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<a id="reader-domain" class="domain" href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_policy_update/2018-w06">https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_policy_update/2018-w06</a>
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<h1 id="reader-title" class="">ORG policy update/2018-w06</h1>
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<div id="mw-content-text" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" lang="en"><p class="">This is ORG's Policy Update for the week beginning 05/02/2018.
</p><p class="">If you are reading this online, you can also subscribe to the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lists.openrightsgroup.org/listinfo/parliamentary.monitor">email version or unsubscribe</a>.
</p>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="ORG.E2.80.99s_work">ORG’s work</span></h2>
<ul class=""><li class="">ORG have started fundraising to recruit more permanent members of our legal team. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/join/join-org-and-help-build-our-legal-team">Join ORG today to help out!</a></li>
<li class="">ORG have added a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/legal/">new legal section</a> to the main site, to more closely document ORG's current and historic activity.</li>
<li class="">ORG is running a petition against the Government’s misguided
proposals threatening fines for internet companies who do not rapidly
censor extremist material shared on their platforms. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://action.openrightsgroup.org/censorship-and-control-are-not-answer-extremism">Sign the petition here!</a></li>
<li class="">ORG are hard at work updating the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.blocked.org.uk/legal-blocks">court ordered blocks</a> section of the Blocked! tool to display clearer and more accurate information about court ordered blocks.</li>
<li class="">ORG have launched an open <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://action.openrightsgroup.org/new-rights-need-new-services-submit-your-ideas-monday-february-12th">call for ideas</a> to develop a tool for consumers to enjoy their stronger rights under GDPR. This is a joint project with <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://projectsbyif.com">Projects by IF</a>, funded through a grant from the Information Commissioner Office.</li></ul><p class="">Planned local group events:
</p>
<ul class=""><li class="">ORG Oxford is back! Join them at Oxford Hackspace <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.meetup.com/ORG-Oxford/events/247377701/">on 12 February</a> for their first event.</li>
<li class="">Join ORG Scotland Director Matthew Rice on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.meetup.com/ORG-Edinburgh/events/247475604/">16 February</a> at ORG Edinburgh to discuss ORG's plans for Scotland in 2018.</li>
<li class="">Join ORG staff Mike Morel and Alex Haydock at ORG London on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.meetup.com/ORG-London/events/247510359/">19 February</a> for a discussion on the modern threats to free speech online.</li>
<li class="">Hear ORG's Legal Director Myles Jackman update ORG Norwich about ORG's current and future legal activities on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.meetup.com/ORG-Norwich/events/247426815/">19 February</a></li></ul>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Official_meetings">Official meetings</span></h2>
<ul class=""><li class="">ORG hosted a GDPR awareness and readiness event for other NGOs
working on similar projects. Speakers included data protection
consultant <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://twitter.com/tim2040">Tim Turner</a>, campaign software providers <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.more-onion.com/en">More Onion</a>, and representatives from the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ico.org.uk/">ICO</a>.</li>
<li class="">Jim Killock and Matthew Rice met with the Electoral Commission to discuss Scottish and Welsh electronic voting proposals.</li></ul>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="National_developments">National developments</span></h2>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Theresa_May_confirms_intent_to_compel_web_platforms_to_do_more_about_online_intimidation">Theresa May confirms intent to compel web platforms to do more about online intimidation</span></h3><p class="">Theresa May <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-standards-in-public-life-6-february-2018">confirmed in a speech in Manchester</a> that she intends to work with web platforms to compel them to take more action with regard to "online intimidation".
</p><p class="">May noted that the Committee on Standards in Public Life "makes a
number of recommendations for action which social media companies can
take" to address the problem of online harrassment and intimidation.
</p><p class="">In her speech, May also confirmed that the Government intends to
"establish a new Annual Internet Safety Transparency Report, to provide
UK-level data on what offensive online content is being reported, how
social media companies are responding to complaints, and what material
is removed."
</p><p class="">She also confirmed that the Law Commission would be conducting a
review of the legislation relating to online offensive communications.
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="NCSC_publishes_report_on_Active_Cyber_Defence_programme">NCSC publishes report on Active Cyber Defence programme</span></h3><p class="">One year on from the implementation of their "Active Cyber Defence"
programme, Technical Director of the National Cyber Security Centre, Dr
Ian Levy, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/active-cyber-defence-one-year">published a report</a> detailing the progress of the scheme.
</p><p class="">The report suggests that the programme has been a success overall
and offers an in-depth technical breakdown of the programme's focuses.
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Police_deploy_automated_facial_recognition_in_Cardiff_City_Centre">Police deploy automated facial recognition in Cardiff City Centre</span></h3><p class="">South Wales Police inspector Scott Lloyd <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://twitter.com/Inspectorslloyd/status/959762538098544640">confirmed on Twitter</a>
that South Wales Police have deployed facial recognition technology in
Cardiff City Centre. He claims the first identification and arrest
occurred within one hour of the technology becoming operational.
</p>
<h3 class=""></h3><p class="">In an interview with the BBC, Matt Hancock MP <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://tech.newstatesman.com/news/digital-secretary-matt-hancock-regulator-social-media">confirmed</a> that the Government had no current plans to create a new regulator to take on the responsibility of regulating social media.
</p><p class="">"If you tried to bring in a new regulator you’d end up having to
regulate everything", Hancock said. "But that doesn’t mean that we don’t
need to make sure that the regulations ensure that markets work
properly and people are protected."
</p>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="International_developments">International developments</span></h2>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="EFF_finds_US_Govt_abusing_surveillance_powers_even_with_individual_court_oversight">EFF finds US Govt abusing surveillance powers even with individual court oversight</span></h3><p class="">In documents obtained from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court (FISC), the Electronic Frontier Foundation claims to have
discovered that "even when the court authorizes the government to spy on
specific Americans for national security purposes, that authorization
can be misused to potentially violate other people’s civil liberties."
</p><p class="">The documents represent the third batch of FISC opinions released
to the EFF as a result of their Freedom of Information Act lawsuit
against the Court, and the organisation's in-depth look at the documents
can be read <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/newly-released-surveillance-orders-show-even-individualized-court-oversight-spying">here</a>.
</p>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Questions_in_the_UK_Parliament">Questions in the UK Parliament</span></h2>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Question_about_online_sales_of_knives_and_weapons">Question about online sales of knives and weapons</span></h3><p class="">Ross Thomson MP <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018-01-29.125218.h">asked</a>
the Secretary of State for the Home Department "what recent steps her
Department has taken to prevent the illegal sale of knives and other
offensive weapons online".
</p><p class="">Victoria Atkins responded that the Government was currently
considering the responses to a consultation completed in December 2017
which proposed restricting the sale of knives online. She also confirmed
that the Government have been working with Amazon and eBay to implement
age verification for online knife and weapon sales.
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Question_about_the_sale_of_illegal_drugs_online">Question about the sale of illegal drugs online</span></h3><p class="">Ross Thomson MP <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018-01-29.125216.h">asked</a>
the Secretary of State for the Home Department "what recent steps her
Department has taken to prevent the sale of illegal drugs online".
</p><p class="">Victoria Atkins responded, indicating that "law enforcement
agencies continue to work with internet providers to shut down UK-based
websites found to be committing offences, building on work already
underway to tackle the sale and supply of illegal drugs in the UK and
overseas and tackle associated organised crime."
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Question_about_the_Internet_Safety_Strategy">Question about the Internet Safety Strategy</span></h3><p class="">During a House of Commons debate, Matt Hancock MP <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2018-02-08a.1626.7#g1626.9">confirmed</a>
that the Government is looking to bring forward the date of publication
for the Social Media Code of Practice, and for an annual internet
transparency report.
</p><p class="">Hancock also confirmed that the Government expects to publish the full Internet Safety Strategy in Spring 2018.
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Matt_Hancock_asked_to_ensure_Matt_Hancock_complies_with_Data_Protection_regulations">Matt Hancock asked to ensure Matt Hancock complies with Data Protection regulations</span></h3><p class="">During a House of Commons Debate, Kevin Brennan <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2018-02-08a.1630.2#g1631.3">asked</a> whether Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Matt Hancock, would undertake to ensure that <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42902684">his official mobile app</a> "complies fully with all data protection regulations in future".
</p><p class="">Matt Hancock replied suggesting that he was "delighted by the
response the app has had", and confirmed that he believed it already
complied with the necessary data protection legislation.
</p>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="ORG_media_coverage">ORG media coverage</span></h2><p class=""><i class="">See <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_Press_Coverage" title="ORG Press Coverage" class="">ORG Press Coverage</a> for full details.</i>
</p>
<dl class=""><dt class="">2018-02-08-The Guardian-<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2018/feb/08/how-can-i-control-child-social-media-use-instagram-gmail-accounts">Ask Jack: How can I control my child’s social media use?</a></dt>
<dd class="">Author: Jack Schofield</dd>
<dd class="">Summary: ORG's Blocked tool mentioned in The Guardian's 'Ask Jack' readers' questions page.</dd>
<dd class="">Topics: <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/w/index.php?title=Censorship&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Censorship (page does not exist)">Censorship</a></dd></dl>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="ORG_Contact_Details">ORG Contact Details</span></h2><p class=""><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff">Staff page</a>
</p>
<ul class=""><li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#jim">Jim Killock, Executive Director</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#javier">Javier Ruiz, Policy Director</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#ed">Ed Johnson-Williams, Campaigns</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#lee">Lee Maguire, Tech</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#myles">Myles Jackman, Legal Director</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#alex">Alex Haydock, Legal Intern</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#matthew">Matthew Rice, Scotland Director</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#slavka">Slavka Bielikova, Policy Officer</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#mike">Mike Morel, Campaigner</a></li>
<li class=""> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#caitlin">Caitlin Bishop, Campaigns Communication Officer</a></li></ul>
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