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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

UK spy chief attacks a free Internet



Welcome to the Police State
Most internet users, he adds, “would be comfortable with a better and more sustainable relationship between the [intelligence] agencies and the tech companies”.
Robert Hannigan
UK Intelligence Chief


(Financial Times.com)  -  The new chief of Britain’s electronic spying agency, GCHQ, has accused US technology companies of becoming “the command and control networks of choice” for terrorists in a broadside against Silicon Valley in his first week in office.

In an article for the Financial Times, Robert Hannigan, the new director of GCHQ, accuses some US tech companies of being “in denial” about the misuse of their services even as he calls for them to work more closely with intelligence agencies.


“However much they may dislike it, they have become the command and control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformational as the rest of us.”

Most internet users, he adds, “would be comfortable with a better and more sustainable relationship between the [intelligence] agencies and the tech companies”.

GCHQ and its sister agencies MI5 and SIS (the UK’s domestic and international intelligence agencies) “cannot tackle these challenges at scale without greater support . . . including [from] the largest US tech companies which dominate the web.”

Three UK security officials said that US technology companies such as Google and Facebook have curbed the ability of UK intelligence to tap valuable electronic data in the wake of the Snowden leaks. “The UK has had the most to lose [from Snowden],” said one.

The UK government’s position has shifted substantially over the past year: six months ago politicians ruled out new legislation to compel internet companies to grant GCHQ access, but now many in Westminster are minded to draft new laws

One senior executive at a US tech group said any agreement to circumvent the current process, which requires law-enforcement groups to seek a court order before a company hands over data, would be “eliminating due process and that could be a dangerous situation”.

Read More . . . .


Government Spying on Internet Gamers




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"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
George Orwell
1984

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