Thanks to Golden Age of Gaia.
sage: The Council of Europe has recently drafted their Declaration of Internet Freedom (which can be found via the link in Footnotes). But the UK Parliament is stalling its implementation (Story 1). Meanwhile in Story 2, the editor of The Guardian is to appear before British MPs in response to his leaking of Snowden’s NSA documents.
Story 1 – Rights Probe: UK Stalling Council of Europe Inquiry Into Internet Espionage
Russia Today – November 9, 2013
UK representatives are said to be blocking a European inquiry into the covert gathering of “vast amounts of electronic communications.” In the wake of the NSA scandal, the Council of Europe wants to prevent abuses that could “destroy democracy.”
The Council of Europe, an organization that brings together 47 countries to consider human rights issues, met in the Serbian capital of Belgrade this week to reassess intelligence practices and establish guidelines governed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Given the “growing technological capabilities” of security agencies, ministers attending the conference said that safeguards need to be put in place against “abuse which may undermine or even destroy democracy.”
The Council drew up three draft resolutions, calling for a probe into security agencies’ intelligence practices.
One of the clauses in the document, entitled “Political Declaration and Resolutions,” specifically references the “gathering vast amounts of electronic communications data on individuals by security agencies, the deliberate building of flaws and ‘backdoors’ in the security system of the internet or otherwise deliberately weakening encryption.”
According to reports from the Guardian newspaper, a UK official from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport raised particular concerns about this part of the document. The refusal to endorse an investigation echoes the stance of UK spy organization the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) that has sought to defend and justify its data gathering activities.
The Council of Europe’s resolutions do not forbid the practice of intelligence gathering, but merely set out guidelines for security agencies.
“Data can be collected and processed for a legitimate aim including the objectives set out in the Council of Europe’s Statute,” the document states. The document also mentions the “precarious situation” of journalists and the importance of protecting their sources.
In the wake of the revelations about the joint spying practices of GCHQ and the NSA, released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the UK has sought to defend its intelligence-gathering practices. According to Snowden’s leaks, GCHQ intercepted millions of phone calls and electronic communications, using the NSA’s Tempora program to circumvent UK law.
Intelligence chiefs spoke out in support of GCHQ’s activities Thursday at a parliamentary committee hearing, and condemned Edward Snowden for what they described as putting citizens in danger.
“The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging, they’ve put our operations at risk,” said MI6 chief Sir John Sawers at the unprecedented hearing before the parliamentary Joint Security Committee. “It’s clear that our adversaries are rubbing their hands with glee, al-Qaeda is lapping it up.”
Speaking at the same hearing, GCHQ chief Iain Lobban rejected the idea that UK spies were monitoring the e-mails and phone calls of the innocent majority of UK nationals and foreigners. “That would not be proportionate, that would not be legal, and we would not do it,” he said.
Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, a civil liberties and human rights campaign group, criticized the hearing, and said that an immediate “inquiry into this grand breach of trust must now begin.”
Editor of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger (AFP Photo / Leon Neal)
Story 2 – Guardian Editor to be Grilled by British MPs Over Snowden Leaks
Russia Today – November 9, 2013
Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, is to be questioned by British lawmakers next month over the publishing of intelligence files leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, after UK spy chiefs warned that it had damaged national security.
“Alan has been invited to give evidence to the home affairs select committee and looks forward to appearing next month,” a Guardian spokesman said.
UK spy chiefs were questioned Thursday by the intelligence and security committee. The Committee is made up of MPs and peers and normally takes evidence in secret. This hearing was televised but with a two minute delay for national security reasons.
The head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, said that the Guardian’s actions had been irresponsible.
“They’ve put our operations at risk. It’s clear that our adversaries are rubbing their hands with glee – Al-Qaeda is lapping it up,” he said.
While the head of GCHQ, the UK equivalent of the NSA, Sir Iain Lobban, said that his organization had monitored 
<img style=”margin: 10px;” alt=”the guardian” src=”https://d3ojdig7p1k9j.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/the-guardian-300×157.jpg” width=”300″ height=”157″ />terrorist groups discussing in “specific terms” how to avoid communicating in such a way that could be detected.
Rusbridger, who has been the editor of the left-leaning British daily since 1995, defended his papers actions saying that it has provoked debate on the issue of mass surveillance where MPs failed to do so.
He said the Guardian was entitled to report on invasive technologies beyond anything “Orwell could have imagined.”
“The ability of these big agencies, on an international basis, to keep entire populations under some form of surveillance, and their ability to use engineering and algorithms to erect a system of monitoring and surveillance, is astonishing,” he said.
The first Snowden leaks were broken in the Guardian by Brazil-based journalist Glen Greenwald.
In August, the Guardian revealed that it decided to destroy the computer hard drives containing copies of secret files leaked by Edward Snowden after the threat of legal action from the government.
The Guardian’s Brazil-based reporter Glenn Greenwald (R), who was among the first to reveal Washington’s vast electronic surveillance program, accompanied by his partner David Miranda (AFP Photo)
Also in August, Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda, was detained at London’s Heathrow airport under the Terrorism Act for ferrying documents between Greenwald and Berlin based film maker Laura Poitras, who has also been working on stories related to the NSA files.
Prime Minister David Cameron, has said that if the Guardian cannot be trusted to protect issues of national security then the government will be forced to issue a ‘D notice’ to force them not to publish any further intelligence revelations. Cameron did not back calls to prosecute the paper, but in October launched a parliamentary inquiry into the Guardian’s publishing of the leaks as part of a broad counter terrorism inquiry.
Tory MPs, Julian Smith and Stephen Phillips, have asked Rusbridger to clarify whether he has acted on the security concerns raised by the government and if he had “directed, permitted, facilitated or acquiesced” in the transfer of files, which they got from Snowden, to anyone else in the US or elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the UK’s treatment of the investigative journalists connected to Snowden leaks has provoked an outcry from human rights advocates.
Jim Killock, the director of Open Right’s Group, told RT that even the US, in contrast to the UK, has not been hounding journalists involved in reporting Snowden’s leaked documents.
“What they’ve actually said is that this bloke is a threat to national security because he may be involved in disclosing information about national security. And because he’s doing that from a political or ideological motive, it equates with a definition of terrorism,” he said.
Footnotes:
Council of Europe’s draft declaration on internet freedom – full document
Openhearted Rebellion 