, and I was refunded for 3 months line rental because of the interference with service – caused by the very same people who primed the cab driver, etc. 2 days ago. This kind of cr-p happens all the time. They deny any flagging, or monitoring, of course, and will go out of their way to deny it, as conversations I’ve had very recently or reply letters reveal after the subject had been broached. But we know, spooks – we know, and its not rocket science.
I know I caught you on the hop on Sunday, when I caught that early train into London – but you soon caught up – I saw the 2 short [5’6″?] female officers peering at me from the corner, for a few seconds only, looking intent, talking, then disappearing back round the corner. You think I don’t notice tiny things like that, or when you follow me around, or put silly females in my path who come up to me and ask me crazy questions, like “where’s Asda?” – twice, when we’re standing right outside the place [2014]?
And what about when I turned that corner, just by the Aldi roundabout, and the female student-looking type, or trainee spook, was already looking at me square in the eyes as I turned the corner [that is so very odd!], and walked straight up to me, standing very close to me, asking where the nearest bank was as she needed money? Come on. That’s so cheap a stunt. The bank was round another corner down a nearby road 250 yards away – but how come she had a smile of her face whilst looking at me – in the eyes – when I turned that corner? Can you imagine how bizarre that acting was? I believe you must’ve dropped her off by car immediately preceeding this event, to get her [and the rest] ahead of me, ready for the verbal. You probably had people watching the event too, close by, and this person [and all the rest at other events, or some of them anyway] are probably wired for sound so anything said can be used later as evidence.
What about the tiny very very young female with the small brown and white terrier dog, whilst waiting at the busstop that’s now been moved, that I used nearly every day? Did you think I missed that one? Of course I didn’t. And, at the busstop, whilst waiting for the bus – who was the old guy on his mobile phone, 20 yards away, looking away from me all the time I was noticing him, leaning on the gate post.
They also use nondescript very ordinary looking people – including teenage girls to pensioners, both male and female who are recruited to pop along to surveille and watch whoever is deemed a target – I know because ive been witnessing this for months and have been accosted by many of them – particularly young females and older tarty types – possibly prostitutes or ex-prostitutes [often employed by police or connected].
It would take literally all night to list every event since those posters were taken down in 2010, 2 weeks after they were put up, by that very busstop, a week after I gave a couple of the posters to a person who lives in Highgate, London, around the time I met Kevin Annett + co. too, at the same location.
When you hassled me over 2 days beginning at the anti-pope march, and I complained to the IPCC about it, and 6 months later, the verdict back from the IPCC was “no case to answer” – noone from your side could recall what the heck I was complaining about, even though I’d given you the officer’s numbers + names, etc etc.? Oh, and funny how that cab driver on Sunday, around 07.15BST, during the station trip mentioned an IPCC complaint he’d had disregarded. What an odd coincidence!! or is it “ham acting”?
September 2010 was obviously the trigger for numerous particularly amateur events that continue to this very day. What about the old doxy who confronted me on the coach journey en route to see a Musa in HMP in 2012 – who, to my irritation – came an sat next to me after a few minutes into the journey, drivelling on about how she’d been wronged by whoever in business and she also thought she was pretty sure she knew a paedo who was a wrong’un? Did you think I’d fall for all her predictable bs? Luckily, I was able to escape off the coach at Hammersmith where I always used to alight to get the tube, but anyone could stake a fortune on me getting a tail by the time I’d reached Caledonian Rd. – the tube stop for either HMP the M’s were in.
Who was the guy plain-clothes that time that jumped my exit through the ticket barrier at Cale. Rd. – creeping close right behind me as i went through the ticket barrier device, unnoticed until we’d gone through the thing – so he could get off the station without using his ticket – not that he even had one in the 1st place because he was a spook on duty tailing me. White guy, black well-worn leather jacket, dark jean-type trousers, black medium length hair – centre parting, slightly unshaven, dark t-shirt. He gave it away by staring malevolently at me, off and on, in the lift one has to get in at Caledonian Rd. tube before the ticket barriers + the street exit. He leant against the wall on the left in the lift, clocking me off and on as the lift awaited moving and then went up, whilst I looked forward towards the lift exit 2 yards away, by the other lift wall to the right. Was I being provoked, the same as they did when with Annett in Oxford street, on the march, the day after the pope’s Lambeth visit in 2010, the officer literally pushing me backwards away from the other 5 this character was with, after the helicoptor must’ve got me with face recognition when in the middle of scores of people waiting to begin the march by Selfridge’s? Then, after being separated from Annett + co, after being held by the side of the road as the march began for about 6 minutes, you allowed me back into it, and I caught up with Annett, only to have another officer never further than a few yards way from me for the entire march, ahead of me to my right, who kept turning back to look directly at me, often. You surely have all recorded – all this connected to the IPCC complaint they couldn’t remember anything about, made a fortnight later.
It would take literally all night to list every event that’s been noticed. The common factor in all this is my local agency [with others they’ve told], who I reported the Hollie Greig case to, in 2010 [ignored, emails to the then chief constable were blocked also], and also a “missing person” was reported to them in 2012 [ignored also].
But what is happening to CERTAIN OTHERS especially is gross, and much, much worse. You act “under the law” – and that will never work, and is very illegal. Gangstalking, when connected to government, is a public scandal. How come genuine citizens are punished when reporting serious crimes committed by government employees, and the government employees are left alone to continue the serious crime, and the persons reporting the crime’s lives are made hell – even imprisoned? What I’ve noticed is ridiculously negligible compared to many good citizens targeted simply because of what they know, and do about what they know.
When people join enforcement agencies I well believe they have the honesty and integrity needed, and are to be applauded for that. But, along the way, some fall, and turn into pure monsters. This has, and is happening right now – to a lot of people. Where did it go so wrong for these people to make them change into monsters? Where? And what do they hope to achieve by it all? Is it all down to simply having a bigger bank balance?
This is extremely sad reading – compounded with the knowledge that the local council and connected parties are allegedly responsible for doing nothing to avert the horrific stalking described, let alone being behind it all. I am in a similar position, stalking-wise, to this which is described, with, imo, exactly the same parties running the entire show.
The general public do not realise certain agendas which are now in place, and what is going on, courtesy of these government departments. They are not aware of how seemingly ordinary and general members of the public – locals – are used to surveille [and harass] one, who report to their fellow stalkers when one has gone out, where wider surveillance takes over. These Watchers can even be in place at the place one is going to if one has, for example, used a public bus to get to wherever one happens to be going to, or be at the place one is going to if one has ordered a cab, or bought train or coach tickets to somewhere. It is not hard to tell who these stalkers are, often by their incessant and quizzical stares, for no reason. Often I arrive home to find a neighbour waiting to greet me – an elderly, almost senile next door neighbour who I have no contact with at all, yet who regales me with a “hello!” when I am about to go into my block. Obviously someone has tipped him off – mobile phone messaged him or whatever – that I will be arriving home in 15 minutes or whatever, and his job is simply to be seen and be there as I arrive home, to reinforce the outrageous fact that surveillance is being enacted. If I’ve ordered a cab for the following day, this neighbour will be there as the cab arrives, no matter what time or how early it may be, as he was at 7am last Sunday when he stood watching me get into a pre-ordered cab – what was he doing waiting by my abode at 7am on a Sunday morning in the remote, secluded close that I live in? Other neighbours I have no contact with often try and engage me in conversation whilst out – mysteriously appearing away from my home when I am awaiting a bus home, at random locations, or even when I’m in a “Subway” sandwich bar – they waltz in shouting “hello!” as I’m sitting there – its uncanny, and all approaches are avoided like the plague. One next door neighbour is a class A drug abuser, so who knows what’s going on with her approaches and why she should suddenly appear, targeting myself when I am out, walking right up to me and attempting to engage in conversation as if we’re old friends and she’s known me for years. For weeks her friends would knock on my door asking for her [she lives in the block next door] – each one apologising for disturbing me after realising they had, deliberately, the wrong address. Who can be behind all of these weird happenings?
Surely there’s only one party who can get something like this together – the local police. I’ve complained to many agencies about what’s been going on for years now, in one form or other, but the common factor with this case described in Wales is that noone actually does anything when this harassment is reported to them, and there must surely be many other similar stalkings taking place nationwide, but with it being a relatively new phenomenon, little is understood, or spoken or written about, and even if one does try and relate what one is experiencing, or hits this nerve too hard, one is branded as delusional – their ace card, and the attempts are made to lock one away in a mental unit, as has happened many times to some we know. Why aren’t these characters stalking the 23000 known extremists on the terrorist watch list – some of whom have gone on and murdered innocent passers-by? It is known the surveilla
ce on these potential murderers is woefully lacking, yet I can be surveilled daily, as the author of the post above is – without any hindrance at all. How can this be justified – or is reporting on government crimes more important than these extremists intentions to murder innocents? Seems so!…jg
Real-time data (and webcam) from Navizon’s listening station at its offices |
“Have you ever bothered to click on the “Places” map on your Facebook timeline? It kind of creeped me out the first time I tried it. It almost felt like Facebook was stalking me.
Hovering my mouse pointer over any of the red dots on the Facebook Places map revealed pictures I had been tagged in at each location, status posts I had made from different places, etc. I had never really thought that Facebook was aggregating all of this geotag data together, and frankly, I’m not crazy about them doing this for me. Depending on your privacy settings, your friends and others may also be able to see this information.
If you don’t like Facebook presenting your location information in a scrapbook-for-stalkers format, you can turn it off (sort of). Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to remove your location data from the Facebook Places map.
Step 1 – Remove Geotags From Your Pictures Before You Upload Them to Facebook
To ensure that future pictures posted to Facebook and other social media sites don’t reveal your location information, you should make sure that the geotag information is never recorded in the first place. Most of the time this is done by turning off the location services setting on your smartphone’s camera application so that the geotag information doesn’t get recorded in the picture’s EXIF metadata. There are also apps that will help you strip our the geolocation information of pictures you’ve already taken. You might want to try deGeo (iPhone) or Photo Privacy Editor (Android) to remove the geotag info from your photos before uploading them to social media sites.
Step 2 – Disable Location Services for Facebook on Your Mobile Phone / Device
When you first installed Facebook on your mobile phone, it probably asked for permission to use your phone’s location services so that it could provide you with the ability to “check-in” at different locations and tag photos with location information. If you don’t want Facebook knowing where you are posting something from, then you should revoke this permission in your phone’s location services settings area.
Step 3 – Enable the Facebook Tag Review Feature
Facebook recently made an attempt to go from a super-granular privacy settings structure to an ultra-simple one. It now appears that you cannot selectively prevent people from tagging you at a location, however, you can turn on the tag review feature which allows you to review anything you’ve been tagged in, whether it’s a picture or a location check-in. You can decide whether tags get posted before they are posted, but only if you have the tag review feature enabled.
To Enable the Facebook Tag Review Feature:
1. Log into Facebook and select the settings padlock icon next to the “Home” button at the top right corner of the page.
2. Click the “See More Settings” link from the bottom of the “Privacy Shortcuts” menu.
3. Click the “Timeline and Tagging” link on the left side of the screen.
4. In the “How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?” section of the “Timeline and Tagging Settings menu, click the “Edit” link next to “Review tags people add to your own posts before the tags appear on Facebook?”
5. Click the “Disabled” button and change its setting to “Enabled”.
6. Click the “Close” link.
After this setting is enabled, any post that you are tagged in, whether it’s a photo, location check-in, etc, will have to gain your digital stamp of approval before it’s posted to your timeline. This will effectively prevent anyone from posting your location without your express permission.
Step 4 – Limit Who Can See Your “Stuff” on Facebook
Also located in the newly revamped Facebook privacy settings area is a “Who can see my stuff” option. This is where you can limit the visibility of future posts (such as ones with geotags in them). You may choose “Friends”, “Only Me”, “Custom”, or “Public”. I advise against choosing “Public” unless you want the whole world knowing where you are and where you’ve been.
This option applies to all future posts. Individual posts can be changed as they are created or after they are made, in case you want to make something more public or private later on. You can also use the “Limit Past Posts” option to change all of your old posts that might have been “Public” or “Friends of Friends” to “Friends Only”.
It’s a good idea to check your Facebook privacy settings about once a month as they seem to make sweeping changes on a regular basis that could affect the settings you have in place. Check out our Facebook Privacy and Security section of our site for more guidance.
About.com Internet / Network Security
SPYING ON US 12mar15
Liberty, the human rights campaign group which represented Watson in the case, said the ruling meant significant parts of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 – known as the snooper’s charter – are effectively unlawful and must be urgently changed.
The court of appeal ruling on Tuesday said the powers in the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014, which paved the way for the snooper’s charter legislation, did not restrict the accessing of confidential personal phone and web browsing records to investigations of serious crime, and allowed police and other public bodies to authorise their own access without adequate oversight.The government defended its use of communications data to fight serious and organised crime and said that the judgment related to out of date legislation. Minister Ben Wallace said that it would not affect the way law enforcement would tackle crime.
Responding to the ruling, Watson said: “This legislation was flawed from the start. It was rushed through parliament just before recess without proper parliamentary scrutiny.
Martha Spurrier, the director of Liberty, said: “Yet again a UK court has ruled the government’s extreme mass surveillance regime unlawful. This judgement tells ministers in crystal clear terms that they are breaching the public’s human rights.”
She said no politician was above the law. “When will the government stop bartering with judges and start drawing up a surveillance law that upholds our democratic freedoms?”
The Home Office announced a series of safeguards in November in anticipation of the ruling. They include removing the power of self-authorisation for senior police officers and requiring approval for requests for confidential communications data to be granted by the new investigatory powers commissioner. Watson and other campaigners said the safeguards were “half-baked” and did not go far enough.
He said the judgment related to legislation which was no longer in force and did not change the way in which law enforcement agencies could detect and disrupt crimes.
The hundreds of chilling mass surveillance programmes revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013 were – we assumed – the result of a failure of the democratic process. Snowden’s bravery finally gave Parliament and the public the opportunity to scrutinise this industrial-scale spying and bring the state back into check.
What does your web history look like? Does it reveal your political interests? Social networks? Religious ideas? Medical concerns? Sexual interests? Pattern of life?
Government agencies have even won powers to hack millions of computers, phones and tablets en masse, leaving them vulnerable to further criminal attacks.
You might think that you have nothing to hide, and therefore nothing to fear. In that case, you may as well post your email and social media login details in the comments below.
Liberty and its members fought tooth and nail against this new law from its inception to the moment it was passed. That fight is not yet over. Our message to Government: see you in court.
David Cameron has promised new legislation so that terrorists no longer have “safe spaces” to communicate.
Pointing out that in the old days, intelligence agencies were able to open letters and eavesdrop on phone calls, the PM asked in a speech yesterday: “In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which […] we cannot read?”
But today deputy PM Nick Clegg said such a response would be disproportionate and would “cross a line”.
The issue centres on the fact that technology is changing so fast that the laws on which security officials rely to give them access to communications are becoming obsolete almost as soon as they are written.
Here the Bureau explains why new legislation passed last summer is said to be already inadequate to keep Britons safe, what the government could do next and why the public debate must take account of GCHQ’s most realistic option – hacking.
What are the problems?
The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA) was only passed last summer, having been fast-tracked through Parliament.
The new law extended the reach of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) which gives authorities interception powers.
Under DRIPA telecoms companies can also be required to keep billing data – information on who contacts whom, when and for how long on mobile networks but not the content of these messages – for up to 12 months and allow security officials to access it on production of a warrant.
This “meta-data” held by the companies is helpful in identifying associates of known terrorists or criminals. Law enforcement and security officials can use evidence of contact between parties to justify directly surveilling individuals and accessing the content of their communications.
But the law is already said to be becoming obsolete.
There are three main reasons for this:
1) People aren’t calling each other over mobile networks as often as they used to
Terrorists and serious criminals, like the general public, are using the internet to communicate instead, speaking to each other via social media sites, instant messaging services – including those provided by online games – and chat rooms.
Billing data doesn’t capture these exchanges.
2) Encryption
Intelligence agencies are increasingly finding that even when they have located the particular messages they want, the content is encrypted.
3) The data isn’t collected by UK telcos
Companies operating fixed line and mobile infrastructure such as BT and Vodafone may simply transport data to and from another company – such as Facebook or Twitter – to the customer with little or no data retained about the communication.
4) Some of the communications the spies want access to are held by service providers that are not based in the UK
Under DRIPA, interception warrants issued by UK authorities can be applied to overseas firms. As Liberty pointed out, the UK’s Home Secretary could serve Gmail with a warrant in California, requiring it to intercept all communications between subscribers in two specified countries or all communications leaving or entering the UK.
However many legal experts have questioned the validity of this extra-territorial effect, not least because the legislation could require companies to breach their own nation’s laws in complying with a UK warrant – a warrant whose existence they could not reveal without breaking UK law.
A recent Telegraph report quoted an anonymous security official complaining that these companies would not assist GCHQ enquires by passing on evidence about serious criminals unless there was an imminent threat of harm.
What can be done about it?
1) Get heavy with the tech companies
Media reports have suggested Whatsapp, Snapcat and Apple’s iMessage, which offer an encrypted instant messaging services could be banned from the UK.
Companies that offer encrypted email services could also be banned or required to hand over their encryption “keys”, either to the security services or to network operators.
Operators could then be required by law to decrypt the data.
As Privacy International points out, proposals to outlaw encrypted communications “not only threaten the very rights they’re said to be designed to protect, but begin from a fundamentally flawed premise – that such measures are even possible.”
It added: “The UK simply can not command foreign manufacturers and providers of services such as Whatsapp to modify their services to accommodate the desires of British spies.”
Any attempted move in this direction would antagonise some very powerful opponents – Google, for example, which recently proposed that websites that do not encrypt their traffic be marked as “insecure” by default.
The company is a major advocate for “end-to-end encryption“, which encrypts data leaving a user’s browser until it is decrypted by the recipient. The tech giant has previously publicly announced support for anti-surveillance campaigners.
In 2010 the Indian government threatened to ban Blackberry for refusing to allow the country’s security officials access to its messages. The dispute ran for several years before ending in a compromise, with the company agreeing to allow more limited access – to meta-data – than had originally been requested.
A battle between the UK and Google or Apple would be a different matter altogether.
2) Revival of the “Snoopers’ Charter”
The Conservatives are pushing for a revival of the Communications Data draft Bill, known as the “Snoopers’ Charter”, which was abandoned in 2013 after opposition from the Liberal Democrats.
This would have required all internet service providers to retain, for 12 months, in a common format data on their customers’ communications via the internet as well as via the mobile networks.
Data stored would include visits to websites and social media activities.
These databases could then be searched by a Government data-mining device called a “request filter”.
As well as major concerns about the threat to privacy this would entail, it is questionable whether the national security benefits would justify the expense of building and maintaining the data storage centers necessary to retain this huge amount of information, particularly if the encryption problem has not been solved.
Companies that have no commercial imperative to collect the information would have to be compensated if they were compelled to do so. The bill could run into hundreds of millions of pounds given the volume and complexity of data involved.
3) Hack!
The third prong in the intelligence agencies’ communications surveillance trident is its ability to break encryption by hacking.
GCHQ’s capabilities in this and any other regard are never discussed officially as a matter of policy.
But without understanding this capability – and how, if at all, it is constrained by the law – it is difficult to know just how hampered the security services are.
Documents leaked in 2013 by National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that US and UK intelligence agencies have been pouring their efforts into cracking encryption codes for many years.
A Guardian report that year quoted a 2010 NSA presentation as stating that “for the past decade, NSA has led an aggressive, multipronged effort to break widely used internet encryption technologies.”
A more recent report in German newspaper Der Spiegel based on a set of Snowden files dated 2012 showed that the NSA considered monitoring Facebook chat “a minor task”. On the other hand a protocol called Off-the-Record (OTR) for encrypting instant messaging seemed to be causing the NSA major problems.
Facebook has improved its security since 2012 but it’s likely that intelligence agencies’ hacking powers have improved in tandem.
GCHQ hacking may also explain why the government wants companies to store data that is currently unreadable due to encryption.
As yet another Snowden file says: “Vast amounts of encrypted Internet data which have up till now been discarded are now exploitable.”
Once an encrypted system has been hacked into, intelligence agencies can re-examine stored data to find information that was previously hidden – a powerful motive for retaining data.
The Snowden documents also revealed that NSA and its “Five Eyes” partners including the UK had adopted covert measures to ensure control over setting of international encryption standards, the use of supercomputers to break encryption with “brute force”.
Through covert partnerships with internet service providers and tech companies, the agencies had also inserted secret vulnerabilities known as backdoors into commercial encryption software.
“These design changes make the systems in question exploitable … to the consumer and other adversaries, however, the systems’ security remains intact,” one document says.
Since this was made public, the companies concerned may have become less willing to enter into these collaborations.
Related story: Thatcher and Blair Cabinet Secretary: Intelligence committee has “helped” public by confirming GCHQ’s internet tap “Tempora” powers
August 5th, 2017 Tom Coburg UK
The cover names of three police officers who spied on political activists have just been revealed by an inquiry into undercover policing. The three officers infiltrated high-profile campaigns at a time of great public anger.
Inquiry documents and secret intelligence reports reveal just how far the state went to undermine opposition to injustices. And understanding the response to that overreach is crucial to understanding what’s happening now.
The three undercover officers (UCOs) were assigned with the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and were operational from 1968 to 1976. They (cover names) are Rick Gibson [pdf] (deceased), Douglas Edwards [pdf] and John Graham [pdf]. An outline of their undercover activities is given in each document. The three infiltrated a number of political campaigns and organisations, including [pdf]Troops Out Movement, Vietnam Solidarity Campaign and anarchist groups.
At the time, Britain was engaged in military operations in Northern Ireland that saw 13 civilians killed by British troops on ‘Bloody Sunday’. Britain’s ‘dirty war’ in the country reportedly left many more dead. Britain was also actively supporting the US in its war on Vietnam. But the authorities had not appreciated the level of discontent this would cause. And on 17 March 1968 a mass rally at Trafalgar Square saw 8000 of the protesters break off to head for the US embassy at Grosvenor Square. The ensuing battle was a key moment, with 300 protesters arrested:
But the police learned lessons from Grosvenor Square. And ahead of a follow-up demo in October of that year, a Special Branch document provided a list of around 50 ‘leaders’. While another report revealed anticipated numbers of activists; and properties that could be targeted. Such intelligence would undoubtedly be useful to UCOs.
It is difficult now to imagine the intensity of the times. Edward Heath was locked into a lengthy dispute with workers who occupied the Clydeside shipyards in Glasgow, which would eventually end with a humiliating climb down for the government. Internment was introduced in Northern Ireland and the Bloody Sunday massacre of civil-rights marchers in January 1972 happened while the Angry Brigade suspects were awaiting trial. One document found in the raids across London that weekend brought the three causes together in a mini-manifesto: ‘Put the boot in – Bogside, Clydeside – Support the Angry side’.
The Angry Brigade was operational for 12 months from August 1970.
The SDS was not just a child of the 60s and 70s, its work and that of other undercover policing units continued over subsequent decades. And Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary subsequently revealed that a massive 3,466 undercover operations took place in England and Wales between 2009 and 2013 alone.
The Undercover Policing Inquiry was set up in 2015 to examine some of the practices deployed by these units[is he serious?…ed….he’s trying to be!…Ned.]. But it’s taken two years for a small number of cover names of UCOs to be released. The inquiry will reveal more in due course, though as The Canary reported many undercover policing files have gone ‘missing’. [well, there’s a surprise…NOT!..ed.].
Citizen activists are demanding real names should be released too. Because many UCOs formed sexual relationships as part of their cover. Indeed, former UCO Andy Coles (his real name) was exposed earlier this year – not by the inquiry, but by independent researchers. And now he is under pressure to resign as councillor with Peterborough City Council. The inquiry has agreed the then young woman he’s alleged to have exploited will be a ‘core participant’ in its investigation.
Regardless of the difference in technologies used, there are clear parallels between the political policing of earlier decades and of today. Moreover, public anger about the same injustices is no less palpable.
Get involved!
– Check out Undercover Research Group and Campaign Against Police Surveillance.
Featured image via screengrab.
ROGER PEARCE aka THORLEY #spycops
https://butlincat.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/roger-pearce-aka-thorley-spycops.html
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