UK, will ISPs keep a register of surfers?
UK
It is called the "Investigatory Powers Act" and has been debated since 2016. It is now known that the technical tests to carry out that legislation would already be in place and that the United Kingdom, therefore, would already be active in tracking users' navigation . The law, in fact, approves exactly this type of action: the creation by ISPs of a register that keeps track of the sites visited by users, so as to be able to retrace any useful information.The archive it takes the name of Internet Connection Records (ICR) and represents the data basin within which the authorities have the possibility to go and draw for various purposes. A real ex-post mass surveillance, in short, with the aim of allowing the understanding of the services used by individuals in case of need (crimes, investigations, wiretapping).
UK, ISPs create a register of online activities
The law is clearly controversial and knowing that the test has been underway for months certainly makes us reflect on what it can represent for user privacy. The Home Office soothes the spirits, explaining to keep track for a limited time (1 year) and without excessive detail: you don't want to know what exactly users are doing, but "only" their online journey. Reassurance, in short, very little reassuring. The test has so far involved two providers and it is not clear how many users have been tracked: everything has been duly kept secret to avoid leaking too much information on a story that is known to be delicate for a public comparison.The Home Office explains how the test has the sole objective of collecting the first data to assess the effectiveness of the legislation and the potential usefulness of the data. As if to say: made the law, let's try to understand how to exploit it. An approach that is certainly not in line with the English mentality and with that flavor of freedom that the political debate surrounding Brexit has repeatedly professed. An approach, in fact, destined inexorably to cause discussion.
Source: BBC
UK police face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman
LONDON (Reuters) - London police faced a backlash from the public and politicians on Sunday for their heavy-handed tactics in breaking up an outdoor vigil for a woman whose suspected killer is a police officer.
The disappearance of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home on the evening of March 3, has provoked a huge outpouring of grief and dismay in Britain at the failure of police and wider society to tackle violence against women.
Police had denied permission for a vigil on Saturday evening at London’s Clapham Common, near where Everard was last seen alive, citing regulations aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.
But hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered peacefully at the park in defiance of the ban to pay their respects to Everard throughout the day, including Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.
Late on Saturday dozens of police officers marched into the crowd to shouts of “shame on you”. Scuffles broke out and officers dragged women away from the scene.
“Last night people were very, very upset, there was a great deal of emotion, completely understandably, and the police, being as they are operationally independent, will be having to explain that to the Home Secretary,” safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister in charge of policing, described footage of the incident as “upsetting” and said she had asked police for a full report on what happened.
An image of officers handcuffing a woman as she lay on the floor was widely shared and condemned on social media.
The woman, Patsy Stevenson, told LBC radio: “The main point that everyone was trying to get across when everything happened is that women don’t feel safe, they don’t feel safe walking down a street and that’s the bare minimum we should feel the freedom to do.”
She said she was fined 200 pounds for breaching COVID regulations
A steady flow of quiet mourners visited the site of the vigil on Sunday, placing flowers around a bandstand.
“I feel very angry that they think that they have the right to dictate how we mourn and how we react,” 24-year old student Lilith Blackwell told Reuters at the bandstand.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball defended the officers’ actions and said they were faced with a very difficult decision.
“Hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting Covid-19,” she said.
A police officer charged with Everard’s murder and appeared in court on Saturday. Police discovered her body on Wednesday in woodland about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder’s refuse bag, and identified using dental records..
Everard’s murder has resonated with woman across the country, prompting thousands to share on social media their experiences of violence and sexual assaults perpetrated by men, and vividly describe the daily fear they feel.
Reporting by William James, Ben Makori, Will Russell and Natalie Thomas; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Angus MacSwan
