Britain - Illegal MI5, MI6 & GCHQ Spying on Parliamentarians

SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/23/intelligence-agency-policies-fail-protect-mps-spying-mi5-mi6-gchq Intelligence agency policies 'failed to protect MPs' from spying In the last year MI5, MI6 and GCHQ have followed eight different policies governing the interception of parliamentarians communications, court told Caroline Lucas: MPs need to communicate in private with constituents and whistleblowers Caroline Lucas argues there is a strong likelihood her communications have been intercepted. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Ian Cobain Thursday 23 July 2015 23.42 AEST Last modified on Thursday 23 July 2015 23.45 AEST The UK’s intelligence agencies have been operating unlawful surveillance policies that have failed to adequately protect the confidential communications of members of parliament, a court has heard. Officers of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ have been operating under eight different policies in the last 12 months alone, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) heard on Thursday. Most of these policies have failed fully to comply with the law, or with the 50-year-old political convention known as the Wilson doctrine that was thought to prohibit the agencies from eavesdropping on MPs or members of the House of Lords, Ben Jaffey, counsel for the Green party parliamentarians Caroline Lucas and Lady Jones told the IPT. The Wilson doctrine is named after the former Labour prime minister Harold Wilson, who told the Commons in November 1966 that parliamentarians would not be spied upon and that if this policy needed be changed for national security reasons, the PM would announce this in due course. Lucas, Jones and former Respect MP George Galloway argue there is a strong likelihood that their communications have been intercepted as a consequence of the surveillance programmes exposed by the CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The IPT – a secretive court that hears complaints about the UK’s intelligence agencies – is being asked to confirm that the Wilson doctrine has force in law. The parliamentarians also say that agencies have breached the European convention on human rights. Some elements of the government’s defence against the legal challenge are being kept secret and the court is likely to sit in camera, with the public and media excluded, if it comes to consider evidence of actual surveillance of MPs and peers. Jaffey told the IPT that MI5 operated one policy governing the interception of parliamentarians’ communications from April 2012 to September 2014, when it was rewritten after Lucas and Jones lodged their challenge. It was rewritten again last February after government lawyers drafted their “open response” – or non-secret defence – to the claim. David Miliband, when foreign secretary, authorised an MI6 policy which allowed the agency to intercept parliamentarians’ communications without the prime minister being notified, the IPT was told. This policy was rewritten last February, bringing it closer in wording to the MI5 policy. GCHQ’s policy was rewritten in March this year and again three months later. Jaffey said the various policies “fail fully to comply with the law and they fail to comply with public statements as to safeguards”. It was not the parliamentarians’ case that MPs and members of the Lords should never be intercepted, he said, and there may be exceptional national security grounds for doing so. However, MPs needed to be able to communicate in private with constituents and whistleblowers. He said: “Strict safeguards to protect parliamentary communications are an important bulwark for the protection of the public interest.” Although the Wilson doctrine requires the prime minister to make a statement if the policy were to be reversed, all three agencies were operating internal policies that did not require them to inform prime ministers that they were intercepting MPs’ communications, the IPT was told. These were changed only once Lucas and Jones embarked upon their challenge. When GCHQ rewrote its policy last month, it did so in a way that removed all protection for communications data and for members of the devolved parliament and assemblies in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Lucas and Jones argue that intercepts which capture the communications of parliamentarians should require the authorisation of a judge. SOURCE http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/23/intelligence-agency-policies-fail-protect-mps-spying-mi5-mi6-gchq Caroline Lucas Jenny Jones, Green Party (Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb)  George Galloway, fmr Respect Party  Is the government spying on politicians? ‘Blanket surveillance’ probed in court hearing  Prison staff have recorded 3,150 prisoner calls to MPs and downloaded 280 for playback since 2006. http://www.rt.com/uk/310579-government-spying-politicians-surveillance/ --------------------- COMMENT UK's a creepy surveillance state & the conduct of its spy agencies provides further justification for whistleblower publishers, I would think.

US & British LSD Experiments

Woman taking a dose of LSD with  Sidney Cohen in about 1956 LSD - Testing On British Marines (1964) LSD Confused Cat from "Research and Development Progress Report No 2" 1960 US Army Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow

Israel Cybersec | Hacker News

http://itbusinessnet.com/article/Nonstop-Cyber-Attacks-Drive-Israel-to-Build-Hack-Proof-Defense-3986848 Nonstop Cyber Attacks Drive Israel to Build Hack-Proof Defense By Bloomberg News (Gwen Ackerman)- (Bloomberg) -- In 2013, Israel Electric Corp. registered several hundred potential hacks on its grid each hour. Last year, the figure grew -- to 20,000. None succeeded. Israel Electric, which controls more than 80 percent of the countrys power production, has dramatically increased its cyber personnel, developed new defense tools and enhanced employee training, said Yosi Shneck, senior vice president of information and communications. The new protections reflect a nationwide effort to make Israel one of the most hack- proof countries in the world. This year alone, the government established a national authority to help oversee protection of critical civilian systems, the military announced a reorganization of all its anti-hacking units into one command and the central bank became what may be the first in the world to define mandatory cyber- defense steps for financial institutions. If I ranked the existential threats, cyber would come right behind nuclear weapons, said Carmi Gillon, former head of the Shin Bet domestic security service and chairman of Cytegic, a company that has developed a digital dashboard and tools to help keep companies protected. Israel and the U.S. face some of the most serious cyber assailants in the world, said Daniel Garrie, executive managing partner of cyber-consulting firm Law & Forensics in New York. That forces them to be light years ahead in prevention. While attempted hack attacks on Israel reached 2 million a day during last years fighting in Gaza, the country has yet to report destructive events such as the theft of data from about 22 million people at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Hacking Call The threat is growing. Anonymous, a loosely connected global hacker collective, called in April for a hacking onslaught on the country. The Jewish state was the second-most- hit in the world after the U.S. that month, according to monitoring website Hackmageddon. The attacks did little more than deface websites. Anonymous claimed Facebook credentials and phone numbers of hundreds of Israelis were posted online. In March, Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., a cybersecurity company, detected malware that it suspected came from Lebanon. The alleged targets were defense contractors as well as telecommunications and media companies in 10 countries, including Israel. No further details were given. Two Cables Only two cables link Israels Internet network to the world, giving its companies an advantage on the digital battlefield, said Yaron Blachman, director of cyber and technology consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers Israel. They can just turn to their Internet service provider and disconnect, he said. Israel started building up its defenses more than a decade ago. In 2002, the government created the National Information Security Authority to protect critical infrastructure. In 2012 it established the National Cyber Bureau, an agency within the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that coordinates and advises on policy. The authority established this year will be responsible for protecting civilian entities such as banks, said Yitzhak Ben-Israel, who helped found it. It isnt enough just to have sophisticated defenses, said Amos Yadlin, a former military intelligence chief who now heads Tel Aviv Universitys Institute for National Security Studies. You cant be a good defender unless you understand the offense, he said. Therefore, defensive efforts must overlap to some degree with offensive efforts, including those of intelligence collection. Flame Virus For instance, Iran says Israel tried to sabotage its nuclear program with the Stuxnet virus. It also attributed the Flame virus, which wreaked havoc on Iranian computer systems in the energy sector, to illegitimate regimes. Israeli officials have declined to confirm or deny whether the country was involved. Learning to fend off attacks can be profitable. Israel Electric formed a unit called CyberGym with security consulting firm CyberControl to offer companies around the world a simulated control center to practice protecting their networks. And the new Israeli focus is leading to acquisitions and investments. Elbit Systems Ltd., Israels biggest publicly traded defense company, in May bought a cybersecurity division from Nice Systems Ltd. for $158 million. Two months before that, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. invested in Jerusalem Venture Partners to work with Israeli cybersecurity startups and protect its own operations. Cytegic chief executive officer Shay Zandani, who established the information-security department in the Israeli Air Force in the 1990s, says many Israeli corporations arent protected against the kind of threats they face. In 2014, one in 10 cyber breaches was in the banking industry, according to a report by FireEye Inc. Bank Protections Attacks and attackers targeting the Israeli financial sector have increased and become more sophisticated, according to a May report by Cytegic and cyber consulting firm Konfidas. Lenders have largely been unsuccessful in reining them in, it said. The industry targeted most by hack attacks: information technology. The Bank of Israel says it appears to be the first central bank in the world to define mandatory steps for cyber defense. Its regulations, issued in March, put pressure on the board of directors and senior management to insure lenders are safe. Israel is a geopolitical target and attacking the banking sector can damage our economy, said Rachel Jacoby, head of the OpRisks management unit for technology and cyber at the central bank. To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net Anne Swardson, James Hertling http://itbusinessnet.com/article/Nonstop-Cyber-Attacks-Drive-Israel-to-Build-Hack-Proof-Defense-3986848 --------------------- HACKER NEWS #Hacker Identity theft cemeteries, online obituaries > ID 4 fraudulent a/c Sth Africa topping recycled deceased ID prob:  loan providers conducting transactions over phone, often only requiring 3 questions as ID verification South Africa also big on phishing attacks (eg fake SA Revenue Service link) http://www.techcentral.co.za/how-crooks-steal-your-id/58397/ FBI wanted: cybercrim - Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev /Computer Fraud & Abuse Act /Identity Theft & Assumption Deterrence Act US$3m reward Evgeniy Bogachev = responsible for Zeus malware / banking log-on info capture source: http://www.techcentral.co.za/how-crooks-steal-your-id/58397/ Unauthorised apps & app stores contributing to a spike in mobile fraud  400% spike 2014 Access prevention needed on mobile devices *back-up *remote wipe system *password protection *GPS tracking services http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/07/22/Beware-muggers-in-those-dodgy-apps --------------------- COMMENT Just some of the stuff I looked at recently. Doubt I'll remember much of the Israeli cybersecurity article, but I thought it was interesting. Evgeniy Bogachev's got a $3-million FBI reward on his head. That's a massive amount. Bogachev better not go to Thailand.  Thais love handing ppl over to the Yanks.

Foreign Service Updates

Bahrain UK Ambassador to Bahrain Ian Lindsay - end tenure Bahrain's HR achievements highlighted Gulf market important to UK http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/678428 World Report 2015: Bahrain https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/bahrain UK ambassador needs to maybe take a look at this report. Ukraine / Canada Father Raymond J. de Souza Roman Catholic priest of Archdiocese of Kingston, Ont. #Canada writes pro US puppet Ukraine propaganda #Ukraine - Goebbels would be proud: "...national journey is from lies to truth" Cookie Nuland's boy PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Quebec last week free trade agreement with Canada / push toward privatization and deregulation http://www.thewhig.com/2015/07/22/ukraine-also-at-war-with-corruption-from-within Canada embassy in Ukraine (amb. Roman Waschuk) was 'safe house' for #Ukraine coup protesters 2014 Bob Fowler Canada diplo under 3 govts says Canada playing w. fire / disruptive influence *Harper govt:  all mouth and no brain Ukraine:  appearance that Canada was an active participant in 2014 regime change.   http://ipolitics.ca/2015/07/13/former-diplomat-says-canada-should-scale-back-anti-russian-rhetoric/ Somalia Somalia & AU forces capture key militant stronghold / al Shabab lost all key towns, but control rural http://horseedmedia.net/2015/07/22/somalia-and-au-forces-capture-key-militant-stronghold/ Bolivia / Germany #Bolivia #LatAm #Merkel German embassy - explosion during protests /  miners protesting their working conditions http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/german-embassy-in-bolivia-grazed-by-explosion-during-protests_403976.html

Catmare

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VIDEO - RT News - Defence Witness: Assange sex-crime case fabricated by prosecutors (2011)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT Defence Witness: Assange sex-crime case fabricated by prosecutors RT NEWS Studio Presenter The verdict in the high profile case of the WikiLeaks founder has been adjourned for two weeks. Julian Assange appeared in court in London on Friday as he continues his battle against extradition to Sweden where he faces questioning over sex crime allegations. He claims the case was fabricated so the US can use Sweden to hand him over on espionage charges. RT's Laura Emmett has been keeping track of developments from outside the court. RT NEWS Reporter, London “All we're waiting for is the verdict, and that is due to be delivered, we now know, on the 24th of February – so in a couple of weeks' time. We were hearing today the closing statements made by both the defence and the prosecution, and now the judge is going to presumably retire to his chambers for two weeks to think about the evidence that he's heard and then come up finally with a verdict. So on the 24th of February. We're not expecting that to take very long. Literally everyone will just gather here and the judge will tell us what he's decided. In terms of what we've been hearing on Friday morning, we essentially heard summaries of the evidence from the prosecution and from the defence. The prosecution has maintained all along and maintained today that there's no reason why Assange shouldn't go to Sweden to answer these questions. Following the news of that postponement, Julian Assange came out of the court and gave a short statement to the media. He used that statement to highlight what he called the injustices of the European Arrest Warrant, under which his extradition is being requested. Let's see what he had to say. JULIAN ASSANGE WikiLeaks Founder It gives me hope that we can, through this particular case, not simply draw attention to the difficulties and the pressures that we and other people have been under, but, rather, perhaps we have an opportunity to set a new precedent about the abuses of European Arrest Warrants. RT NEWS Reporter, London We heard some graphic details from the defence about these alleged assaults, sort of almost making light of these allegations, as the prosecution said, talking about the sexual encounters that took place with two women in August. And we also heard an angry statement by the defence solicitor about comments that the Swedish Prime Minister has made recently about Julian Assange. The defence called that a devastatingly prejudicial attack, and said that the Swedish Prime Minister had spread malicious lies about Julian Assange, suggesting that he believes that women's rights are worthless, and also suggesting that he's already been charged with this 'rape', which, in fact, is not the case at all. MARK STEVENS Defence In any decent country, the rule of law is separate from the political process. It appears that in Sweden it is not, and that the Prime Minister has, I am afraid to say, sought to taint the legal process. Just one more example of the quite exceptional behaviour in the Julian Assange case – another Assange factor. RT NEWS Reporter, London We heard some quite graphic details from the defence about these alleged assaults – sort of, almost making light of these allegations, as the prosecution said – talking about these sexual encounters that took place with two women in August. And we also heard an angry statement by the defence solicitor about comments that the Swedish Prime Minister has made recently about Julian Assange. The defence called that a devastatingly prejudicial attack and said that the Swedish Prime Minister had spread malicious lies about Julian Assange, suggesting that he believes that women's rights are worthless, and also suggesting that he's already been charged with this 'rape', which, in fact, is not the case at all. So that has brought in a rather worrying political element to the case. We also heard from the defence that these charges would not constitute 'rape' here in the UK, and, in fact, the defence maintains that the essence of the charges wouldn't constitute 'rape' anywhere else in the world, apart from in Sweden. I spoke earlier to Goran Rudling, who's a Swedish rape campaigner, and he told me about the bizarre way in which the investigation has been conducted from the very beginning. GORAN RUDLING Defence Witness It looked like Julian was declared innocent by one prosecutor. Then you have to find out immediately find out, OK, what's the truth: what's his side of the story? What they did instead was try to collect evidence and they interviewed all kinds of witnesses, in another way which wasn't very good, to try to build a case against him. It's like prejudice. Like they're saying: 'He's guilty; let's get him.” And of thirteen people interviewed by the police, three are tape-recorded. Only three. Julian is tape-recorded on the 30th of August . The two witnesses that could speak in his favour are tape-recorded. All the other witnesses are just summary interviews. Sometimes accusers change their story, and if we don't have their story, we can't compare it to the suspect's story. It's impossible to investigate. RT NEWS Reporter, London This is also a case that has descended at times into a farce, and today is no exception. There's a new book out by a man called Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who used to work with Julian Assange at WikiLeaks, and he has essentially written a book about Assange and his relationship with him. He says that Assange has an 'emperor complex', that he wants to be the king and the all-powerful person over everything, and he also alleges that Assange has turned into the sort of man that he used to hate, the sort of man that he used to want to bring to justice.  But the most bizarre thing about the allegations that Domscheit-Berg has made is something to do with his cat. He said that Assange lived with him for a while in Weisbaden in Germany and that Domscheit-Berg has a cat which Julian entered into a war of supremacy with, essentially attacking the cat and then pulling back, seeing who would win. Sometimes the cat won, sometimes Assange won. And he says that that shows that Assange is some kind of power-hungry maniac. So, really, a lot of people are trying to jump on this bandwagon to take advantage of Assange's fame or infamy, depending on which way you look at it. [end – 6:25]

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