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<a id="reader-domain" class="domain" href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_policy_update/2018-w09">https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_policy_update/2018-w09</a>
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<h1 id="reader-title" class="">ORG policy update/2018-w09</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 26/02/2018.
</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 launched <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scotland.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/how-to-steal-and-election-in-4-easy-steps">a new infographic</a> as part of their campaign against current trials of electronic voting in Scotland.</li>
<li class="">ORG are 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 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 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:
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<ul class=""><li class="">Join ORG Cambridge on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.meetup.com/ORG-Cambridge/events/fdpwknyxfbjb/">6 March</a> for their regular monthly meeting.</li>
<li class="">Join ORG Legal Intern Alex Haydock at ORG North East on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.meetup.com/ORGNorthEast/events/247346380/">10 March</a> to learn about digital rights and how to take control of your online life.</li>
<li class="">Join ORG Birmingham on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.meetup.com/ORG-Birmingham/events/247971623/">26 March</a> to hear about what the Government's Digital Charter will mean for free speech online.</li></ul>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Official_meetings">Official meetings</span></h2>
<ul class=""><li class="">Jim Killock met with Internet Matters to discuss internet filtering and the Blocked! project.</li>
<li class="">Jim Killock met with PIPCU to discuss domain suspension and seizure.</li>
<li class="">Jim Killock gave an interview to German television network ARD about Amber Rudd's extreme content filtering tool.</li>
<li class="">Michael Morel hosted a presentation from investigative journalist <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://twitter.com/josephfcox/">Joseph Cox</a> about the zero-day and exploit industry.</li>
<li class="">Matthew Rice held a briefing in Holyrood on electronic voting.</li></ul>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="UK_Parliament">UK Parliament</span></h2>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Data_Protection_Bill">Data Protection Bill</span></h3><p class="">ORG are still tracking the progress of the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2017-19/dataprotection.html">Data Protection Bill</a>,
which had its first reading in the House of Commons at the end of
January, and is awaiting a second Commons reading before Committee Stage
can begin. While no date has yet been announced for the Second Reading,
ORG are expecting this to be held around the time of Monday 5 March.
</p><p class="">The Bill still contains the controversial "immigration
exemption", which ORG have campaigned against during earlier stages. For
more information, see <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_policy_update/2018-w03#Data_Protection_Bill_Progresses_to_House_of_Commons">previous policy updates</a>.
</p><p class="">ORG are planning future outreach campaigns targeting MPs and
MEPs, intended to highlight our concerns with some of the provisions of
the Bill.
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Scottish_Electronic_Voting_Bill">Scottish Electronic Voting Bill</span></h3><p class="">A debate is expected to be taking place in the Scottish Parliament
soon on a motion supporting the adoption of electronic voting. This was
expected to take place on 7 March but may be delayed due to the impact
of recent weather on other Parliamentary business.
</p><p class="">The Parliamentary motion can be found <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S5M-10407&ResultsPerPage=10">here</a>, and you can read ORG Scotland Director Matthew Rice's blog post about the problems with electronic voting <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scotland.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2018/02/09/e-votings-unsolvable-problem/">here</a>.
</p>
<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Other_national_developments">Other national developments</span></h2>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Liberty_begin_legal_challenge_against_Investigatory_Powers_Act_surveillance">Liberty begin legal challenge against Investigatory Powers Act surveillance</span></h3><p class="">This week, the first High Court hearings began in human rights group <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk">Liberty</a>'s legal challenge against the mass surveillance powers found in the Investigatory Powers Act.
</p><p class="">A High Court hearing was held on 27 February. The hearing focused
on Liberty's challenge against the data retention provisions of the
Act, which define the Government's powers to order private companies to
store individuals' internet browsing history and communications data.
</p><p class="">Last month, the Court of Appeal ruled in ORG's favour in a
related challenge that the almost identically worded powers found in the
Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 were unlawful. The
court held that such powers could not be considered legitimate as they
allowed access to records of internet activity and communications
without independent oversight, and without there needing to be a
suspicion of 'serious crime'. You can read more about this challenge and
ORG's involvement <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/legal/snoopers-charter-challenge">here</a>.
</p><p class="">During Liberty's hearing, the Government conceded that parts of
the Investigatory Powers Act did violate human rights, and that they
would need amending. Liberty are demanding a ruling from the court that
the Government cannot continue to use the powers of the Act until
serious changes have been made to bring the act in line with EU law and
the ruling in the DRIPA case. They are also demanding that questions of
EU law should be referred to the European Court of Justice to be
answered.
</p><p class="">You can read Liberty's pre-hearing press release <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/news/press-releases-and-statements/people-vs-snoopers%E2%80%99-charter-high-court-hear-first-part-liberty%E2%80%99s">here</a>, and read Advocacy Director Corey Stoughton's thread of live Twitter updates from the hearing <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://twitter.com/CoreyStoughton/status/968425036955648000">here</a>.
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<h2 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Questions_in_the_UK_Parliament">Questions in the UK Parliament</span></h2>
<h3 class=""></h3><p class="">John Mann asked the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport, "how he plans to encourage uptake and monitor compliance of
the code of practice provided for by s103 of the Digital Economy Act
2017 by social media companies."
</p><p class="">Margot James <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018-02-19.128300.q0">replied</a>
that "implementation of the social media code of practice, as required
under the Digital Economy Act (2017), will be the first step of this
process. The consultation on this, and measures proposed in the Internet
Safety Strategy, closed on 7 December.
</p><p class="">In her speech on 6 February, the Prime Minister confirmed that
the Government would be bringing forward the social media code of
practice as proposed in the green paper. The code of practice will set
out guidance about what social media providers should do in relation to
bullying conduct on their platforms. We will be setting out next steps
to achieve the code of practice in our Government response which will be
published in the spring."
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Question_about_police_use_of_digital_forensics">Question about police use of digital forensics</span></h3><p class="">Louise Haigh asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department,
"whether all providers of digital forensics to the police are accredited
to the Forensic Services Regulator's codes of practice and conducts."
</p><p class="">Nick Hurd <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018-02-22.129118.q0">replied</a>
that the Home Office do not collect such information, but that "in her
latest annual report, published on 19 January 2018, the Forensic Science
Regulator set out her view of the national picture for accreditation in
digital forensics." The report referred to can be accessed <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/674761/FSRAnnual_Report_2017_v1_01.pdf">here</a>.
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<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Question_about_online_hate_crime_and_cyberbullying">Question about online hate crime and cyberbullying</span></h3><p class="">John Mann asked the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport, "what discussions he has held with stakeholders on
establishing a commissioner to (a) tackle and (b) provide guidance on
tackling (i) online hate activity and (ii) cyber bullying."
</p><p class="">Margot James <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018-02-20.128501.h">responded</a>
that "ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions
with stakeholders on a range of issues, including online hate and abuse.
Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the <a href="http://Gov.uk" class="">Gov.uk</a>
website."
</p>
<h3 class=""><span class="mw-headline" id="Question_about_the_use_of_blockchain_technology_for_the_NHS">Question about the use of blockchain technology for the NHS</span></h3><p class="">Eddie Hughes asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,
"what assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits of
using blockchain for the NHS; and if he will make a statement."
</p><p class="">Jackie Doyle-Price <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2018-02-20.128692.h">responded</a>
that "the Department is currently assessing the potential benefits of
Blockchain along with a number of other innovative, emerging
technologies. Blockchain has the potential to enable patients to have
greater control over who can access their records through the use of
encrypted data and a permanent ledger in which all transactions are
recorded. It also has possible applications in contracting. Globally the
use of Blockchain in health and care is in a very early stage of
development and there is no firm evidence as yet of the exact benefits
it might offer."
</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="">2018-02-28-TechDirt-<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180218/17252439264/uks-new-extremist-content-filter-will-probably-just-end-up-clogged-with-innocuous-content.shtml">UK's New 'Extremist Content' Filter Will Probably Just End Up Clogged With Innocuous Content</a></dt>
<dd class="">Author: Tim Cushing</dd>
<dd class="">Summary: Jim Killock quoted in a story questioning how effective
Amber Rudd's proposed AI-based 'extremist content' filter will be.</dd>
<dd class="">Topics: <a href="https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Online_censorship" title="Online censorship" class="mw-redirect">Online 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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