Schlagwort: Great Britain

North and Baltic Sea: German authority orders EU drone surveillance

In several projects, the German Federal Police is testing drones in maritime environments. So far, the unmanned aircrafts have to fly in restricted areas, but soon they could be integrated into civil airspace. The Ministry of Transportation, which responsible for this, is now asking the European Union to provide drone flights.

The German Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) has requested drone flights from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). In coordination with the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), to which the BSH is accountable. The BMVI is now providing details in its response to a parliamentary question.

Accordingly, it is a three-month test phase which is intended to supplement the BSH’s ship exhaust gas measurement network. The authority will use it to examine the gas plumes of passing ships and calculate the fuel sulfur content, which in Germany may only contain 0.1 percent.The drones should also map tidal flats and shallow water areas. The ministry is not writing whether this is done for the construction of further offshore facilities. „North and Baltic Sea: German authority orders EU drone surveillance“ weiterlesen

Refusal from London: British problems in the Schengen Information System remain

Following a decision by the Council, the government in Great Britain has to work through a long list of shortcomings regarding participation in Europe’s largest police database. Although most omissions are even classified as serious and should therefore be rectified „without delay“, the British Home Office remains stubborn. Actually, such cases should lead to a decoupling.

The British government does not want to repair several errors in the national implementation of the Schengen Information System (SIS). The EU Commission had called for 34 shortcomings to be remedied, but according to a now published note from Brussels, Britain is only following six of these recommendations. Among the persistent shortcomings are the creation of copies of the SIS or the lack of assistance in searches from the associated Schengen countries. Measures such as making the SIS easier to use or the installation of a screen so that the contents of the screen cannot be viewed during a border check have however been implemented. „Refusal from London: British problems in the Schengen Information System remain“ weiterlesen

Clearview AI: What does Interpol use face recognition for?

The International Police Organisation is developing a system to identify unknown persons by facial images. Interpol stores photos and videos from Internet service providers and other companies in a separate database. Interpol has also been using Clearview services for face recognition.

The US company Clearview AI has collected around three billion personal images from the Internet and used them to create a facial recognition database. This was reported in the New York Times six weeks ago. Most of the pictures were taken from social media profile photos, and it is likely that Clearview will also store the corresponding user data. Clearview offers companies and government agencies the option of identifying individuals by querying the database. According to reports, the facial images can also be searched with a photo app, which according to the New York Times is distributed among „rich people“.

The U.S. magazine Buzzfeed has obtained a client list from Clearview. It contains over 2,200 companies, governments and police authorities, including Interpol. The worldwide police organization has conducted more than 320 searches. „Clearview AI: What does Interpol use face recognition for?“ weiterlesen

Classified documents: Great Britain has been massively violating Schengen rules for years

Because of serious breaches, British participation in Europe’s SIS II should have been terminated long ago. With two years delay, the Commission now made proposals to remedy the shortcomings. This fuels the suspicion that the country should continue to participate in the database despite having left the EU.

The Schengen Information System (SIS II) is the largest European information system and currently contains around 90 million entries. In 2015, the EU Commission has granted access to Great Britain. However, the country is not a member of the Schengen Agreement, which regulates the abolition of border controls within the European Union, nor does it implement the free movement of persons. For this reason, British authorities are not allowed to enter or query data in the SIS II concerning irregular migration.

But Great Britain is misusing the SIS II on a large scale. The European Commission is aware of, but does not want to talk openly about it. This emerges from the reply to a parliamentary question and leaked documents on the UK implementation of the SIS II rules. Nevertheless, British authorities were given green light in 2018 to still participate in the database. „Classified documents: Great Britain has been massively violating Schengen rules for years“ weiterlesen

Europol Study: Disclosure of electronic evidence often fails due to incompetence of authorities

The planned EU e-Evidence regulation is intended to force Internet service providers to cooperate more with police and judicial authorities. However, a survey shows that the companies already comply with their requests voluntarily. But they are often incorrect and thus rejected.

The police from Germany, France and Great Britain request by far the most data from Internet service providers. This is the result of a study by the SIRIUS project, which Europol has published on its website. 38% of all requests (67,991) come from German authorities. Although the so-called G6 countries (Germany, France, the UK, Poland, Spain and Italy) represent half of the EU population, their authorities are responsible for around 90% of crossborder internet surveillance activities.

The SIRIUS platform located at the police agency Europol in The Hague is intended to facilitate the exchange of knowledge on electronic evidence. Via a secure connection, authorities in all EU member states can obtain information on how to query Internet service providers. This applies to traffic, user and content data, which are released in different ways. SIRIUS also contains instructions for „Open Source Internet Searches“ (OSINT) and for conducting queries on user data from various service providers. This enables the persons behind IP addresses or mail accounts to be determined. „Europol Study: Disclosure of electronic evidence often fails due to incompetence of authorities“ weiterlesen

Migration control: Drones now fly across the English Channel

1,700 migrants are said to have crossed the strait between France and Great Britain in small boats this year. Both governments therefore requested patrols with drones from the European Union next year. Until then, the border authorities will fly with their own aircraft.

The British Coast Guard will observe the English Channel with drones in the future. This is reported by the British BBC with reference to the British Ministry of the Interior. The government in London wants to prevent the crossing of migrants from France across the 30 kilometre wide strait to Great Britain. However, it is unclear which unmanned aerial vehicles will be used and which company was awarded the contract. The Ministry of the Interior refused to provide any information to the BBC.

The drones take off from the airport in the small town of Lydd and monitor the approximately 50 kilometres of Dover road. The national civil aviation authority has set up a restricted area for other air traffic between the cities of Eastbourne and Margate, which will initially be valid until 31 March next year. According to the authority, the corridor serves „national security“ and „the protection of human life“. „Migration control: Drones now fly across the English Channel“ weiterlesen

New drones are coming in

Next week the Bundeswehr moves into its drone base in Israel, but their „Heron TP“ will be still unarmed. Six European governments have decided against Israeli drones and instead rely on the „Predator B“.

On Monday, the German government launches its armed drones programme at the Tel Nof air base in Israel. The Bundeswehr moves into a container village on the base in the south of Tel Aviv. This is confirmed by the German Ministry of Defence when it writes that, on the initiative of the Israeli army, the training of German soldiers will begin with a ceremony at the air base. Tel Nof is one of the most important facilities of the Israeli Air Force, where according to reports nuclear weapons are stationed. Attacks on Gaza are also flown from Tel Nof. „New drones are coming in“ weiterlesen

Again strong increase for secret searches in Europe’s largest police database

The Schengen Information System allows alerts to be issued for „discreet checks“; the persons concerned should not be informed of this if possible. The number of these Article 36 searches has been increasing significantly for years. French and British police and intelligence services are mainly responsible for this.

The number of secret alerts in the Schengen Information System (SIS II) rose sharply last year as well, writes the German Federal Ministry of the Interior. This is possible according to Article 36 of the SIS II Council Decision, which enables alerts to be issued for „discreet checks“ or „specific checks“. If the persons concerned are found within the Schengen area, they are reported to the authority issuing the alert. National police laws also permit such measures, but not across borders. „Again strong increase for secret searches in Europe’s largest police database“ weiterlesen

Arms companies benefit from migration in the English Channel

The market for border surveillance is booming. Two German companies are among the winners of the European policy sealing off their „blue borders“. The manufacturers of drones, radar systems and video surveillance can also be pleased.

Border authorities in France now observe ship movements in the English Channel with German technology. A ship tracking system near the port of Calais will be used. The system with the name „STYRIS“ was developed by Signalis and is located in a control centre at Cap Gris-Nez. Signalis is a merger of the armament groups Airbus and ATLAS Elektronik and specializes in the surveillance of maritime borders.

The British coastal town of Dover is only about 30 kilometres from the lighthouse at Cap Gris-Nez. More and more often, the British and French police report migrants trying to cross the English Channel in small boats. In 2018 French authorities counted 71 crossings, according to which 31 attempts failed. A total of 276 migrants successfully traversed the North Sea and 228 people were stopped. Since November, crossings had reportedly quadrupled. Most of the migrants came from Iran. „Arms companies benefit from migration in the English Channel“ weiterlesen

Belgium wants passenger data of bus and train travellers from Great Britain

The EU directive on the use of passenger data requires airlines and other travel providers to provide personal data to the competent authorities before each trip. Belgium is the first EU Member State to apply this to land-based means of transport.

The Belgian government has decided to extend its passenger data system to coach and rail travel. This is what the International Railway Journal writes. It is therefore initially a test phase. According to an agreement with the British government, Belgian authorities receive the data of passengers using the Eurostar long-distance train, which runs between Brussels and London in the tunnel under the English Channel, before each arrival. Flixbus is the first bus company to take part in the exchange of passenger data. It is unclear whether the travel agencies in which the bus and train journeys are booked are also obliged to transmit the data. „Belgium wants passenger data of bus and train travellers from Great Britain“ weiterlesen