Tag Archives: british
Beware, Angry Birds are spying on you!
Beware, Angry Birds are spying on you! (Reuters) / 29 January 2014 Among these new intelligence tools were “leaky” apps on smartphones that could disclose users’ locations, age, gender and other personal information. US and British intelligence agencies have plotted ways to gather data from Angry Birds and other smartphone apps that leak users’ personal information onto global networks, the New York Times reported on Monday. It was citing previously undisclosed intelligence documents made available by fugitive American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. The Times said the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters, had tried to exploit increasing volumes of personal data that spill onto networks from new generations of mobile phone technology. Among these new intelligence tools were “leaky” apps on smartphones that could disclose users’ locations, age, gender and other personal information. The US and British agencies were working together on ways to collect and store data from smartphone apps by 2007, the newspaper reported. The agencies have traded methods for collecting location data from a user of Google Maps and for gathering address books, buddy lists, phone logs and geographic data embedded in photos when a user posts to the mobile versions of Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and other services, the Times said. Snowden, who is living in asylum in Russian, faces espionage charges in the United States after disclosing the NSA’s massive telephone and Internet surveillance programmes last year. His revelations and the resulting firestorm of criticism from politicians and privacy rights activists prompted US President Barack Obama to announce intelligence-gather reforms on January 17, including a ban on eavesdropping on the leaders of close allies and limits on the collection of telephone data. The Times report said the scale of the data collection from smartphones was not clear but the documents showed that the two national agencies routinely obtained information from certain apps, including some of the earliest ones introduced to mobile phones. The documents did not say how many users were affected or whether they included Americans. White House spokesman Jay Carney said US surveillance agencies were only interested in collecting data on people considered a threat to the United States. “To the extent data is collected by the NSA through whatever means, we are not interested in the communications of people who are not valid foreign intelligence targets, and we are not after the information of ordinary Americans,” Carney told a regular White House news conference. Any such surveillance was focused on “valid foreign intelligence targets … I mean terrorists, proliferators, other bad actors (who) use the same communications tools that others use,” he said. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Delhi CM calls protest to disrupt Republic Day
Delhi CM calls protest to disrupt Republic Day (AFP) / 20 January 2014 Arvind Kejriwal wants Delhi’s police force to come under the control of the Delhi state government instead of the central government. New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal smiles as he sits during a protest in the streets of New Delhi on January 20, 2014. – AFP The chief minister of New Delhi, an anti-corruption campaigner who swept to power last month, declared himself an “anarchist” on Monday and called for a 10-day protest to disrupt Republic Day celebrations at the weekend. Arvind Kejriwal, a firebrand grassroots organiser, took to the streets near the site of the annual Republic Day military parade on Monday to press his demands for reforms of the police in the capital. “We have come here for auto drivers, the hawkers and everyone who have to pay bribes to the Delhi police,” he said after battling blockades to reach a spot near the presidency building. After his address, he sat on a makeshift podium surrounded by several hundred supporters of his Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party as more than 1,000 police and several anti-riot vehicles stood by. The Republic Day celebrations, due on Sunday, are an annual celebration of India’s military might when missiles, tanks and marching soldiers parade down the main road leading to the presidency building. “Some people say that I’m an anarchist creating disorder. Yes I’m an anarchist. I agree to that!” Kejriwal shouted. “But today every home has this anarchy, it’s so expensive that people can’t make ends meet. Women are unsafe.” His party, formed little over a year ago, made sensational gains in Delhi state elections held in December and he is eyeing parliamentary polls due by May amid a nationwide surge in support for his campaign. The 45-year-old wants Delhi’s police force to come under the control of the Delhi state government instead of the central government, which runs it via the home ministry. Officers are often accused of taking bribes, failing to pursue cases or doing enough to protect women’s safety in a city still seething from the much publicised fatal gang rape of a woman just over a year ago. Last week, a 51-year-old Danish tourist was allegedly gang-raped in the capital, casting the spotlight once again on the city’s reputation for attacks on women. But the new Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti was accused last week of vigilantism after he went out to an area of Delhi to raid a house allegedly used for prostitution and drug dealing. Police would not follow his orders to raid the property without a warrant and Bharti was then accused of detaining four Ugandan women who said they were locked in a car and threatened by his supporters. Kejriwal has called for the police officers who refused to raid the house to be suspended and Monday’s sit-in protest had initially been called to press this demand. “I couldn’t sleep last night. All those who think their daughters, wives are not safe on Delhi streets, come and join us here,” he said Monday as supporters waved brooms, the party’s symbol. “Earlier I thought it would create problems with the Republic Day celebrations. But celebrations are meaningless if we look at the current state of affairs,” he told the crowd gathered around him. The area around the site of the Republic Day parade — the British colonial-era centre that includes the presidency, parliament and several ministries — is locked down by security forces during the celebrations. Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters that protests in the area had been banned and that Kejriwal should move to a park reserved for demonstrations. “If he wants to demonstrate they should go to Jantar Mantar, that is what that place is for,” Shinde told reporters. He also ruled out transferring control of the police to the state government. “This is a special situation in Delhi, it is the national capital,” he said. “This has been a demand for many years. That isn’t possible.” Kejriwal’s call for demonstrations was heeded by several hundred, but police were stopping others from joining. Retired government official Shyam Sunder Singh, 62, said he supported the chief minister’s tactics. “Kejriwal is a true hero. He is not afraid of anyone. He can take on the high and mighty like no one else can,” he said, wearing a white Gandhi cap which has been adopted by party members. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
UAE, UK to fight organised crime
UAE, UK to fight organised crime Sudeshna Sarkar (sudeshna@khaleejtimes.com) / 8 October 2013 With around 6,000 criminal groups — which add up to 38,000 organised criminals — targeting the UK, from home soil as well as overseas, security agencies need more teeth to protect the islands. A shot in the arm came on Monday with the launch of a new organisation that will work with UAE law enforcement agencies to tackle some of the world’s toughest and most organised criminals. The National Crime Agency (NCA), accountable to British Home Secretary Theresa May and to be headed by a chief constable, will be staffed with more than 4,000 specialist crime fighters fanned over 40 global locations. Its reach will stretch across 150 countries. The NCA will work with UAE partner agencies and organisations to tackle drugs trafficking, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking, immigration crime and cyber crime. Since the UAE is a major financial centre, the two sides will also jointly fight money laundering and the investment of criminal assets. UAE partners and the NCA will pool in intelligence on joint threats and targets. If required, they will also intercept people, property and money moving to and from the UK. Dominic Jermey, the British Ambassador to the UAE, said the bilateral cooperation between the UK and the UAE covers an enormous range, including tackling organised crime. “The NCA will allow law enforcement agencies in both countries to join hands and use their shared expertise to track down the perpetrators of serious crimes and bring them to justice,” he said. The UK already has officers from its Serious Organised Crime Agency, Revenue and Customs, and Counter Terrorism and Extremism actively based in the UAE, working together with local UAE contacts and agencies. Their actions involve identifying and targeting major British criminals involved in organised/fiscal crime harming the UK and related assets. These officers have been holding regular operational meetings with police and immigration in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to discuss trends and agree on responses. May said the NCA was born of the realisation that organised crime was one of the greatest threats to national security. Every year it costs the UK between £20 billion and £40 billion per year, She said the impact is felt every single day: “The drug dealing on street corners; the burglary and muggings by addicts; the trafficking of vulnerable young women into prostitution; the card cloning and credit card fraud that robs so many.” The NCA, she added, will transform the authorities’ response. Continue reading
