ORG policy update/2018-w29

This is ORG's Policy Update for the two week period beginning 16/07/2018.

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ORG’s work

  • The Open Rights Group published a thorough review of sites which are blocked by court orders in the UK.

Official meetings

  • Bullets and links to meetings and events

UK Parliament

Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill continues its way through the House of Commons through its second sitting, towards the end of June 2018.

The primary aim of this bill is to amend the existing offence of downloading terrorist material and extend it to streaming such material, where this is done on three or more occasions (clause 3). The government believe that this will prevent terrorist attacks as early as possible. After the terrorist attacks in Manchester and Finsbury Park, they government believe that this will fill in the gaps in terrorist legislation.

MPs such as Sajid Javid, Kevin Foster and Eddie Hughes have shown their support for the bill. Foster expressed how we are now in "an internet era...therefore streaming normal material compared to terrorist material must be distinguishable."

MP John Hayes also expressed how the "changing character of terrorism" means that it is necessary for the law to be updated.

However, the opposition support the aims of clause 3 however they argued how the governments policies contradict the governments idea of "building a global Britain", added MP Dianne Abbot on the government's plans to increase detention sentences.

The opposition therefore argue that new terrorist legislation is not necessary, but perhaps more of a voluntary approach towards young people who are targeted the most by terrorist streaming material. They also highlighted the difficulties of criminalising live-streams compared to downloaded material.

Other national developments

ORG media coverage

See ORG Press Coverage for full details.

London Knife Crime App “Hunch” Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5962717London-knife-crime-app-Hunch-wants-tackle-crime-wave-marking-areas-suspicious-activity.html This new app allows users to anonymously flag 'suspicious' areas in the capital (but experts warn it could fuel discrimination Jim Killock the Executive Director of the ORG expressed how he was also concerned about the app. He quoted “Citizens have a right to report crime, and citizen reporting of all kinds can be valuable, but it can also be misleading, prejudicial and time-wasting,' Mr Killock explained. “There are many ways a service like this could go wrong, including creating racial profiling and bogus crime statistics, and biasing crime responses towards the prejudices of the app users.”

ORG Staff Details

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