[Infowarrior] - Secret pact allows the US to spy on UK motorists

[Richard Forno]

Secret pact allows the US to spy on UK motorists

Big Buddy is watching y'all

By Egan Orion: Monday, 21 April 2008, 4:16 PM


http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/21/quiet-pact-allows-spy
-uk

THE UK Home Secretary secretively signed a "special certificate" last year
that gives foreign security agencies real-time access to traffic camera
images and related data monitoring British motorists on highways throughout
the UK.

Opposition politicians and civil liberties advocates yesterday accused
Gordon Brown's government of attempting to hide from Parliament its covert
plans to facilitate international surveillance of UK citizens in violation
of privacy laws.

Under the authorisation signed last July 4 by Jacqui Smith, video feeds and
still images captured from roadside TV cameras, along with personal data
derived from them, can be transmitted out of the UK to countries such as the
US, that are outside the European Economic Area.

Home Secretary Smith failed to mention the exception in a statement she made
to Parliament less than two weeks later on July 17, 2007 outlining
Metropolitan Police exemptions to the 1998 Data Protection Act.

The dispensation gives British police "anti-terrorism" officers the
permission to transmit images and information overseas, based upon any
representation that the materials are relevant to a "terrorism" threat
either in the UK or elsewhere.

Liberal Democratic leader Nick Clegg said last night, "This confirms that
this Government is happy to hand over potentially huge amounts of
information on British citizens under the catch-all pretext of 'national
security'."

UK civil liberties groups are appalled that the UK government is monitoring
the daily movements of British citizens on a wholesale basis, even more so
that it's willing to provide surveillance images and data to foreign
intelligence agencies.

Opponents of what they view as a nascent surveillance state fear the
imposition of a "data mining" programme to filter and correlate billions of
pieces of data to profile individuals, activities and relationships in ways
that might be abused, such as to target minorities and political groups and
suppress peaceful dissent.

A Home Office spokesman defended powers granted by the "special certificate"
on the grounds of "counter terrorism" and national security, as they always
do, of course. Speaking anonymously, he said "We would like to reassure the
public that robust controls have been put in place to control and safeguard
access to, and use of, the information."

In other words, "Trust us." µ