Big Brother Watch

Last updated
Big Brother Watch
Formation2009
Founders Matthew Elliott, Alex Deane
Type Advocacy group
Location
  • Westminster
Director
 Silkie Carlo
FundingOwned by Mark Littlewood and Lord Strasburger [1]
Website bigbrotherwatch.org.uk

Big Brother Watch is a non-party British civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation. [2] It was launched in 2009 by founding director Alex Deane [3] to campaign against state surveillance and threats to civil liberties. [4] It was founded by Matthew Elliott. [5] Since January 2018, Silkie Carlo is the Director. [6] [7]

Contents

The organisation campaigns on a variety of issues including: The rise of the surveillance state, police use of oppressive technology, [8] [9] freedom and privacy online, the use of intrusive communications interception powers including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, [10] [11] and the Investigatory Powers Act, [12] the protection of personal information and wider data protection issues.

The organisation is headquartered in the China Works building, Vauxhall, London, [13] [14] and previously at 55 Tufton Street, London. [5]

The name "Big Brother Watch" originates from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four , published in 1949. [5]

Founding

The group was established in August 2009 as a Private Limited Company owned by Mark Littlewood and Lord Strasburger [1] and the official launch took place in January 2010 with Tony Benn and David Davis as guest speakers. [5]

Reports and campaigns

In 2012, Big Brother Watch shut down its website in protest at the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act proposed United States legislation, warning that similar plans may be proposed in the UK. [15]

Big Brother Watch was part of the anti-surveillance coalition Don't Spy On Us, [16] which campaigned against the proposed bulk communications collection powers and lack of judicial safeguards in the Investigatory Powers Bill, now Investigatory Powers Act, in 2015 and 2016. [17]

In 2017, Big Brother Watch took a case against the United Kingdom, together with Open Rights Group and English PEN, to the European Court of Human Rights arguing that British surveillance laws infringed British citizens' right to privacy. [10]

In 2017 and 2018, the organisation campaigned against police retention of innocent people's custody images [18] (also known as mugshots) and police use of facial recognition technology. [19] In 2018 they supported a debate in the House of Lords which noted the intrusive nature of this technology, the lack of a legal basis or parliamentary scrutiny, and the possibility that it may be incompatible with Article 8 right to privacy under the ECHR. [20] [ non-primary source needed ] In July 2018, the organisation brought a legal challenge against the Metropolitan Police Service and the Secretary of State for the Home Department. [21]

In 2019, Big Brother Watch has also campaigned to protect victims of crime from 'digital strip searches' of their mobile phones by police, especially victims of sexual violence. [22] [23] They campaigned alongside other rights and justice groups including End Violence Against Women, Rape Crisis England and Wales and the Centre for Women's Justice. [24]

In 2019, Big Brother Watch investigated and succeeded in getting HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to delete over 5 million people's voice biometrics, which had been collected without people's consent or knowledge, in breach of data protection laws, from a HMRC database. [25] It is believed[ by whom? ] to be the biggest ever deletion of biometric IDs from a state-held database. [26] [ non-primary source needed ]

The organisation has published reports investigating police access to people's personal mobile phone information, [27] [28] police use of body worn cameras, [29] surveillance technology in schools [30] and the use of outdated communications laws to prosecute internet speech. [31] [32]

It has carried out[ when? ] investigations into local authority data handling, finding more than 1000 incidents in which councils lost information about children and those in care. [33] [ non-primary source needed ]

Board

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (c.23) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of communications. It was introduced by the Tony Blair Labour government ostensibly to take account of technological change such as the growth of the Internet and strong encryption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Closed-circuit television</span> Use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors

Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly transmitted, though it may employ point-to-point (P2P), point-to-multipoint (P2MP), or mesh wired or wireless links. Even though almost all video cameras fit this definition, the term is most often applied to those used for surveillance in areas that require additional security or ongoing monitoring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surveillance</span> Monitoring something for the purposes of influencing, protecting, or suppressing it

Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), or interception of electronically transmitted information like Internet traffic. It can also include simple technical methods, such as human intelligence gathering and postal interception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance</span> Intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population

Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizations, such as organizations like the NSA, but it may also be carried out by corporations. Depending on each nation's laws and judicial systems, the legality of and the permission required to engage in mass surveillance varies. It is the single most indicative distinguishing trait of totalitarian regimes. It is also often distinguished from targeted surveillance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty (advocacy group)</span> UK advocacy group and membership organisation

Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes human rights. It does this through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. Liberty also aims to engender a "rights culture" within British society. The NCCL was founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith, motivated by their humanist convictions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Facial recognition system</span> Technology capable of matching a face from an image against a database of faces

A facial recognition system is a technology potentially capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces. Such a system is typically employed to authenticate users through ID verification services, and works by pinpointing and measuring facial features from a given image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HM Revenue and Customs</span> Non-ministerial department of the UK Government

HM Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of state support, the administration of other regulatory regimes including the national minimum wage and the issuance of national insurance numbers. HMRC was formed by the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, which took effect on 18 April 2005. The department's logo is the St Edward's Crown enclosed within a circle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Privacy International</span>

Privacy International (PI) is a UK-based registered charity that defends and promotes the right to privacy across the world. First formed in 1990, registered as a non-profit company in 2002 and as a charity in 2012, PI is based in London. Its current executive director, since 2012, is Dr Gus Hosein.

Data retention defines the policies of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. Although sometimes interchangeable, it is not to be confused with the Data Protection Act 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Digital Rights</span> Advocacy group

European Digital Rights (EDRi) is an international advocacy group headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. EDRi is a network collective of non-profit organizations (NGO), experts, advocates and academics working to defend and advance digital rights across the continent. As of October 2022, EDRi is made of more than 40 NGOs, as well as experts, advocates and academics from all across Europe.

The Big Brother Awards for the United Kingdom

Homeland Security Group is an executive directorate of the UK government Home Office, created in 2007, responsible for leading the work on counter-terrorism in the UK, working closely with the police and security services. The office reports to the Home Secretary, and to the Minister of State for Security and Counter-Terrorism. Its current Director General is Chloe Squires, who is the senior government official responsible for counter-terrorist and organised crime strategy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Investigatory Powers Tribunal</span> State surveillance tribunal in the United Kingdom

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) is a first-instance tribunal and superior court of record in the United Kingdom. It is primarily an inquisitorial court.

The Draft Communications Data Bill was draft legislation proposed by then Home Secretary Theresa May in the United Kingdom which would require Internet service providers and mobile phone companies to maintain records of each user's internet browsing activity, email correspondence, voice calls, internet gaming, and mobile phone messaging services and store the records for 12 months. Retention of email and telephone contact data for this time is already required by the Data Retention Regulations 2014. The anticipated cost was £1.8 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of mass surveillance in the United Kingdom

The use of electronic surveillance by the United Kingdom grew from the development of signal intelligence and pioneering code breaking during World War II. In the post-war period, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was formed and participated in programmes such as the Five Eyes collaboration of English-speaking nations. This focused on intercepting electronic communications, with substantial increases in surveillance capabilities over time. A series of media reports in 2013 revealed bulk collection and surveillance capabilities, including collection and sharing collaborations between GCHQ and the United States' National Security Agency. These were commonly described by the media and civil liberties groups as mass surveillance. Similar capabilities exist in other countries, including western European countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance in India</span> Overview of mass surveillance in India

Mass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population. Mass surveillance in India includes Surveillance, Telephone tapping, Open-source intelligence, Lawful interception, and surveillance under Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass surveillance in China</span> Network of monitoring systems used by the Chinese government

Mass surveillance in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the network of monitoring systems used by the Chinese central government to monitor Chinese citizens. It is primarily conducted through the government, although corporate surveillance in connection with the Chinese government has been reported to occur. China monitors its citizens through Internet surveillance, camera surveillance, and through other digital technologies. It has become increasingly widespread and grown in sophistication under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping's administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, repealed in 2016. It received Royal Assent on 17 July 2014, after being introduced on 14 July 2014. The purpose of the legislation was to allow security services to continue to have access to phone and internet records of individuals following a previous repeal of these rights by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The act was criticised by some Members of Parliament for the speed at which the act was passed through parliament, by some groups as being an infringement of privacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Investigatory Powers Act 2016</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 29 November 2016. Its different parts came into force on various dates from 30 December 2016. The Act comprehensively sets out and in limited respects expands the electronic surveillance powers of the British intelligence agencies and police. It also claims to improve the safeguards on the exercise of those powers.

Clearview AI is an American facial recognition company, providing software to law enforcement and government agencies and other organizations. The company's algorithm matches faces to a database of more than 20 billion images collected from the Internet, including social media applications. Founded by Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz, the company maintained a low profile until late 2019, when its usage by law enforcement was reported. U.S. by police have used the software to apprehend suspected criminals. Clearview's practices have lead to fines by EU nations for violating privacy laws and investigations in the U.S. and other countries as well.

References

  1. 1 2 "BIG BROTHER WATCH LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  2. ↑ Ashford, Warwick (November 14, 2014). "Big Brother Watch calls for better NHS data security in light of losses". Computer Weekly. TechTarget. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019. Civil liberties pressure group Big Brother Watch has called for better health data security after a study revealed the NHS has suffered an average of six data breaches a day for the past three years.
  3. ↑ "Alex Deane | Senior Managing Director | FTI Consulting". www.fticonsulting.com. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  4. ↑ "About". Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2019.[ self-published source ]The archived link is live; however, the current version (9 Dec 2019) lacks information on when the organisation was founded.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Cunliffe, Rachel (2021-04-19). "Big Brother Watch's Silkie Carlo: "The rule of law has broken down"". New Statesman. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  6. ↑ "About us". bigbrotherwatch.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11.
  7. ↑ "New Big Brother Watch Team announced". bigbrotherwatch.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  8. ↑ Martin, Alexander J.; Cheshire, Tom (August 23, 2017). "Legal questions surround police use of facial recognition tech". Sky News. Sky UK. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019. Four years late on publishing its Biometrics Strategy, pressure mounts on the Government to introduce legal controls. (sub-title)
  9. ↑ Hamilton, Fiona (August 15, 2017). "Body cameras for police have little impact on crime" . The Times. England: Times Newspapers Limited. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  10. 1 2 Bowcott, Owen (November 7, 2017). "UK intelligence agencies face surveillance claims in European court". The Guardian (US ed.). Guardian News & Media Limited. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  11. ↑ Gallagher, Ryan (November 7, 2017). "European Court to Decide Whether U.K. Mass Surveillance Revealed by Snowden Violates Human Rights". The Intercept. First Look Media. Archived from the original on 2017-11-08. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  12. ↑ MacAskill, Ewen (November 19, 2016). "'Extreme surveillance' becomes UK law with barely a whimper". The Guardian. England: Guardian News & Media Limited. Archived from the original on 2016-11-19. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  13. ↑ "Contact". Big Brother Watch. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.[ self-published source ]
  14. ↑ "Way: China Works, Southbank House (170386156)". OpenStreetMap. November 20, 2018. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  15. ↑ Pickles, Nick (January 19, 2012). "Internet regulation could become McCarthy witch hunt". Archived from the original on June 5, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Don't Spy on Us". Don’t Spy on Us. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  17. ↑ "The posters the Home Office doesn't want you to see". The Independent. 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  18. ↑ "Cops' use of biometric images 'gone far beyond custody purposes'". 13 September 2017. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  19. ↑ "The quiet and creeping normalisation of facial recognition technology". newstatesman.com. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  20. ↑ "Security and Policing: Facial Recognition Technology - Hansard Online". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  21. ↑ Portal, Gaetan (2018-07-25). "Facial recognition faces legal challenge" . Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  22. ↑ "'Rape cases dropped' over police phone searches". 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  23. ↑ Ferris, Harriet Wistrich and Griff (2019-08-05). "Victims of sexual violence should not be subjected to digital strip search". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  24. ↑ correspondent, Owen Bowcott Legal affairs (2019-07-22). "Police demands for access to rape victims' phones 'unlawful'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  25. ↑ Peachey, Kevin (2019-05-03). "HMRC deletes five million voice files" . Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  26. ↑ "Big Brother Watch response: HMRC forced to delete 5 million voice IDs – Big Brother Watch" . Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  27. ↑ "71% of UK police forces refuse to provide data on digital evidence gathering – Big Brother Watch". bigbrotherwatch.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  28. ↑ "Brit cops slammed for failing to give answers on digital device data slurpage" . Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  29. ↑ "Privacy campaigners urge proof of body-worn camera footage benefits". Belfast Telegraph . Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  30. ↑ Pickles, Nick; Benbow, Stephanie (2012-09-12). "Is the use of CCTV cameras in schools out of hand? | Nick Pickles and Stephanie Benbow". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  31. ↑ "Careless Whispers: How speech is policed by outdated communications legislation – Big Brother Watch". bigbrotherwatch.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  32. ↑ "Twitter joke trial law is being used to win easy convictions and must". The Independent. 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  33. ↑ "Local Authority Data Loss" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-12-02. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  34. 1 2 "BIG BROTHER WATCH LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
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