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</p><h1 class="western">ORG policy update/2015-w33</h1><p><br></p>
<p><span lang="en-US">This is ORG's Policy Update for the week
beginning 07/08/2015 </span>
</p>
<p lang="en-US"><br><i>This is my last Policy update, after having
worked for ORG for the last three months. I hope these updates
provided you with an helpful weekly summary of news relating to tech,
policy and privacy. This one is unusually short, due to the UK and
European Parliaments being on holiday, and people just generally not
doing much. The Policy Update will be back mid-September, when news
pick up the pace!</i>
</p>
<p lang="en-US"><i>Gregoire D.</i></p><p lang="en-US"><i><br></i>
</p>
<h2 class="western"><a name="National_Developments"></a><span lang="en-US">National
Developments </span>
</h2>
<h3 class="western"><a name="Police_Scotland_accused_of_abusing_RIPA_to_investigate_on_a_journalist_and_find_his_source"></a>
<span lang="en-US">Police Scotland accused of abusing RIPA to
investigate on a journalist and find his source </span>
</h3>
<p><span lang="en-US">A BBC journalist, Eaman O'Connor, claimed at
the beginning of the month that Police Scotland used RIPA (<a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Regulation_of_Investigatory_Powers_Act_2000">Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act 2000</a>) to snoop on him and identify as
“very dependable source” of his, after O'Connor investigated on
an unresolved but extremely costly murder investigation. The
journalist <a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/bbc-journalist-who-investigated-screwed-police-murder-inquiry-suspects-force-used-ripa-hunt-his">claims</a>
that he has been targeted without judicial approval, and despite the
<a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/police-scotland-accused-unlawfully-using-ripa-find-journalistic-source-march-law-change">changes
to the law</a> made in March to further protect journalists and their
sources. O'Connor expressed the concern that these practices
“intimidate and impede whistleblowers and people who want to come
forward to tell the truth about something they believe shouldn't have
happened”. </span>
</p>
<p><span lang="en-US">The Sunday Herald <a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/first-minister-nicola-sturgeon-urged-come-clean-what-she-knew-about-police-scotlands-alleged">revealed</a>
on Sunday, August 9th, that First Minister of Scotland <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/w/index.php?title=Nicola_Sturgeon_MP&action=edit&redlink=1">Nicola
Sturgeon</a> was aware of the claims that Police Scotland was abusing
its RIPA powers. The <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Labour_Party">Labour
Party</a> has asked Nicola Sturgeon to “come clean on her
involvement” in this affair, and Labour's justice spokeman Hugh
Henry has filed a Freedom of Information request on the matter. </span>
</p>
<h3 class="western"><a name="Labour_Party_members_allowed_to_vote_for_the_leadership_by_email_or_on_a_website"></a>
<span lang="en-US">Labour Party members allowed to vote for the
leadership by email or on a website </span>
</h3>
<p><span lang="en-US">The Labour Party leadership election will be
run by the Electoral Reform Services until September 10th. Though
ballots will be posted, Labour members will have the possibility to
vote online. It is still unclear if this this means voting on a
website (as indicated on the <a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/blog/entry/faqs-on-the-labour-leadership-and-deputy-leadership-elections">official
FAQ</a>) or via email (as indicated on an email sent to members). In
any case, the implications for the privacy and the security of the
voting are potentially serious. </span>
</p>
<p><span lang="en-US">Electronic voting has upsides, as it
facilitates voting for people who can't or do not want to go to a
voting booth, but NGOs working on promoting on election integrity and
tech experts <a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/03/02/1940236/in-theory-and-practice-why-internet-based-voting-is-a-bad-idea">agree</a>
that this electoral system endangers ballot secrecy and could
compromise the integrity of the results. Hackers have <a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/story/10/10/09/1750214/dc-internet-voting-trial-attacked-2-different-ways">demonstrated</a>
how easily they can gain access to and modify the records of some
electronic voting systems. </span>
</p>
<h2 class="western"><a name="Technology_and_Internet_companies"></a><span lang="en-US">Technology
and Internet companies </span>
</h2>
<h3 class="western"><a name="Windows_10_sends_private_information_to_Microsoft_even_if_one_sets_it_to_protect_privacy"></a>
<span lang="en-US">Windows 10 sends private information to Microsoft
even if one sets it to protect privacy </span>
</h3>
<p><span lang="en-US"><a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Microsoft">Microsoft</a>'s
newly launched operative system, Windows 10, has been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/31/windows-10-microsoft-faces-criticism-over-privacy-default-settings">severely
criticised</a> for sharing a lot of private information if you keep
the default settings, and the debate probably will not abate now that
Ars Technica found out that it <a href="http://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/">keeps
sending information</a> to Microsoft servers even if the user sets it
to protect his privacy. The website reports on several experiments it
conducted but couldn't find out “the exact nature of the
information being sent” to various Microsoft servers, and argues
that “it's not clear why any data is being sent at all” when one
user chooses the most privacy-protective settings and disables cloud
services. The machine's unique identification numbers is one of the
information being set. </span>
</p>
<p><span lang="en-US">Contacted for comment by The Guardian,
Microsoft <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/13/windows-10-sends-identifiable-data-microsoft-despite-privacy-settings">mentioned</a>
the need to keep the machine up to date, but “ did not elaborate on
what purpose the communications have, or whether it stores or tracks
the data”. </span>
</p>
<h2 class="western"><a name="ORG_Media_coverage"></a><span lang="en-US">ORG
Media coverage </span>
</h2>
<p><span lang="en-US">See <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_Press_Coverage">ORG
Press Coverage</a> for full details. </span>
</p>
<dt><span lang="en-US">2015-08-12 – Herald Scotland - <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13588692.Public_sector_encouraged_to_move_to__cloud_computing__despite_hacking_fears/">Public
sector encouraged to move to 'cloud computing' despite hacking fears</a>
</span>
</dt><dd lang="en-US">
Author: Daniel Sanderson
</dd><dd style="margin-bottom:0.2in" lang="en-US">
Summary: Jim Killock quoted on the possible legal dangers of putting
public sectors information on the “cloud”
</dd><dt>
<span lang="en-US">2015-08-11 – Scottish Legal News - <a href="http://www.scottishlegal.com/2015/08/11/ipo-proposes-extension-of-maximum-jail-term-for-online-copyright-offences-to-ten-years/">IPO
proposes extension of maximum jail term for online copyright offences
to ten years</a> </span>
</dt><dd lang="en-US">
Author:
</dd><dd style="margin-bottom:0.2in" lang="en-US">
Summary: Explain ORG's argument against increasing maximum sentence
for copyright infringement to 10 years in jail
</dd><dt>
<span lang="en-US">2015-08-10 – Ars Technica - <a href="http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/08/the-uks-proposed-10-year-max-jail-term-for-online-copyright-infringement-must-be-stopped/">The
UK’s proposed 10-year max jail term for file sharing must be
stopped</a> </span>
</dt><dd lang="en-US">
Author: Glyn Moody
</dd><dd style="margin-bottom:0.2in" lang="en-US">
Summary: Explain ORG's argument against increasing maximum sentence
for copyright infringement to 10 years in jail
</dd><h2 class="western">
<a name="ORG_contact_details"></a><span lang="en-US">ORG contact
details </span>
</h2>
<p><span lang="en-US"><a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff">Staff
page</a> </span>
</p>
<ul><li><p style="margin-bottom:0in"><span lang="en-US"><a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#jim">Jim
Killock, Executive Director</a> </span>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0in"><span lang="en-US"><a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#javier">Javier
Ruiz, Policy</a> </span>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0in"><span lang="en-US"><a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#ed">Ed
Paton-Williams, Campaigns</a> </span>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom:0in"><span lang="en-US"><a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#pam">Pam
Cowburn, Communications</a> </span>
</p>
</li><li><p><span lang="en-US"><a href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#lee">Lee
Maguire, Tech</a> </span>
</p>
</li></ul>
</div>