GCHQ Cleared of Wrongdoing As Spying is Legal But Outdated

The Intelligence and Security Committee of the United Kingdom reports that UK intelligence-gathering agencies have not broken any UK constitution and laws. However, the report suggested the legal framework of digital surveillance in the United Kingdom is outdated, complicated and lacks transparency.

The ISC began its investigation after United States ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the extent of US and UK online surveillance. The ISC reports said their findings were “reassuring” but they find the legislation lacks the powers to handle digital surveillance, which includes the regulation of the GCHQ bulk interception of information.

In the year 2000, the UK issued 2,795 warrants to intercept communication data, which means the information collected would be opened and read. By 2014, the numbers of authorisations have already reached a million for police and law enforcement agencies.

ISC reports that several intelligence staff had been dismissed for inappropriately accessing data, misusing access to GCHQ’s systems. Meanwhile, the ISC also reports some staff was only dismissed.

Online surveillance have become a big issue due to Edward Snowden’s revelation of spying activities in the western world. Germany, France and other US allies have questioned the legal framework of the US intelligence gathering processes, which had also affected their relationships and alliance in 2013.

UK Warning To Austria Regarding Nuclear Reaction Lawsuit Reaches New Levels

The controversial Hinkley Point B nuclear power station and Hinkley Point C construction site in Somerset has become a big issue between the United Kingdom and Austria. UK Ministers have warned the Austrian government that they will not think twice to use retaliatory measures should Austria challenge an EU State Aid decision that approved subsidies for new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset

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The Austrian Embassy in London to Vienna’s diplomatic cable saw UK Foreign Office’s Europe Director Vijay Rangarajan convey a message that the UK will use every opportunity to sue or damage Austria in areas with strong internal political effects.

The message conveyed the following

A complaint to the European Court about Austrian electricity labeling rules.

Pressure for Austria to contribute more to EU effort to share funds where nuclear power is not considered a “sustainable energy source”.

Investigate whether Austira’s suit violated the Euratom Treaty.

According to the diplomatic cable, escalation cannot be excluded after the complaint was submitted.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann seeks to talk with British Prime Minister David Cameron at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday after Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called Austria’s Foreign Secretary Sebastian Kurz to protest Austria’s planned court action.

“The chancellor has made clear that Austria will not act under pressure, and will of course make use of all legal means at her disposal,” a spokesman for chancellor Faymann told the Guardian. “Issuing threats is a kind of behaviour we don’t want to see among partners in the EU.”

Hannity And Farage Agree About Sharia Law In the United Kingdom

According to UKIP leader Nigel Farage, the UK has become a ghetto for the kingdom of Sharia Law. Appearing in an interview with host Sean Hannity, he said that “Multiculturalism is in fact to blame for the tragic events last week in France.”

Farage had told Hannity that the UK’s moral cowardice had them turn a blind eye to the growth of Muslim-driven “ghettos.”

The Ukip leader also said that the UK courts had failed to prosecute people in Britain for female genital mutilation and it had allowed women from the UK to participate in polygamous marriages.

"Wherever you look you see this blind eye being turned and you see the growth of ghettos, where the police and all the normal agents of the law have withdrawn and that is where Sharia Law has come in," he said. 

"Do you know, it got so bad that our last Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of our church, actually, actually said we should accept Sharia law."

In the interview, he also raised issues regarding the child abuse scandals in Rochdale and Rotherham.

"In parts of Northern England, we’ve seen the sexual grooming scandal of underage girls, committed by Muslim men in the majority.

"And for all of these things we’ve seen the law not being applied equally, we’ve seen the police forces not actually doing their job, because we’ve suffered from moral cowardice."

"We have through mass immigration and not checking the details of those people coming in... we have allowed big ghettos to develop and when it comes to confronting big issues, we run a mile. 

"That's why we're in the mess we're in. We've been led very badly."

Source

GCHQ Weighs In On Tackling “Dark Net” Child Abuse Images

Intelligence experts and organised crime specialists will join forces to scrub away child abuse images spreading on the “dark net”.

According to British Prime Minister David Cameron, a joint GCHQ and National Crime Agency unit will hunt online paedophiles with the same effort they use to track down potential national terrorists.

He said online child exploitation existed on an “almost industrial scale” worldwide.

A new law which would stop adults from sending children “sexual” messages was also unveiled during his talk at a London summit. 

The term “dark net” refers to the hidden parts of the internet that could only be accessed with special software. The GCHQ-NCA joint operations are capable of analysing huge volumes of images.

Cameron said that "The dark net is the next side of the problem, where paedophiles and perverts are sharing images, not using the normal parts of the internet that we all use.

"What we are doing there is setting GCHQ, our world class intelligence agency, together with the National Crime Agency and we are going to go after these people with every bit of effort that we go after terrorists and other international criminals."

"One gang in the Philippines was arranging the sexual abuse of children, filming it and then live streaming it to paying customers across the world," he said. 

Source

Mexico Still Having Troubles Enforcing the Law

The disappearance of 43 university students from the custody of local police in Mexico and the allegations of federal corruption in the awarding of public infrastructure contracts test the administration of Mexico President Pena Nieto.

His political party, the Institutional Revolutionary, could get sunk because of the crises. Pena has promised a massive reform for Mexico. 

However, confidence in his administration had worsened following the disappearance of the 43 detained students.

According to an official report from the Mexican Embassy in Washington, the missing students were political activists where they forcefully “borrowed” two private buses in Iguala in Guerrero to travel to Mexico City for demonstrations. Police opened fire against the students and then were handed to a local crime cartel, who confessed they killed the young protesters and burned their bodies.

The governor of Guerrero had resigned and the Mayor of Iguala, 36 municipal police officers and 35 other individuals are under arrest post-investigation.

Despite the protest against Former Mayor of Mexico City Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is trying to link the disappearance of the students to force destabilisation of the Mexican government, people are focused on resolving the issue rather than joining Lopez Obrador’s campaign.

It also shows that criminals have so much power in Mexico.

Chimpanzees as “Legal Persons.” Do You Agree?

A 26-year old former circus chimp is fighting for its right to remain outside the cage and released into a Florida primate sanctuary against the New York High Courts. This groundbreaking case could indicate chimpanzees as “legal persons.” 

According to defending lawyer and Nonhuman Rights Project President Steven Wise, Tommy is an autonomous creature who spends time watching television and enjoying activities that he should freely have. However, local New York law advises that all pets and animals be caged in the state.

Wise said that the case will prove that chimpanzees are “legal persons,” but he made it clear that he was not fighting for Tommy’s human rights. Instead, he made it clear that he was fighting for “chimpanzee rights.”

It may sound like a joke to you, but studies really show that chimpanzees are closer to human behaviour and understanding. Wise is trying to establish the fact that chimpanzees also deserve special rights, and Tommy should be given his own autonomy in the manner he wants to live.

Many will think this is ridiculous, but I for one think that it isn’t totally bonkers. In reality, humans didn’t have to restrict nature to have himself dominate the entire world. He should have left nature alone, have only taken what he could from his surroundings and let the rest live as free as they should be.

But for now, we have this system, and most animals are decimated because of this human system.

 

Three Easy Ways to Avoid Legal Troubles when Working

All problems start when one person’s freedom pushes against another person, denying him or her rights given naturally to any born citizen of a country. At work, the stress and tension makes thinking a bit less and acting a bit more, which can cause legal trouble. Here are three simple ways you could avoid it, based on my experience.

1.    Avoid the Social Flame

I was once working at a postal card creation service somewhere in 2009. A fellow employee, who was often rowdy, was fired mysteriously and the bosses never did explain what happened. In a formal statement, the bosses said that the employee was fired because of insubordination by posting about flames in social media. While many complained, a legal representative explained that going through the proper channels of complaints and not broadcasting the complaint openly in the web can stop the improper termination of contracts while having a say.

2.    Consider Yourself a Publisher

I often do an exercise where I think of myself as a celebrity. Aside from the vanity and ego, I also understood that each of my actions will have a significant backlash because of legalities. Today, social media, the internet and close-knit communities at work are areas where you publish your work. Obscene work could be considered propaganda in an office, so it is important to be careful about what one says, or rather in this context, publishes.

3.    Responsibilities

As stated in a contract, employees are bound by an amount of money, even if they are to stay in a company for a very long term. They have responsibilities that bind them with the contract, which they must fulfil or else they risk fighting off litigations and paying for penalties in breaking their contracts.