from the your-name-will-appear-on-a-watch-list-soon dept.
The BBC reports that ISPs from the US, UK, Netherlands and South Korea have joined forced with campaigners Privacy International to take the agency to task over alleged attacks on network infrastructure. It is the first time that GCHQ, the British intelligence unit, has faced such action. The move follows allegations about government snooping made by US whistleblower Edward Snowden. The ISPs claim that alleged network attacks, outlined in a series of articles in Der Spiegel and the Intercept, were illegal and "undermine the goodwill the organisations rely on". The allegations that the legal actions are based on include:
- Claims that employees of Belgian telecommunications company Belgacom were targeted by GCHQ and infected with malware to gain access to network infrastructure
- GCHQ and the US National Security Agency, where Mr Snowden worked, had a range of network exploitation and intrusion capabilities, including a "man-on-the-side" technique that covertly injects data into existing data streams to create connections that will enable the targeted infection of users
- The intelligence agencies used an automated system, codenamed Turbine, that allowed them to scale up network implants
- German internet exchange points were targeted, allowing agencies to spy on all internet traffic coming through those nodes
An update, provided by cafebabe, states that the ISPs taking a stand are:
- GreenNet (UK)
- GreenHost (Netherlands)
- The Chaos Computer Club (Germany)
- Riseup (USA)
- May First/People Link (USA)
- Jinbonet (South Korea)
- Mango (Zimbabwe)
Related Stories
The Intercept reports that GCHQ have developed covert tools to seed the internet with false information, including the ability to manipulate the results of online polls, artificially inflate pageview counts on web sites, "amplify" sanctioned messages on YouTube, and censor video content judged to be "extremist."
Included in those capabilities is an old standby for pre-adolescent prank callers everywhere: A way to connect two unsuspecting phone users together in a call. [ Submitter's note: This item is especially troubling because it allows the GCHQ to "force" a connection between two individuals, manufacturing an association and the scrutiny with which it comes ]
(Score: 4, Informative) by cafebabe on Wednesday July 02 2014, @09:37PM
1702845791×2
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02 2014, @09:58PM
These ISPs are going up against A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT BUREAU!!!
How can you defeat a sovereign country in a courtroom?
They can just outspend you and delay justice for you
until you die, give up, or take more drastic
measures that might(likely?) get you KILLED!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Adamsjas on Wednesday July 02 2014, @11:26PM
In the US, you haven't got much chance with a case like this, and probably it gets tossed immediately.
The Government has to waive its sovereign immunity for you to even bring a case against it, according
to Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity_in_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]
(This waiving is automatic in some types of cases, but not for anything affecting government security or secrets.)
In the UK, I have no clue. Can any UK folks here tell us the likelihood of this getting any traction?
(Score: 2) by dublet on Thursday July 03 2014, @09:52AM
There is no such thing as sovereign immunity in the UK. There's many cases of local councils and the government being sued for a variety of things. The main question is whether the overreaching terrorism/snooping laws actually make this behaviour perfectly legal.
See Civil Procedure Rules part 66 Crown Proceedings [justice.gov.uk], it has specifing rules on sueing the Crown.
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome. [dublet.org]"
(Score: 4, Funny) by Bill Evans on Thursday July 03 2014, @12:43AM
So there's an allegation that "employees of Belgian telecommunications company Belgacom were targeted by GCHQ and infected with malware".
This has epidemiological implications. I'm accustomed to thinking of machines infected with malware, but to have employees infected with malware? That's despicable.
(Score: 5, Funny) by EvilJim on Thursday July 03 2014, @01:23AM
my penis is a huge NSA antenna.
(Score: 1) by middlemen on Thursday July 03 2014, @02:27PM
Don't go near that NSA antenna.
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Thursday July 03 2014, @11:26PM
yeah, not many do. :(
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Thursday July 03 2014, @11:33PM
and the few that do regret it for some reason... what's wrong with a little spurt of NSA/GCHQ malware
(Score: 2) by elf on Thursday July 03 2014, @06:02PM
I'd have to say good luck. The law suit seems to be out of principal rather than something they expect to win. I've never heard of the ISP in the UK but I guess they get some good exposure from this. They admit there is no evidence to prove that they were actually targeted!