Digital Privacy
Campaign
Changing the law on tracking
In 2008 BT, Virgin and TalkTalk signed up to a new technology called Phorm, tracking users’ online habits to target them with ads.
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Blog
24 Jun 2010 By Jason Kitcat
ORG at Hansard debate: Why can’t I vote at my ATM?
This is a cross-posting from Jason Kitcat’s blog.
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Blog
17 Jun 2010 By Jim Killock
Summary Health Care records: failing and dangerous
The independent Summary Care Record (SCR) evaluation report show the project to be failing in its core aim, to make people safer, while introducing new dangers to their privacy and dignity.
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Blog
20 May 2010 By Jason Kitcat
Changing the way we vote
In the sixth of our series on the challenges facing the new government, Jason Kitcat looks at proposals for changes to the way our elections are run, including dangerous calls for e-voting.
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Blog
08 Dec 2009 By Jason Kitcat
London e-counting: Boris doesn’t want to know
An update following on from the Greater London Assembly’s decision to charge ahead with e-counting regardless of the cost or criticism from the Electoral Commission.
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Blog
07 Jul 2009 By Michael Holloway
There’s no excuse for industrial-scale snooping
Following yesterday’s news that BT have ditched Phorm, it is now reported that Carphone Warehouse have joined the list of big-name clients shunning the service.
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Blog
06 Jul 2009 By Jim Killock
BT’s decision to ditch Phorm is a victory for privacy
It is reported this morning that BT has dropped Phorm’s Webwise, the controversial behavioural advertising system that profiles internet users based on a reading of their internet traffic.
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Blog
29 Jun 2009 By Jim Killock
Lobbying and public policy
Corporate lobbying in the European union has long been recognised as a significant problem for citizens.
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Blog
28 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Phorm and the Home Office: cold comfort to citizens
You’ll probably have read today that leaked emails have shown that the Home Office worked with Phorm to offer advice that would give “comfort” to their investors.
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Blog
17 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Goverment announces RIPA review in wake of EU threat
The government has announced a review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
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Blog
17 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Wikipedia blocks Phorm
Wikipedia have announced that they are blocking Phorm as they
consider the scanning and profiling of our visitors’ behavior by a third party to be an infringement on their privacy.
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Blog
15 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
Open Rights Group welcomes decisions to block Phorm
Open Rights Group welcomes decisions by various major websites, including Amazon.
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Blog
14 Apr 2009 By Jim Killock
EU Commission moves against UK Government and Phorm
The EU Commission has launched proceedings against the UK concerning Phorm, the intrusive behavioural advertising system.
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Blog
25 Mar 2009 By Jim Killock
Telecom Package in second reading – dangerous amendments?
[ A Black Out Europe campaign has started on Facebook.
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Blog
17 Dec 2008 By Becky Hogge
Who’s been losing your data?
You hand over your personal details to councils, hospitals, employers and businesses all the time.
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Blog
27 Oct 2008 By Becky Hogge
No e-voting in next year’s elections
The Government have announced today that they do not plan to run e-voting pilots during the 2009 European or local elections.
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Blog
30 Sep 2008 By Becky Hogge
4 good reasons not to take part in the BT Webwise trial
Today, BT will start trials of Webwise, a technology which analyses your web surfing habits in order to serve you targetted ads.
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Blog
19 Sep 2008 By Becky Hogge
What BERR want from Phorm – and what we think they’re missing
Phorm, the targeted behavioural advertising technology company, has been back in the headlines this week.
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Blog
29 Jul 2008 By Becky Hogge
Next election for Mayor of London to be counted manually?
Will the 2012 election for Mayor of London be counted manually?
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Blog
18 Jul 2008 By Jason Kitcat
London Assembly Elections Review Committee – who would want to steal an election?
Yesterday the Greater London Authority’s Elections Review Committee met to discuss the conduct of the May 2008 London elections.
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Blog
25 Jun 2008 By Glyn Wintle
HMRC “Datagate” verdict: further data loss “a distinct possibility”
Kieran Poynter has published his review of information security at HM Revenue and Customs.
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Blog
19 May 2008 By Glyn Wintle
Scottish Affairs Committee recommendation on e-Counting
The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee has released its report on the experience of the Scottish elections and unsurprisingly they are worried about e-counting.
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Blog
06 May 2008 By Becky Hogge
Thanks to all ORG Election Observers!
A huge thanks to everyone who devoted their day to democracy last week, and joined the Open Rights Group Election Watch 2008.
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Blog
28 Mar 2008 By Becky Hogge
ORG and FIPR meet with Phorm
On Wednesday, at their invitation, I went to Phorm’s offices in Central London.
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Blog
17 Mar 2008 By Becky Hogge
Phorm update
It’s difficult to tell which of today’s developments the UK’s major ISPs should be more worried about – the fact that Sir Tim Berners-Lee has publicly stated that he would change his ISP if it started employing systems, like Phorm, which could track his activity on the internet, or the news that UK digital rights gurus the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) have today written an open letter to the Information Commissioner, urging him to look at the legality of Phorm.
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Blog
22 Jan 2008 By Becky Hogge
Devote Your Day to Democracy #2: London elections
Update: The ORG Electionwatch08 pledge has succeeded in record time!
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Blog
15 Nov 2007 By Becky Hogge
Electoral Commission: “e-voting not a mature technology”
Many thanks to Glyn for watching, and transcribing the most interesting bits of, the Scottish Affairs Committee public evidence session in the House of Commons earlier this week.
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Blog
13 Nov 2007 By Becky Hogge
Open Rights Group dismayed by Ministry of Justice response on e-voting
In the May 2007 local elections Open Rights Group observers, accredited by the Electoral Commission, took part in the monitoring of pilot electronic voting and electronic counting schemes.
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Blog
24 Oct 2007 By Jason Kitcat
Gould Review on Scottish Elections Published
The Electoral Commission and the separate review by Ron Gould that the Commission instituted have published their reports on the Scottish elections of May 2007
The Gould Review in particular identifies a number of important issues, many of which ORG addressed in our own report on the elections published this June.
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Blog
03 Sep 2007 By Becky Hogge
Gordon Brown at the NCVO: e-Voting off the agenda?
In a speech to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations this morning, Gordon Brown announced he would be convening a Speaker’s conference on voting reform:
Today I am proposing to the Speaker that he calls a conference to consider, against the backdrop of a decline in turnout, a number of important issues, such as electoral registration, weekend voting, and the representation of women and ethnic minorities in the House of Commons.
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Blog
29 Aug 2007 By Michael Holloway
Should we trust electronic elections?
Update: Supporter meetup venues and dates now confirmed – see you there!
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Blog
02 Aug 2007 By Becky Hogge
ORG welcomes Electoral Commission recommendation to halt pilots
The Electoral Commission released its official evaluation of the 3 May electoral pilots in England this morning.
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Blog
29 Jun 2007 By Becky Hogge
Watch launch of ORG’s e-voting report
Last week, at the official launch of ORG’s report into e-voting and e-counting in the May 2007 elections, we invited MPs, civil servants and other stakeholders to come and listen to the findings of our observation mission.
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Blog
20 Jun 2007 By Jason Kitcat
ORG Election Report highlights problems with voting technology used
Today ORG releases its report into the May 2007 elections in Scotland and England.
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Blog
08 May 2007 By Jason Kitcat
A big ORG thank you to our Election Observers
A huge thank you to our entire team of Election Observers who went way beyond the call of duty in their work monitoring last week’s elections.
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Blog
04 Apr 2007 By Becky Hogge
ElectionWatch 2007 – ORG goes north of the border
Breaking news from the Scottish Electoral Commission – ORG can observe the election in Scotland!
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Blog
23 Mar 2007 By Becky Hogge
Footage from February e-voting events now online
We’ve finally got video footage from two of our February e-voting events online.
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Blog
23 Mar 2007 By Becky Hogge
ORG Election Watch 2007: Registration Pack now online
Our guide to registering to become part of ORG’s volunteer Election Watch 2007 team is now online.
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Blog
07 Mar 2007 By Becky Hogge
Election Watch 2007 – Devote your day to democracy!
Doing anything exciting on election day?
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Blog
07 Feb 2007 By Becky Hogge
South Warwickshire clinicians sharing smart cards
Last week, news emerged that the board of South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust is allowing clinicians in their Accident and Emergency department to share smart cards.
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Blog
29 Jan 2007 By Jason Kitcat
May 2007 e-Voting Pilots Announced
Finally, two months behind schedule, the Government has announced which local authorities will be running e-voting pilots.
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Blog
16 Jan 2007 By Michael Holloway
Taking the lid off e-voting
While the Department for Constitutional Affairs have left us in the dark with no news at all about the e-voting pilots due for May 2007, The Open Rights Group and FIPR have been hard at work.
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Blog
13 Aug 2006 By Glyn Wintle
Freedom of Expression – China’s Internet
The House of Commons’ Select Committee on Foreign Affairs have published a report on East Asia that strongly critisices internet corporations working for the Chinese government to filter, censor and control web content.
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Blog
27 Jul 2006 By Glyn Wintle
Consultation on penalties for breaching the DPA
Baroness Ashton has published a consultation paper on proposed custodial penalties for breaches of Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998, which deals with unlawful obtaining of personal data.
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Blog
21 Jul 2006 By Glyn Wintle
Public meeting on RIPA consultations
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act Part III gives law enforcement the power to serve notices requiring that encrypted material be “put into an intelligible form” (or as everyone else would say, decrypted).
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Blog
13 Jul 2006 By Glyn Wintle
Information Commissioners annual report
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has published his annual report.
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Blog
06 Jul 2006 By Suw Charman Anderson
What do businesses know about you?
Matt Mower has made a pledge on Pledgebank to write to a supplier – say a mobile phone company – to ask them what they know about him, as per the Data Protection Act, but he needs more people to sign up.
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