#surveillane

The art of spying

U.K. Parliament must oppose the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (“DRIP”)

This week Access sent a letter to the U.K. Parliament calling for the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act to be thrown out. The bill fails to comply with international human rights norms and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. (via accessnow) (Given that the Tory government want to limit the reach of the European Court on Human Rights I don't imagine the letter had much impact.)

U.N. privacy report a game-changer in fighting unlawful surveillance

This week’s report on the right to privacy in the digital age by the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, commissioned by the General Assembly in December 2013, marks a historic turning point in the international discourse on privacy and surveillance. (via privacyinternational)

Access calls for President Obama to pledge to veto CISA

This week, Access and partners submitted a letter to U.S. President Obama urging him to pledge to veto the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) and any other bills that include similar provisions that would hurt our basic right to privacy. (via accessnow)

Thai Junta tightens its grip on the internet

The Thai junta’s methods of controlling online speech have only become more sophisticated since the May coup. A new study measuring website accessibility in Thailand from May to June of this year confirmed that 56 URLs had been blocked in the country. (via globalvoicesonline)

British spies hack online polls in attempt to control the internet

The GCHQ has developed covert tools to manipulate the results of online polls, artificially inflate pageview counts on web sites, amplify sanctioned messages on YouTube, and censor video content judged to be "extremist." (via firstlook)

Ethiopia: Nine bloggers and journalists held without charge beyond 80-day deadline

Six Ethiopian bloggers and three journalists held arbitrarily since April have not been formally charged within the 80-day limit allowed by Ethiopia's terrorism law. The hearings that should have been held to charge them were simply cancelled. (via ifex)

U.S. may grant rights to E.U. citizens under Privacy Act

On June 25, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the Obama Administration is seeking to extend to E.U.citizens several privacy protections in U.S. law, which today are only available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. (via accessnow) (Considering how the US spys on its own citizens I assume not much will change for Europeans. Besides, the Brits can spy for the US as they already do)

Delfi case heard at top European human rights court

On July 9th, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held a hearing on the landmark case of Delfi, an Estonian news outlet held liable for comments posted by users. Arguments revealed the dangerous implications of this case. (via accessnow)

Net neutrality under threat

The concept of “network neutrality” has been so central to our experience of the Internet, and such a driving force for innovation and expression, that most of us have taken it for granted. Yet now the principle is under direct attack in the U.S. (via nytimes)

That’s ¢la$$ified: U.S. passes authorization for surveillance spending

On Monday, President Obama signed the Fiscal Year 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act into law. But this year’s provisions fall short of reforming one of the most problematic aspects of U.S. surveillance: overclassification. (via accessnow)

Online activism is under siege in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, the crackdown against online activists has risen to extremely worrying levels. Human rights defenders face harassment, smear campaigns, arbitrary detention, torture, and fabricated judicial proceedings. (via globalvoicesonline)

Newly obtained emails contradict administration claims on Guardian laptop destruction

Emails just obtained pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request prove that senior national security officials not only knew in advance that U.K. officials intended to force The Guardian to destroy its computers, but overtly celebrated it. (via firstlook)

Germany rejected U.S. offer to join "Five-Eyes" surveillance pact

The Obama Administration offered Germany a rare deal to share intelligence — similar to the one the U.S. has with just four other nations, the "Five Eyes” alliance — but German Chancellor Angela Merkel balked, according to a new report. (via bloomberg)

Obama Administration says the world’s servers are theirs

The U.S. Justice Department is claiming that Microsoft must hand over email stored in Dublin, Ireland, arguing any company with operations in the United States must comply with valid warrants for data, even if the content is stored overseas. (via arstechnica)

What to know: GCHQ on trial

chilling video has surfaced of the 2010 shocking death of a homeless shoplifter at the hands of a cvs store manager who chased him into an alley. and a u.s. congressman is now calling for a special investigation into the death of 35-year-old anthony kyser, who stole toothpaste from the drug store before his death nearly three years ago.

  a grainy surveillance video from the alley near the little village cvs was obtained from a source by dnainfo.com chicago.

it shows kyser's final minutes on may 8, 2010, and the beginning of the police investigation into the case. no charges were filed in kyser's death, which police ruled an accident. cvs has said the manager acted in self-defense after being attacked by kyser.

the video appears to capture kyser fleeing into the alley with the store manager close behind him. there's a brief struggle before kyser hits the pavement, with the store manager on top of him.

another man appears to punch and kick kyser, at one point stepping down on his hand while the store manager remains atop kyser. more bystanders join in, helping to hold kyser down. eventually, kyser stops flailing his legs, the video shows.

a police officer arrives minutes later, followed by more cops and then an ambulance. but emergency responders are unable to revive kyser. sprawled on the pavement, kyser's dead body remains in the frame when the recording stops.

the cook county medical examiner's office ruled his death a homicide. but police decided it was an accident and no charges were filed. "the video was reviewed by detectives as part of their investigation at the time," chicago police department spokeswoman lt. maureen biggane said. "it was determined that criminal charges were not warranted."

kyser's mother, ann marie kyser, filed a lawsuit claiming the store manager committed battery and that cvs is liable. that case is still pending in cook county circuit court. the video has been discussed in sworn statements taken as part of the case.

"the video shows that anthony kyser was being choked by the cvs store manager and that no one did anything to help," said jack kennedy, an attorney with cochran, cherry, givens, smith & montgomery, the law firm representing kyser's mother. "i think it's appalling that cvs maintains that an employee can choke someone to death if they steal from a cvs store."

a cvs spokesman would only tell dnainfo.com that the company does not comment on pending litigation. an attorney representing cvs and the store manager did not return calls for comment. but in court filings in the civil case, cvs lawyers argue kyser punched the store manager -- identified in court papers as PEDRO VILLANOVA -- in the fae and the manager was acting in self-defense.

through his attorney, villanova acknowledges he "held onto anthony kyser on the ground while defending himself after being struck," according to court records. in a deposition, villanova said: "as soon as i got hit by mr. kyser, that's when it went from i'm here trying to recover the product and he can leave to all of a sudden he just punched me, so now i need to defend myself."

in court filings, villanova acknowledges his "arm came into contact with decedent anthony kyser's throat" and he heard kyser say "i can't breathe."

soon after kyser's death, an outraged u.s. rep bobby rush, a chicago democrat, sent a letter to cook county state's attorney anita alvarez demanding action for the "brutality visited upon a homeless man." rush now says his "calls for justice" were not heeded. now, after being shown the video, he said he hopes its release will reopen the investigation.

"this videotape... presents an undeniable moment where [his] life was snatched from him," he said after viewing the footage. "thank god for the videotape."

rush compared the way chicago authorities handled the kyser case to the case of david koschman, who died in 2004 of a head injury he suffered when richard j. "r.j." vanecko knocked him to the ground with one punch during a division street encounter, authorities say. "you see in koschman to kyser a pattern of flagrant disregard for justice," he said.

vanecko, a nephew of former mayor richard m. daley, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of involuntary  manslaughter only after the case was assigned to a special prosecutor following a series of stories by the sun-times.

rush is calling on cook county chief judge timothy evans to "open a special investigation" and appoint a special prosecutor. "the store manager to killed [kyser] is walking around today free as a bird," he said. "anthony kyser is crying from his grace for justice."