Channel 4 #Hunted - some #OPSEC techniques shown in the series' so far

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[Updated January 2019]

Channel 4 reality tv programme Hunted manages to get you to suspend disbelief (you quickly ignore the obvious presence of a camera person with each fugitive) as around a dozen "fugitives" are hunted by a team of hunters with
the simulated (in the case of CCTV and ANPR) powers of our UK surveillance state.

It is worthwhile thinking about some of the techniques used in the 4 series so far and how proportionate their use is in any real
cases, apart from the very most serious criminal or national security scenarios.

Twitter hash tag: #Hunted

Channel 4 Hunted home page

Hunted Episodes online

Hunters' techniques already used

DVLA vehicle Registered Keeper check
ANPR - Automatic Number Plate Recognition

GPS / Mobile phone vehicle tracking device attached to family / friend's car

Private aeroplane flight plans
AIS boat / ship beacon mapping

Public CCTV - realistically not available in real time except at transport hubs
Bank ATM CCTV
Bank ATM card transaction alert

Mobile hunter teams in distinctive Volvos or BMWs etc. (N.B. product sponsorship deals)
Mobile hunter teams in less distinctive white van etc.

Helicopter surveillance - limited airtime
Drones - limited battery, not so great in bad weather#
N.B. neither helicopters nor drones are likely to be used in near major airport flightpaths

Directed Surveillance "stake our"of fugitives family / friends homes using remote cameras and human watchers.

Sniffer dogs

Mobile Phone subscriber details - registered or burner ?
Mobile phone new SIM card in known IMEI handset
Mobile Phone friendship tree - other numbers called / recived when, how long for
Mobile Phone Location Data - targeted
Mobile Phone Cell tower dumps - all other people, not explicitly suspected of anything, in an area at a time

snail mail intercept of letters / postcards

Social Media monitoring
Twitter
FaceBoook
Contact chain mapping / visualisation - IBM i2 Analysts Notebook etc.

Mobile Cell Tower dump analysis to detect candidates for people who picked up a fugitive in a relatively isolated village at a certain time and then phoned their mate to arrange a further lift the next day. Harder to do in a City, but there are more Cell Towers per square kilometre. N.B. usualy a maximum of 256 simulataneous calls per Cell

Hacking of seized laptops , iPads, SmartPhones after a visit by hunters
Covert Hacking via USB malware of laptops , iPads, SmartPhones during a visit by hunters

Web bugging the USB with the fugitive extractiomn instructions to betray the IP address and thus approximate location of where it was opened
(Fugitives should make sure the internet is disconnected if they need to do this again)

Forensic analysis of paper writing pads and note books etc. to reveal writing impressions on the blank paper

Encouraging children and other casual occupants of a fugitive's family or friends or casual helper's home to talk about the exciting / famous visitor(s) and where they are going

Local radio and newspaper and social media Reward Appeals

£££ cash rewards for tips to publicised phone line or email address

Bribing £££ with reward offer other casual occupants of a fugitive's family or friends or casual helper's home to talk about the exciting / famous visitor(s) and where they are going

Psychological pressure especially on fugitives with young families

"ghost agent" - Non-hunter private investigator / CHIS acting as undercover agent e.g. picking up hitchikers and taking them to the hunters

Social Engineering / blatantly lying to casual contacts on the phone or in person contradicting the fugitives story to get information on them e.g. drop off point
Social Engineering / offering a financial reward to casual contacts on the phone or in person to get information on the fugitives e.g. drop off point

Hacking in to an Android mobile phone's Google Voice Search search history voice recordings

Hacking in to a Google account showing Google Maps search histrory

Find from bank records that recent graduate students have money problems.
Exploit this by freezing their bank accounts.
When they are recovering from wet wild camping at a local inn, the Bank Card Transaction Declined
pinpoints their exact time and location to the Hunters.
Using up almost all of their cash to py the bill, forces them to reach out to their (monitored) network of friends


Hunters techniques - not yet seen

internal Bus and Train CCTV - can't be real time

London Oyster Travel Card data - some early posters, but was it actually used ?
London Oyster travel Card combined with TfL CCTV

Mobile device Wifi Probes trying to automatically connect back to out of range home or office Wifi
Mobile device Wifi Probes trying to automatically connect back to out of range but distinctive list of "free" WiFi Access Points

GPS coordinates embedded in a digital image posted on social media - Exif metadata - like John McAfee EXIF Data May Have Revealed Location of Fugitive Software Tycoon John McAfee
Digital camera flaw analysis of digital image posted on social media to identify other photos taken with this (borrowed ?) device, which may lead to the owner

GPS Fitness tracker social media app (e.g. Strava) infiltration and analysis to identify competitive runners or swimmers or cyclists who may be contacts

Equivalent of Cell Dump using e.g. Google Maps - who has been downloading map tiles of a certain area at the relevant time for navigation ? Do their
other Map downloads give a clue as to where they are heading ?

GPS navigation device route data from "seized" vehicle that gave the fugitive a lift
GPS navigation device route data from "seized" SmartPhone of a driver gave the fugitive a lift

GPS / Mobile Phone Network tracking of vehicles fitted with E111 emergency "call the ambulance if in a crash" technology

Private Investigator / CHIS cruising the initial Start location, or, when identified the Extraction point as a mini cab driver / Uber driver to pick up fugitives and lead them into the arms of the hunters.

Fugitives' techniques already used

Wigs, and change of clothing disguises

Hats and scarves - most CCTV looks downwards, so these can make it harder for hunters to pick out enough identifying detail of your face

Human decoy disguised as the fugitive

Initial start point disguising of luggage e.g. rucksacks hidden in airline style luggage cases on with wheels

Heading for the countryside along canals etc without urban CCTV

Heading for the countryside to a network of friends

Heading for cities with network of friends

Having a huge network of friends or fans e.g. tv / pop stars with fans, political activists or Free Masons

Burner phone - not enough to swap SIMs - phoning a "watched" number hardly slows the hunters down at all

Disinformation - planting false clues for the hunters

Social Engineering / Blagging lifts / hitchiking

Social Engineering / Blagging the temporary use of a stranger's mobile phone to make a call

Social Engineering / Blagging the temporary use of a stranger's computer to use the internet etc.

Using an online mobile phone app simulator to send an App message to a physical SmartPhone

Bicycles - no ANPR

Motorbikes / scooters - less chance of ANPR

Taxis - quickly jumping in to e.g. London black cab taxi is better than waiting in the open for a bus, but risks hunters getting drop off details from the driver / company or even internal CCTV

Speed Boat
Helicopter
Celebrity fugitives can hide in a locations which are heavily fortified (Parliament) or surrounded by private security cameras and guards
(multiple private holiday homes estate owned by rich people) inaccessible to the Hunters.

Well resourced (Celebrity) fugitives seem to have multiple helpers and decoy vehicles - stretch the Hunters' resources
on a getaway.

Letting down the Hunters' Volvo car tyres worked at least once !

Hiding somewhat from village CCTV by using a closely held umbrella hiding your face
- quite normals in wet and windy Wales.

Not being seen to be travelling together on a train - but only if you do not need the comfort and support of a travelling partner when under stress

Asking someone to pass a note to your friend in the next train carriage - good but limited uses.

Getting off a an infrequent rural bus service *before* it reaches its destination in the nearest town (Abergavenny)
and heading into the countryside.

Pre-arranged Word Code e.g. "Pepsi Max" delivery time / location in SMS texts - if too anamolous from the "normal" usage
then these stand out suspiciously and Cell Location gives the ganme away.
(Should really use an Encrypted Messenger e.g. Signal Messenger or WhatsApp)

Not running immediately (so as not to draw attention) when you have spotted / heard a reconnaisance Drone overhead, then getting under wooded cover and waiting for the limited battery life to expire
like the Royal Marine Matt Mason did.

Fugitives' techniques - not yet seen

burner phone to burner phone communications to friends or family

WiFi or Ethernet connection hacking to get "anonymous" access to the internet

Use of Tor or a foreign based VPN

Use of mobile phone 3G or 4G PAYG data packages to get mobile internet access on the run

Use of Satellite Phones - easy to intercept but hard to jam or find the exact location of

Counter bribes - if social media / local press & radio campaign offering £200 , offer people giving you lift £500 as you have a chance of winning £100,000

Getting friends to run a counter Have You Spotted this Hunter social media campaign with £££ rewards on offer - fake Wanted Posters unnerved them a bit previously

Infilitrating / surveilling the Hunters' HQ

Covertly grabbing identifiable WiFi and BlueTooth MAC addresses and Probe SSIDs etc. from the Hunters, when a family member or friend is interviewed

Getting a ticket / bus / train bound e.g. for London but getting off at a stop before
Purchasing multiple transport tickets or a "roam anywhere" ticket

Using an Amazon or other courier to get a package with a burner phone to a friend or family member via an Amazon Locker or other non-home parcel pick up point

N.B. Intercept of such a burner phone and bugging / monitoring thereafter by the hunters
Hunters sending a "burner" phone to family / friends of fugitive, pretending it has come from the fugitive, to encourage them to contact them on the fugitive's secret burner phone

Pair of fugitives splitting up so that one of them can distract the hunters near the extraction point, letting the other escape / win the prize

Other contestants spotting you near the extraction point and dobbing you in, to distract hunter resources so they vcan escape / win the prize

USA Hunted technique of enrolling the good looking fugitive(s) on dating apps in an area, and then posting £££ reward info to the people who have seen or even flirted with the fugitives

Radio Monitoring the airwaves / listening to walkie talkie radio of approaching hunter teams

Radio Detecting the presence of hunter teams via their bluetooth headphone / microphones

Uber app taxi alternative - given the snooping and mapping, is this worth the risk of central digital betrays to the hunters or malware a cloned SmartPhone ?

Setting up pre-arranged series of random code words (memorised not written or stored electronically) with family / friends either as a word code about specific locations, dates, times or as authenticators of ad hoc messages(hunters have intercepted and faked postal mail messages)
e.g. getting a friendly stranger to email or social media a message to family / friends including a code word to prove its authenticity

Mobile Phone Encrypted Messenger Apps over public WiFi or via burner Data SIM


  1. Signal Messenger https://signal.org/
  2. WhatsApp https://www.whatsapp.com/
  3. Wire https://wire.com/en/
  4. Threema https://threema.ch/en
  5. Telegram Messenger https://telegram.org/

Pre-arranged DeadDrops for money or burner phones or messages to / from family & friends etc.

Fugitives' Errors

Buses and Trains are a bit of a trap unless hunters think you are not using them

Contacting loved ones - an essential part of the dramatic tension of the show

Taunting the Hunters

Not taking *all* available cash at an ATM

Ignoring multiple sightings of distinctive hunters' Volvo cars

Being noticably loud / obnoxious to pub / hotel staff
Failing to tip pub / hotel staff - no reason for them not to claima £££ reward if offered

Expecting a taxi driver not to give up info on drop off point if offered £££ reward

Wearing a bin liner over your head makes you stand out on CCTV, *not* the reverse !

Just changing the SIM in your mobile phone handset does nothing to stop it being tracked via the IMEI serial number sent with every voice or data call.

Getting too paranoid about real time CCTV in rural areas - the Hunters might be able to get yesterday's footage, but it could take a week

Not being paranoid enough about real time CCTV in major city centres and bus / rail / airports etc.

More dominant / arrogant partner destroying the trust of the other fugitive partner when
under pressure, by doing something percieved to be selfish, without consulatation, leadng to a break up.

Not keeping a sharp lookout for Volvo cars

Trying to get accomplices to trap a Hunters's car at a rendezvous you have tipped them off to by
taunting them

Trying to crawl past CCTV cameras like caterpillars

Putting a cover over a CCTV camera but being recognisably filmed actually doing it.

Only using 1 burner phone - the family / friend / contact *also* needs a burner phone they never use
Forces the hunters to try Co-Traveller / Cell Site Dumps which need lots more analysis which
might not be feasible in time to be useful for the next meeting / pickup / drop off

Hunters' Errors

Most of the power and resources are with the Hunters, so most of their near misses or failed captures have been literally only by a few minutes or seconds (with approriate suspension of disbelief)

They have fallen for a few of the wily / arrogant fugitives false trails and decoys i.e. deliberately false clues as to location

They have misjudged people who have helped the fugitives e.g. offering a £££ reward / bribe, and then thinking it was working only to be told that the "informant" had changed their mind or would not "grass" for the small sum offered.

The randomness of some of the fugitives hitchhiking has caused the Hunters problems in trying to guess where they might be

Where the Hunters were seen to be blatantly lying to get information, they risked the ire of the tv audience.

Despite the power of thermal imaging from (limited endurance) helicopters or drones, so far, each of the times this technology has been used by thehynters, it has only found false positve wild animals or innocent members of the public, rather than the fugitives, who it has, of course frightened and added to their stress levels, but not enough to matter.

About this blog

This United Kingdom based blog attempts to draw public attention to, and comments on, some of the current trends in ever cheaper and more widespread surveillance technology being deployed to satisfy the rapacious demand by state and corporate bureaucracies and criminals for your private details, and the technological ignorance of our politicians and civil servants who frame our legal systems.

The hope is that you the readers, will help to insist that strong safeguards for the privacy of the individual are implemented, especially in these times of increased alert over possible terrorist or criminal activity. If the systems which should help to protect us can be easily abused to supress our freedoms, then the terrorists will have won.

We know that there are decent, honest, trustworthy individual politicians, civil servants, law enforcement, intelligence agency personnel and broadcast, print and internet journalists etc., who often feel powerless or trapped in the system. They need the assistance of external, detailed, informed, public scrutiny to help them to resist deliberate or unthinking policies, which erode our freedoms and liberties.

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Please feel free to email your views about this blog, or news about the issues it tries to comment on.

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We wiil use this verifiable public key (the ID is available on several keyservers, twitter etc.) to establish initial contact with whistleblowers and other confidential sources, but will then try to establish other secure, anonymous communications channels, as appropriate.

Current PGP Key ID: 0x4C7F2E878638F21F which will expire on 29th August 2019.

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We look forward to the day when UK Government Legislation, Press Releases and Emails etc. are Digitally Signed so that we can be assured that they are not fakes. Trusting that the digitally signed content makes any sense, is another matter entirely.

Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers and Political Dissidents

Please take the appropriate precautions if you are planning to blow the whistle on shadowy and powerful people in Government or commerce, and their dubious policies. The mainstream media and bloggers also need to take simple precautions to help preserve the anonymity of their sources e.g. see Spy Blog's Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers - or use this easier to remember link: http://ht4w.co.uk

BlogSafer - wiki with multilingual guides to anonymous blogging

Digital Security & Privacy for Human Rights Defenders manual, by Irish NGO Frontline Defenders.

Everyone’s Guide to By-Passing Internet Censorship for Citizens Worldwide (.pdf - 31 pages), by the Citizenlab at the University of Toronto.

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents - March 2008 version - (2.2 Mb - 80 pages .pdf) by Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Guide to Covering the Beijing Olympics by Human Rights Watch.

A Practical Security Handbook for Activists and Campaigns (v 2.6) (.doc - 62 pages), by experienced UK direct action political activists

Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress & Tor - useful step by step guide with software configuration screenshots by Ethan Zuckerman at Global Voices Advocacy. (updated March 10th 2009 with the latest Tor / Vidalia bundle details)

Links

Watching Them, Watching Us

London 2600

Our UK Freedom of Information Act request tracking blog

WikiLeak.org - ethical and technical discussion about the WikiLeaks.org project for anonymous mass leaking of documents etc.

Privacy and Security

Privacy International
United Kingdom Privacy Profile (2011)

Cryptome - censored or leaked government documents etc.

Identity Project report by the London School of Economics
Surveillance & Society the fully peer-reviewed transdisciplinary online surveillance studies journal

Statewatch - monitoring the state and civil liberties in the European Union

The Policy Laundering Project - attempts by Governments to pretend their repressive surveillance systems, have to be introduced to comply with international agreements, which they themselves have pushed for in the first place

International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance

ARCH Action Rights for Children in Education - worried about the planned Children's Bill Database, Connexions Card, fingerprinting of children, CCTV spy cameras in schools etc.

Foundation for Information Policy Research
UK Crypto - UK Cryptography Policy Discussion Group email list

Technical Advisory Board on internet and telecomms interception under RIPA

European Digital Rights

Open Rights Group - a UK version of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a clearinghouse to raise digital rights and civil liberties issues with the media and to influence Governments.

Digital Rights Ireland - legal case against mandatory EU Comms Data Retention etc.

Blindside - "What’s going to go wrong in our e-enabled world? " blog and wiki and Quarterly Report will supposedly be read by the Cabinet Office Central Sponsor for Information Assurance. Whether the rest of the Government bureaucracy and the Politicians actually listen to the CSIA, is another matter.

Biometrics in schools - 'A concerned parent who doesn't want her children to live in "1984" type society.'

Human Rights

Liberty Human Rights campaigners

British Institute of Human Rights
Amnesty International
Justice

Prevent Genocide International

asboconcern - campaign for reform of Anti-Social Behavior Orders

Front Line Defenders - Irish charity - Defenders of Human Rights Defenders

Internet Censorship

OpenNet Initiative - researches and measures the extent of actual state level censorship of the internet. Features a blocked web URL checker and censorship map.

Committee to Protect Bloggers - "devoted to the protection of bloggers worldwide with a focus on highlighting the plight of bloggers threatened and imprisoned by their government."

Reporters without Borders internet section - news of internet related censorship and repression of journalists, bloggers and dissidents etc.

Judicial Links

British and Irish Legal Information Institute - publishes the full text of major case Judgments

Her Majesty's Courts Service - publishes forthcoming High Court etc. cases (but only in the next few days !)

House of Lords - The Law Lords are currently the supreme court in the UK - will be moved to the new Supreme Court in October 2009.

Information Tribunal - deals with appeals under FOIA, DPA both for and against the Information Commissioner

Investigatory Powers Tribunal - deals with complaints about interception and snooping under RIPA - has almost never ruled in favour of a complainant.

Parliamentary Opposition

The incompetent yet authoritarian Labour party have not apologised for their time in Government. They are still not providing any proper Opposition to the current Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition government, on any freedom or civil liberties or privacy or surveillance issues.

UK Government

Home Office - "Not fit for purpose. It is inadequate in terms of its scope, it is inadequate in terms of its information technology, leadership, management systems and processes" - Home Secretary John Reid. 23rd May 2006. Not quite the fount of all evil legislation in the UK, but close.

No. 10 Downing Street Prime Minister's Official Spindoctors

Public Bills before Parliament

United Kingdom Parliament
Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons.

House of Commons "Question Book"

UK Statute Law Database - is the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the United Kingdom made available online, but it is not yet up to date.

FaxYourMP - identify and then fax your Member of Parliament
WriteToThem - identify and then contact your Local Councillors, members of devolved assemblies, Member of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament etc.
They Work For You - House of Commons Hansard made more accessible ? UK Members of the European Parliament

Read The Bills Act - USA proposal to force politicians to actually read the legislation that they are voting for, something which is badly needed in the UK Parliament.

Bichard Inquiry delving into criminal records and "soft intelligence" policies highlighted by the Soham murders. (taken offline by the Home Office)

ACPO - Association of Chief Police Officers - England, Wales and Northern Ireland
ACPOS Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland

Online Media

Boing Boing

Need To Know [now defunct]

The Register

NewsNow Encryption and Security aggregate news feed
KableNet - UK Government IT project news
PublicTechnology.net - UK eGovernment and public sector IT news
eGov Monitor

Ideal Government - debate about UK eGovernment

NIR and ID cards

Stand - email and fax campaign on ID Cards etc. [Now defunct]. The people who supported stand.org.uk have gone on to set up other online tools like WriteToThem.com. The Government's contemptuous dismissal of over 5,000 individual responses via the stand.org website to the Home Office public consultation on Entitlement Cards is one of the factors which later led directly to the formation of the the NO2ID Campaign who have been marshalling cross party opposition to Labour's dreadful National Identity Register compulsory centralised national biometric database and ID Card plans, at the expense of simpler, cheaper, less repressive, more effective, nore secure and more privacy friendly alternative identity schemes.

NO2ID - opposition to the Home Office's Compulsory Biometric ID Card
NO2ID bulletin board discussion forum

Home Office Identity Cards website
No compulsory national Identity Cards (ID Cards) BBC iCan campaign site
UK ID Cards blog
NO2ID press clippings blog
CASNIC - Campaign to STOP the National Identity Card.
Defy-ID active meetings and protests in Glasgow
www.idcards-uk.info - New Alliance's ID Cards page
irefuse.org - total rejection of any UK ID Card

International Civil Aviation Organisation - Machine Readable Travel Documents standards for Biometric Passports etc.
Anti National ID Japan - controversial and insecure Jukinet National ID registry in Japan
UK Biometrics Working Group run by CESG/GCHQ experts etc. the UK Government on Biometrics issues feasability
Citizen Information Project feasability study population register plans by the Treasury and Office of National Statistics

CommentOnThis.com - comments and links to each paragraph of the Home Office's "Strategic Action Plan for the National Identity Scheme".

De-Materialised ID - "The voluntary alternative to material ID cards, A Proposal by David Moss of Business Consultancy Services Ltd (BCSL)" - well researched analysis of the current Home Office scheme, and a potentially viable alternative.

Surveillance Infrastructures

National Roads Telecommunications Services project - infrastruture for various mass surveillance systems, CCTV, ANPR, PMMR imaging etc.

CameraWatch - independent UK CCTV industry lobby group - like us, they also want more regulation of CCTV surveillance systems.

Every Step You Take a documentary about CCTV surveillance in the Uk by Austrian film maker Nino Leitner.

Transport for London an attempt at a technological panopticon - London Congestion Charge, London Low-Emission Zone, Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, tens of thousands of CCTV cameras on buses, thousands of CCTV cameras on London Underground, realtime road traffic CCTV, Iyster smart cards - all handed over to the Metropolitan Police for "national security" purposes, in real time, in bulk, without any public accountibility, for secret data mining, exempt from even the usual weak protections of the Data Protection Act 1998.

RFID Links

RFID tag privacy concerns - our own original article updated with photos

NoTags - campaign against individual item RFID tags
Position Statement on the Use of RFID on Consumer Products has been endorsed by a large number of privacy and human rights organisations.
RFID Privacy Happenings at MIT
Surpriv: RFID Surveillance and Privacy
RFID Scanner blog
RFID Gazette
The Sorting Door Project

RFIDBuzz.com blog - where we sometimes crosspost RFID articles

Genetic Links

DNA Profiles - analysis by Paul Nutteing
GeneWatch UK monitors genetic privacy and other issues
Postnote February 2006 Number 258 - National DNA Database (.pdf) - Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

The National DNA Database Annual Report 2004/5 (.pdf) - published by the NDNAD Board and ACPO.

Eeclaim Your DNA from Britain's National DNA Database - model letters and advice on how to have your DNA samples and profiles removed from the National DNA Database,in spite of all of the nureacratic obstacles which try to prevent this, even if you are innocent.

Miscellanous Links

Michael Field - Pacific Island news - no longer a paradise
freetotravel.org - John Gilmore versus USA internal flight passports and passenger profiling etc.

The BUPA Seven - whistleblowers badly let down by the system.

Tax Credit Overpayment - the near suicidal despair inflicted on poor, vulnerable people by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown's disasterous Inland Revenue IT system.

Fassit UK - resources and help for those abused by the Social Services Childrens Care bureaucracy

Former Spies

MI6 v Tomlinson - Richard Tomlinson - still being harassed by his former employer MI6

Martin Ingram, Welcome To The Dark Side - former British Army Intelligence operative in Northern Ireland.

Operation Billiards - Mitrokhin or Oshchenko ? Michael John Smith - seeking to overturn his Official Secrets Act conviction in the GEC case.

The Dirty Secrets of MI5 & MI6 - Tony Holland, Michael John Smith and John Symond - stories and chronologies.

Naked Spygirl - Olivia Frank

Blog Links

e-nsecure.net blog - Comments on IT security and Privacy or the lack thereof.
Rat's Blog -The Reverend Rat writes about London street life and technology
Duncan Drury - wired adventures in Tanzania & London
Dr. K's blog - Hacker, Author, Musician, Philosopher

David Mery - falsely arrested on the London Tube - you could be next.

James Hammerton
White Rose - a thorn in the side of Big Brother
Big Blunkett
Into The Machine - formerly "David Blunkett is an Arse" by Charlie Williams and Scribe
infinite ideas machine - Phil Booth
Louise Ferguson - City of Bits
Chris Lightfoot
Oblomovka - Danny O'Brien

Liberty Central

dropsafe - Alec Muffett
The Identity Corner - Stefan Brands
Kim Cameron - Microsoft's Identity Architect
Schneier on Security - Bruce Schneier
Politics of Privacy Blog - Andreas Busch
solarider blog

Richard Allan - former Liberal Democrat MP for Sheffield Hallam
Boris Johnson Conservative MP for Henley
Craig Murray - former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan, "outsourced torture" whistleblower

Howard Rheingold - SmartMobs
Global Guerrillas - John Robb
Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends

Vmyths - debunking computer security hype

Nick Leaton - Random Ramblings
The Periscope - Companion weblog to Euro-correspondent.com journalist network.
The Practical Nomad Blog Edward Hasbrouck on Privacy and Travel
Policeman's Blog
World Weary Detective

Martin Stabe
Longrider
B2fxxx - Ray Corrigan
Matt Sellers
Grits for Breakfast - Scott Henson in Texas
The Green Ribbon - Tom Griffin
Guido Fawkes blog - Parliamentary plots, rumours and conspiracy.
The Last Ditch - Tom Paine
Murky.org
The (e)State of Tim - Tim Hicks
Ilkley Against CCTV
Tim Worstall
Bill's Comment Page - Bill Cameron
The Society of Qualified Archivists
The Streeb-Greebling Diaries - Bob Mottram

Your Right To Know - Heather Brooke - Freedom off Information campaigning journalist

Ministry of Truth _ Unity's V for Vendetta styled blog.

Bloggerheads - Tim Ireland

W. David Stephenson blogs on homeland security et al.
EUrophobia - Nosemonkey

Blogzilla - Ian Brown

BlairWatch - Chronicling the demise of the New Labour Project

dreamfish - Robert Longstaff

Informaticopia - Rod Ward

War-on-Freedom

The Musings of Harry

Chicken Yoghurt - Justin McKeating

The Red Tape Chronicles - Bob Sullivan MSNBC

Campaign Against the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Stop the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Rob Wilton's esoterica

panGloss - Innovation, Technology and the Law

Arch Rights - Action on Rights for Children blog

Database Masterclass - frequently asked questions and answers about the several centralised national databases of children in the UK.

Shaphan

Moving On

Steve Moxon blog - former Home Office whistleblower and author.

Al-Muhajabah's Sundries - anglophile blog

Architectures of Control in Design - Dan Lockton

rabenhorst - Kai Billen (mostly in German)

Nearly Perfect Privacy - Tiffany and Morpheus

Iain Dale's Diary - a popular Conservative political blog

Brit Watch - Public Surveillance in the UK - Web - Email - Databases - CCTV - Telephony - RFID - Banking - DNA

BLOGDIAL

MySecured.com - smart mobile phone forensics, information security, computer security and digital forensics by a couple of Australian researchers

Ralph Bendrath

Financial Cryptography - Ian Grigg et al.

UK Liberty - A blog on issues relating to liberty in the UK

Big Brother State - "a small act of resistance" to the "sustained and systematic attack on our personal freedom, privacy and legal system"

HosReport - "Crisis. Conspiraciones. Enigmas. Conflictos. Espionaje." - Carlos Eduardo Hos (in Spanish)

"Give 'em hell Pike!" - Frank Fisher

Corruption-free Anguilla - Good Governance and Corruption in Public Office Issues in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla in the West Indies - Don Mitchell CBE QC

geeklawyer - intellectual property, civil liberties and the legal system

PJC Journal - I am not a number, I am a free Man - The Prisoner

Charlie's Diary - Charlie Stross

The Caucus House - blog of the Chicago International Model United Nations

Famous for 15 Megapixels

Postman Patel

The 4th Bomb: Tavistock Sq Daniel's 7:7 Revelations - Daniel Obachike

OurKingdom - part of OpenDemocracy - " will discuss Britain’s nations, institutions, constitution, administration, liberties, justice, peoples and media and their principles, identity and character"

Beau Bo D'Or blog by an increasingly famous digital political cartoonist.

Between Both Worlds - "Thoughts & Ideas that Reflect the Concerns of Our Conscious Evolution" - Kingsley Dennis

Bloggerheads: The Alisher Usmanov Affair - the rich Uzbek businessman and his shyster lawyers Schillings really made a huge counterproductive error in trying to censor the blogs of Tim Ireland, of all people.

Matt Wardman political blog analysis

Henry Porter on Liberty - a leading mainstream media commentator and opinion former who is doing more than most to help preserve our freedom and liberty.

HMRC is shite - "dedicated to the taxpayers of Britain, and the employees of the HMRC, who have to endure the monumental shambles that is Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)."

Head of Legal - Carl Gardner a former legal advisor to the Government

The Landed Underclass - Voice of the Banana Republic of Great Britain

Henrik Alexandersson - Swedish blogger threatened with censorship by the Försvarets Radioanstalt (FRA), the Swedish National Defence Radio Establishement, their equivalent of the UK GCHQ or the US NSA.

World's First Fascist Democracy - blog with link to a Google map - "This map is an attempt to take a UK wide, geographical view, of both the public and the personal effect of State sponsored fear and distrust as seen through the twisted technological lens of petty officials and would be bureaucrats nationwide."

Blogoir - Charles Crawford - former UK Ambassodor to Poland etc.

No CCTV - The Campaign against CCTV

Barcode Nation - keeping two eyes on the database state.

Lords of the Blog - group blog by half a dozen or so Peers sitting in the House of Lords.

notes from the ubiquitous surveillance society - blog by Dr. David Murakami Wood, editor of the online academic journal Surveillance and Society

Justin Wylie's political blog

Panopticon blog - by Timothy Pitt-Payne and Anya Proops. Timothy Pitt-Payne is probably the leading legal expert on the UK's Freedom of Information Act law, often appearing on behlaf of the Information Commissioner's Office at the Information Tribunal.

Armed and Dangerous - Sex, software, politics, and firearms. Life’s simple pleasures… - by Open Source Software advocate Eric S. Raymond.

Georgetown Security Law Brief - group blog by the Georgetown Law Center on National Security and the Law , at Georgtown University, Washington D.C, USA.

Big Brother Watch - well connected with the mainstream media, this is a campaign blog by the TaxPayersAlliance, which thankfully does not seem to have spawned Yet Another Campaign Organisation as many Civil Liberties groups had feared.

Spy on Moseley - "Sparkbrook, Springfield, Washwood Heath and Bordesley Green. An MI5 Intelligence-gathering operation to spy on Muslim communities in Birmingham is taking liberties in every sense" - about 150 ANPR CCTV cameras funded by Home Office via the secretive Terrorism and Allied Matters (TAM) section of ACPO.

FitWatch blog - keeps an eye on the activities of some of the controversial Police Forward Intelligence Teams, who supposedly only target "known troublemakers" for photo and video surveillance, at otherwise legal, peaceful protests and demonstrations.

Other Links

Spam Huntress - The Norwegian Spam Huntress - Ann Elisabeth

Fuel Crisis Blog - Petrol over £1 per litre ! Protest !
Mayor of London Blog
London Olympics 2012 - NO !!!!

Cool Britannia

NuLabour

Free Gary McKinnon - UK citizen facing extradition to the USA for "hacking" over 90 US Military computer systems.

Parliament Protest - information and discussion on peaceful resistance to the arbitrary curtailment of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, in the excessive Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 Designated Area around Parliament Square in London.

Brian Burnell's British / US nuclear weapons history at http://nuclear-weapons.info

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UK Legislation

The United Kingdom suffers from tens of thousands of pages of complicated criminal laws, and thousands of new, often unenforceable criminal offences, which have been created as a "Pretend to be Seen to Be Doing Something" response to tabloid media hype and hysteria, and political social engineering dogmas. These overbroad, catch-all laws, which remove the scope for any judicial appeals process, have been rubber stamped, often without being read, let alone properly understood, by Members of Parliament.

The text of many of these Acts of Parliament are now online, but it is still too difficult for most people, including the police and criminal justice system, to work out the cumulative effect of all the amendments, even for the most serious offences involving national security or terrorism or serious crime.

Many MPs do not seem to bother to even to actually read the details of the legislation which they vote to inflict on us.

UK Legislation Links

UK Statute Law Database - is the official revised edition of the primary legislation of the United Kingdom made available online, but it is not yet up to date.

UK Commissioners

UK Commissioners some of whom are meant to protect your privacy and investigate abuses by the bureaucrats.

UK Intelligence Agencies

Intelligence and Security Committee - the supposedly independent Parliamentary watchdog which issues an annual, heavily censored Report every year or so. Currently chaired by the Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Why should either the intelligence agencies or the public trust this committee, when the untrustworthy ex-Labour Minister Hazel Blears is a member ?

Anti-terrorism hotline - links removed in protest at the Climate of Fear propaganda posters

MI5 Security Service
MI5 Security Service - links to encrypted reporting form removed in protest at the Climate of Fear propaganda posters

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Secure Your Fertiliser - advice on ammonium nitrate and urea fertiliser security

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Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure - "CPNI provides expert advice to the critical national infrastructure on physical, personnel and information security, to protect against terrorism and other threats."

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Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) recruitment.

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Government Communications Headquarters GCHQ

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National Crime Agency - the replacement for the Serious Organised Crime Agency

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Defence Advisory (DA) Notice system - voluntary self censorship by the established UK press and broadcast media regarding defence and intelligence topics via the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee.

Foreign Spies / Intelliegence Agencies in the UK

It is not just the UK government which tries to snoop on British companies, organisations and individuals, the rest of the world is constantly trying to do the same, regardless of the mixed efforts of our own UK Intelligence Agencies who are paid to supposedly protect us from them.

For no good reason, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office only keeps the current version of the London Diplomatic List of accredited Diplomats (including some Foreign Intelligence Agency operatives) online.

Presumably every mainstream media organisation, intelligence agency, serious organised crime or terrorist gang keeps historical copies, so here are some older versions of the London Diplomatic List, for the benefit of web search engine queries, for those people who do not want their visits to appear in the FCO web server logfiles or those whose censored internet feeds block access to UK Government websites.

Campaign Button Links

Watching Them, Watching Us - UK Public CCTV Surveillance Regulation Campaign
UK Public CCTV Surveillance Regulation Campaign

NO2ID Campaign - cross party opposition to the NuLabour Compulsory Biometric ID Card
NO2ID Campaign - cross party opposition to the NuLabour Compulsory Biometric ID Card and National Identity Register centralised database.

Gary McKinnon is facing extradition to the USA under the controversial Extradition Act 2003, without any prima facie evidence or charges brought against him in a UK court. Try him here in the UK, under UK law.
Gary McKinnon is facing extradition to the USA under the controversial Extradition Act 2003, without any prima facie evidence or charges brought against him in a UK court. Try him here in the UK, under UK law.

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FreeFarid.com - Kafkaesque extradition of Farid Hilali under the European Arrest Warrant to Spain

Peaceful resistance to the curtailment of our rights to Free Assembly and Free Speech in the SOCPA Designated Area around Parliament Square and beyond
Parliament Protest blog - resistance to the Designated Area restricting peaceful demonstrations or lobbying in the vicinity of Parliament.

Petition to the European Commission and European Parliament against their vague Data Retention plans
Data Retention is No Solution - Petition to the European Commission and European Parliament against their vague Data Retention plans.

Save Parliament: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (and other issues)
Save Parliament - Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (and other issues)

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Open Rights Group

The Big Opt Out Campaign - opt out of having your NHS Care Record medical records and personal details stored insecurely on a massive national centralised database.

Tor - the onion routing network
Tor - the onion routing network - "Tor aims to defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. Communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers called onion routers, protecting you from websites that build profiles of your interests, local eavesdroppers that read your data or learn what sites you visit, and even the onion routers themselves."

Tor - the onion routing network
Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress and Tor - useful Guide published by Global Voices Advocacy with step by step software configuration screenshots (updated March 10th 2009).

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Amnesty International's irrepressible.info campaign

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BlogSafer - wiki with multilingual guides to anonymous blogging

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NGO in a box - Security Edition privacy and security software tools

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Home Office Watch blog, "a single repository of all the shambolic errors and mistakes made by the British Home Office compiled from Parliamentary Questions, news reports, and tip-offs by the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs team."

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Reporters Without Borders - Reporters Sans Frontières - campaign for journalists 'and bloggers' freedom in repressive countries and war zones.

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Committee to Protect Bloggers - "devoted to the protection of bloggers worldwide with a focus on highlighting the plight of bloggers threatened and imprisoned by their government."

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Icelanders are NOT terrorists ! - despite Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling's use of anti-terrorism legislation to seize the assets of Icelandic banks.

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No CCTV - The Campaign Against CCTV

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I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist !

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Power 2010 cross party, political reform campaign

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Cracking the Black Box - "aims to expose technology that is being used in inappropriate ways. We hope to bring together the insights of experts and whistleblowers to shine a light into the dark recesses of systems that are responsible for causing many of the privacy problems faced by millions of people."

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Open Rights Group - Petition against the renewal of the Interception Modernisation Programme

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WhistleblowersUK.org - Fighting for justice for whistleblowers