25 Apr 2013 | Digital Freedom, Newswire
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg this morning said that the Communications Data Bill — widely known as the “snooper’s charter” was “not going to happen”.
Speaking on his regular “Call Clegg” slot on London’s LBC radio, Clegg told presenter Nick Ferrari that the government would not pass a law allowing authorities to monitor individuals’ web traffic, describing the idea as neither “workable” nor “proportionate”.
(Watch at 19 minutes)
Clegg went on to suggest that a “middle way” could be found, possibly including the assignment of an IP address to each web-enabled device, to allow police to “do their job”.
This would appear to be a victory for the many, including Index on Censorship, who expressed concerns over the sweeping powers proposed in the Communications Data Bill. In an August 2012 policy note, Index said:
Population-wide collection and filtering of communications data is neither necessary nor proportionate. Monitoring and surveillance of this kind impacts directly and in a chilling manner on freedom of expression, inhibiting and restricting individuals in how they receive, share and impart information and encouraging self-censorship.
So we will celebrate the apparent end of the Communications Data Bill in its current form. But it is clear from Clegg’s words, and those of his Conservative coalition partners including Home Secretary Theresa May, that this is not an issue that will be dropped.
New proposals for monitoring and surveillance will no doubt emerge, and will be subject to the same scrutiny and criticism as the previous attempts to establish a Snooper’s Charter.
Padraig Reidy is Senior Writer at Index on Censorship. @mePadraigReidy
25 Apr 2013 | Uncategorized
Free speech issues making news around the world
INDIA
India’s Central Board of Film Certification‘s Cut-Uncut Festival (26-28 April) “aims to clear the air on the process of film certification and provide a common, and public, platform for aggrieved filmmakers and activists to thrash out issues of censure and censorship of the movies.” (Live Mint/Wall Street Journal)
THAILAND
Nontawat Numbenchapol, director of a banned documentary about Thai-Cambodia border conflicts, said on Thursday that Thailand’s censorship board will allow the film to be shown if dialogue is muted in some scenes. Fah Tam Pan Din Soon, or Boundary, was prevented from being released commercially on Tuesday. The scenes in question show villagers on both sides of the conflict discussing the Thai political climate during the last three years. (Bangkok Post)
UNITED STATES
An opinion piece in Tennessee’s Jackson Sun urged the US state’s governor to veto a bill which would criminalise, “anyone, including new media, taking pictures of livestock abuse and not turning over all unedited photos and videos of suspected abuse to police within 48 hours.” (Jackson Sun)
YEMEN
The Freedom Foundation for Media Freedom, Rights and Development issued a report saying media freedom in Yemen is at an all time low. The report follows several recent assassination attempts on journalists. (Yemen Times)
BRAZIL
The BBC reports that a Brazilian judge ordered the removal of a Facebook memorial page for a 24-year-old journalist at the request of her mother, who said the material being posted by her daughter’s friends was causing her family emotional distress. Though Facebook declined to comment on the case to the BBC, Judge Vania de Paula Arantes ruled 19 March and 10 April. A third ruling this week ordered the social network to remove the page within 48 hours. (BBC)
25 Apr 2013 | Uncategorized
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg this morning said that the Communications Data Bill — widely known as the “snooper’s charter” was “not going to happen”.
Speaking on his regular “Call Clegg” slot on London’s LBC radio, Clegg told presenter Nick Ferrari that the government would not pass a law allowing authorities to monitor individuals’ web traffic, describing the idea as neither “workable” nor “proportionate”.
(Watch at 19 minutes)
Clegg went on to suggest that a “middle way” could be found, possibly including the assignment of an IP address to each web-enabled device, to allow police to “do their job”.
This would appear to be a victory for the many, including Index on Censorship, who expressed concerns over the sweeping powers proposed in the Communications Data Bill. In an August 2012 policy note, Index said:
Population-wide collection and filtering of communications data is neither necessary nor proportionate. Monitoring and surveillance of this kind impacts directly and in a chilling manner on freedom of expression, inhibiting and restricting individuals in how they receive, share and impart information and encouraging self-censorship.
So we will celebrate the apparent end of the Communications Data Bill in its current form. But it is clear from Clegg’s words, and those of his Conservative coalition partners including Home Secretary Theresa May, that this is not an issue that will be dropped.
New proposals for monitoring and surveillance will no doubt emerge, and will be subject to the same scrutiny and criticism as the previous attempts to establish a Snooper’s Charter.
Padraig Reidy is Senior Writer at Index on Censorship. @mePadraigReidy
24 Apr 2013 | Middle East and North Africa, Opinion
Bahrain’s top news during the past 48 hours say a lot about the troubled country: glitzy races are welcome; experts on torture are not.
Bahraini officials yesterday claimed that UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, had cancelled his upcoming visit “indefinitely”. Funnily enough, the special rapporteur has denied this claim, saying that the government has actually blocked his visit, which was set to take place next month. The Special Rapporteur said in a release today that officials claimed that his trip could potentially endanger the success of the country’s National Dialogue, which began earlier this year.
Mendez said that the decision “does not enhance transparency with regard to the situation in the country nor demonstrate a commitment to redress impunity regarding any violations. Rather the authorities seem to view my visit as an obstacle rather than a positive factor to the reform process.”
The tiny gulf kingdom has faced unrest since the start of popular protests on 14 February 2011, which have now left 88 dead, according to Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).
The US State Department recently released a report evaluating human rights globally, and outlined Bahrain’s troubles with keeping up with its commitments to human rights. The report said that the country’s government has “limited freedom of speech and press through active prosecution of individuals under libel, slander, and national security laws; firing or attacking civilian and professional journalists; and proposing legislation to limit speech in print and social media.”
Bahrain says that reforms are underway, but their effect remains to be seen: according to Human Rights Watch, Bahrain’s authorities “have failed to investigate and prosecute high-level officials responsible for serious human rights violations.” To top it all off, the group also reports that there have been “more than 300 formal allegations of torture and ill-treatment.”
Even though there’s no room for UN experts in Bahrain, it looks like the doors are wide open for another Bahrain Grand Prix. This Monday, Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone said he would be pleased to extend the country’s contract for another five years.
“I feel they do a super job and don’t see any problems”, Ecclestone told the BBC.
Let’s recap last weekend’s race: BCHR has reported a total of 96 arrests in the lead up to the race — with 16 protesters arrested the day of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Protests took place in 20 of the troubled country’s villages, with clashes between protesters and security forces. An ITV news crew was forced to leave Bahrain right before the race, after reporting on protests — even though they had the appropriate accreditation. During last year’s race, three Channel 4 journalists were arrested and deported while covering a protest, but officials said that they were cast out for covering protests without media accreditation. I wonder what the excuse was this year?
Last year’s race drew crowds of protesters, who were met with brutal show of tear gas and bird shot pellets from security forces. One man, Salah Abbas Habib, was killed during protests. Bahrain did charge a police officer with murdering Habib, but his case is sadly the exception. In 2011, the race was canceled after 35 people were killed during the country’s crackdown on popular protests at Manama’s now-demolished Pearl Roundabout. Even though this year’s race went forward, every year this seems to come with a worrying cost.
Sounds like a problem to me.
