PJC Journal – Original

On the ever funny FCO blog, David Miliband makes comments about Zimbabwe and the latest actions of Bob 'I still have the Army' Mugabe.

He tells us:

We in Britain have been waiting for a functioning government in the UK working for the best interests of its people for 11 years. He really is a plonker.

He then goes on to tell us that whilst our Banks are falling like dominoes, home repossessions at record levels, bankruptcy higher than at any time in our history, while the UK is heading for its worst depression since 1926 and our balance sheet is trillions in debt, he proudly tells of more waste:

This to a country that is more than capable of not only feeding itself but most of Africa.

Charity Miliband, begins at home, but then if no-one knows who is running our Government, what chance the boy Miliband to have an authority figure to correct him handing our taxpayers money to tyrant governments..

The lunatics are most definitely running the asylum. Mental Health Act needs to be applied forthwith across Westminster.

On the ever funny FCO blog, David Miliband makes comments about Zimbabwe and the latest actions of Bob 'I still have the Army' Mugabe.

He tells us:

We in Britain have been waiting for a functioning government in the UK working for the best interests of its people for 11 years. He really is a plonker.

He then goes on to tell us that whilst our Banks are falling like dominoes, home repossessions at record levels, bankruptcy higher than at any time in our history, while the UK is heading for its worst depression since 1926 and our balance sheet is trillions in debt, he proudly tells of more waste:

This to a country that is more than capable of not only feeding itself but most of Africa.

Charity Miliband, begins at home, but then if no-one knows who is running our Government, what chance the boy Miliband to have an authority figure to correct him handing our taxpayers money to tyrant governments..

The lunatics are most definitely running the asylum. Mental Health Act needs to be applied forthwith across Westminster.

The content in the article below has been rated FFF using the Libertarian Party policy test rating as follows:

Libertarian Test – Failed
Stalin Test – Failed
Rule of law – Failed

This indicates that it is detrimental to the citizens of the UK and would be considered bad law. This law would therefore be repealed by a Libertarian Government.

National Automatic Number Plate Recognition Database data retention function creep

Back in 2005, we warned that the unelected, unaccountable quango (private limited company),
the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office were
creating, by stealth , and without any public debate or consultation, a
new National Automatic Number Plate Recognition Database which could retain the vehicle movement data of millions of innocent motorists, for excessive periods of time, i.e. up to 6 years.

See: ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) Data Retention guidance by ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers)

Our fears seem to have been confirmed by this report in today's
Guardian newspaper, which seems to show that the entirely predictable scope or function creep of the project has already happened. “give them an inch, and they will take a mile”.

Given the recent data security and privacy scandals, how can the
public be confident that the private details of millions of innocent
motorists, and the privacy of their journey patterns, has not already
been lost or stolen on unencrypted laptop computer, USB memory device
or CD or DVD ?
How can we be sure that this national database is not accessible online
by unuthorised people, or by corrupt or incompetent authorised
insiders, whether they be Policemen, civilian staff or sub-contractors
or consultants etc ?

When the planned mass surveillance camera and communications
infrastructure is fully deployed, the National ANPR Database, combined
with commercial systems such as Trafficmaster,
will present a serious potential risk to the safety and security pf
VIPs at risk of kidnapping or assassination, to high value commercial
vehicles (e.g. armoured vans full of cash) at risk of hijacking or
armed robbery, and to military weapons or explosives convoys, including
nuclear weapons convoys etc. All of these usually travel via
pre-planned alternative routes, which will be revealed, remotely, in
real time, by such a system.

Fears over privacy as police expand surveillance project

Database to hold details of millions of journeys for five years

Paul Lewis
The Guardian,
Monday September 15 2008

The police are to expand a car surveillance operation that will
allow them to record and store details of millions of daily journeys for up to five years, the Guardian has learned.

A national network of roadside cameras will be able to “read” 50m
licence plates a day, enabling officers to reconstruct the journeys of
motorists.

Police have been encouraged to “fully and strategically exploit” the
database, which is already recording the whereabouts of 10 million
drivers a day, during investigations ranging from counter-terrorism to
low-level crime.

But it has raised concerns from civil rights campaigners, who
question whether the details should be kept for so long, and want
clearer guidance on who might have access to the material.

The project relies on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)
cameras to pinpoint the precise time and location of all vehicles on
the road. Senior officers had promised the data would be stored for two
years. But responding to inquiries under the Freedom of Information
Act, the Home Office has admitted the data is now being kept for five years.

Be very clear, this is not ANPR data regarding
criminals or people who are actually being watched, or watched out for,
as part of a narrowly targeted criminal or intelligence agency
investigation, this is vehicle movement data of the vast majority of millions of innocent motorists

Thousands of CCTV cameras across the country have been converted to
read ANPR data, capturing people's movements in cars on motorways, main
roads, airports and town centres.

Local authorities have since adapted their own CCTV systems to
capture licence plates on behalf of police, massively expanding the
network of available cameras. Mobile cameras have been installed in
patrol cars and unmarked vehicles parked by the side of roads.

Police helicopters have been equipped with infrared cameras that can read licence plates from 610 metres (2,000ft).

In four months' time, when a nationwide network of cameras is fully
operational, the National ANPR Data Centre in Hendon, north London,
will record up to 50m licence plates a day.

This has been touted as the largest Oracle database system in Europe.

The Home Office said in a letter that the Hendon database would “store
all ANPR captured data for five years”. The photograph of a person's
licence plate will, in most cases, be stored for one year.

“all ANPR captured data for five years” represents a big increase in the amount of vehicle movement data being retained , from 2 years in most cases (6 years or longer if there is any hint of any criminal investigation, even peripherally).

See our January 2006 blog article based on a Parliamentary Written Answer – ANPR database retention rules – Parliamentary Answer claims 2 years when it is actually 6 years or longer

See also the data rape of the CCTV and ANPR and
credit card payment systems behind the London Congestion Charge and
London Low Emission Zone and other Transport for London CCTV cameras
etc., which are being copied, in bulk, in real time to a secret
Metropolitan Police data mining system.

The Information Commissioner is no longer allowed to prosecute
anyone for abusing this data, which is now exempt from even the weak
safeguards under the Data Protection Act, because of a Certificate
signed by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act should forbid such
untargeted, mass surveillance, but the Chief Surveillance Commissioner
Rt. Hon. Sir Christopher Rose, does not seem to care to get involved or
to provide any public scrutiny, for what that is worth.

See: London ANPR mass surveillance snooping – Chief Surveillance Commissioner Sir Christopher Rose refused to get involved

Hattip Spyblog

The content in the article below has been rated FFF using the Libertarian Party policy test rating as follows:

Libertarian Test – Failed
Stalin Test – Failed
Rule of law – Failed

This indicates that it is detrimental to the citizens of the UK and would be considered bad law. This law would therefore be repealed by a Libertarian Government.

National Automatic Number Plate Recognition Database data retention function creep

Back in 2005, we warned that the unelected, unaccountable quango (private limited company),
the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office were
creating, by stealth , and without any public debate or consultation, a
new National Automatic Number Plate Recognition Database which could retain the vehicle movement data of millions of innocent motorists, for excessive periods of time, i.e. up to 6 years.

See: ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) Data Retention guidance by ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers)

Our fears seem to have been confirmed by this report in today's
Guardian newspaper, which seems to show that the entirely predictable scope or function creep of the project has already happened. “give them an inch, and they will take a mile”.

Given the recent data security and privacy scandals, how can the
public be confident that the private details of millions of innocent
motorists, and the privacy of their journey patterns, has not already
been lost or stolen on unencrypted laptop computer, USB memory device
or CD or DVD ?
How can we be sure that this national database is not accessible online
by unuthorised people, or by corrupt or incompetent authorised
insiders, whether they be Policemen, civilian staff or sub-contractors
or consultants etc ?

When the planned mass surveillance camera and communications
infrastructure is fully deployed, the National ANPR Database, combined
with commercial systems such as Trafficmaster,
will present a serious potential risk to the safety and security pf
VIPs at risk of kidnapping or assassination, to high value commercial
vehicles (e.g. armoured vans full of cash) at risk of hijacking or
armed robbery, and to military weapons or explosives convoys, including
nuclear weapons convoys etc. All of these usually travel via
pre-planned alternative routes, which will be revealed, remotely, in
real time, by such a system.

Fears over privacy as police expand surveillance project

Database to hold details of millions of journeys for five years

Paul Lewis
The Guardian,
Monday September 15 2008

The police are to expand a car surveillance operation that will
allow them to record and store details of millions of daily journeys for up to five years, the Guardian has learned.

A national network of roadside cameras will be able to “read” 50m
licence plates a day, enabling officers to reconstruct the journeys of
motorists.

Police have been encouraged to “fully and strategically exploit” the
database, which is already recording the whereabouts of 10 million
drivers a day, during investigations ranging from counter-terrorism to
low-level crime.

But it has raised concerns from civil rights campaigners, who
question whether the details should be kept for so long, and want
clearer guidance on who might have access to the material.

The project relies on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)
cameras to pinpoint the precise time and location of all vehicles on
the road. Senior officers had promised the data would be stored for two
years. But responding to inquiries under the Freedom of Information
Act, the Home Office has admitted the data is now being kept for five years.

Be very clear, this is not ANPR data regarding
criminals or people who are actually being watched, or watched out for,
as part of a narrowly targeted criminal or intelligence agency
investigation, this is vehicle movement data of the vast majority of millions of innocent motorists

Thousands of CCTV cameras across the country have been converted to
read ANPR data, capturing people's movements in cars on motorways, main
roads, airports and town centres.

Local authorities have since adapted their own CCTV systems to
capture licence plates on behalf of police, massively expanding the
network of available cameras. Mobile cameras have been installed in
patrol cars and unmarked vehicles parked by the side of roads.

Police helicopters have been equipped with infrared cameras that can read licence plates from 610 metres (2,000ft).

In four months' time, when a nationwide network of cameras is fully
operational, the National ANPR Data Centre in Hendon, north London,
will record up to 50m licence plates a day.

This has been touted as the largest Oracle database system in Europe.

The Home Office said in a letter that the Hendon database would “store
all ANPR captured data for five years”. The photograph of a person's
licence plate will, in most cases, be stored for one year.

“all ANPR captured data for five years” represents a big increase in the amount of vehicle movement data being retained , from 2 years in most cases (6 years or longer if there is any hint of any criminal investigation, even peripherally).

See our January 2006 blog article based on a Parliamentary Written Answer – ANPR database retention rules – Parliamentary Answer claims 2 years when it is actually 6 years or longer

See also the data rape of the CCTV and ANPR and
credit card payment systems behind the London Congestion Charge and
London Low Emission Zone and other Transport for London CCTV cameras
etc., which are being copied, in bulk, in real time to a secret
Metropolitan Police data mining system.

The Information Commissioner is no longer allowed to prosecute
anyone for abusing this data, which is now exempt from even the weak
safeguards under the Data Protection Act, because of a Certificate
signed by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act should forbid such
untargeted, mass surveillance, but the Chief Surveillance Commissioner
Rt. Hon. Sir Christopher Rose, does not seem to care to get involved or
to provide any public scrutiny, for what that is worth.

See: London ANPR mass surveillance snooping – Chief Surveillance Commissioner Sir Christopher Rose refused to get involved

Hattip Spyblog

The Taxpayers' Alliance have produced a report examining Gordon Brown's economic reputation [PDF]; given that it is titled Gordon Brown's Economic Failure, it is almost superfluous to point out that the 'Best Chancellor ever' does not come out of it very well.

Here are a few of the key findings…

ECONOMIC GROWTH:
Whilst Britain has outperformed our European neighbours, all other
English-speaking wealthy countries have seen faster growth since Gordon
Brown became Chancellor. Had Britain matched US levels of growth since
1997, the UK's GDP would have been £14 billion higher by 2006.

TAX REGIME:
Since 1997, the tax burden has increased in real terms by 51 per cent,
placing an unsustainable burden on ordinary families and drastically
slowing the rate of growth in disposable income. Government spending as
a percentage of GDP has soared above the OECD average, corporate tax
has remained high whilst competitors have introduced successful cuts,
the size of the British tax code has doubled and the cost of
administering the tax system has increased by at least 75 per cent.

PUBLIC DEBT:
Since the Government's commitment to match Conservative spending plans
expired in 2000, public debt has risen by 5.1 percentage points of GDP.
When public sector pensions, PFI debt, nuclear decommissioning, Network
Rail and Northern Rock are taken into account, actual Government
liabilities total £1,898 billion (that's £1.8 TRILLION) – a massive 129 per cent of GDP.

There
are many more facts and figures highlighting the total cock-up that
the 'best Chancellor ever' has made of the economy, and the TPA has chosen to
highlight them with an amusing little Flash game called The Brown
Calculator.

Try
a calculation, find out that the answer isn't what you thought it was,
and then work yourself into a screaming fury when you realise quite how
much of our money Cyclops has pissed up the wall and bribed people with.