Pointing

the United States

Following the Attacks of September 11th, 2001, on October 26th, 2001 the president George W Bush signed a law, voted by the American Congress and called the Patriot Act, defined for to link and reinforce America by providing the suitable tools to detect and counter terrorism and allowing FBI to have legally access to a great number of intimate information of each American

This law was highly criticized in the United States, in particular concerning:

reduction in the rights of defense
the violation of the private life
reduction in the right to freedom of expression

In November 2003, the US government created the Terrorist Screening Center , a federal organization charged to centralize information concerning the people suspected of being terrorists, under the aegis of FBI. Installed in Virginia of North, this control center of terrorism stores its data by means of computer and the personnel authorized there would have access directly by telephone or Internet. In April 2007, the number of people driven of 700.000, would be distributed throughout the world, with a monthly growth of 20.000 people approximately.

Swiss

1889 : creation of “PP”, political police, on pressure of the Germany, worries about the socialist movements .

Tziganes: a “register Tzigane” is created in Suisse in 1911.

the federal police uses “computerized databases which are generally accessible to the cantonal police forces”.:

RIPOL (search of people, vehicles, etc);
RCE: Central register from abroad;
ISIS: Information system relating to interior safety;
AFIS: System of identification automated of the digital fingerprints.

Via DNA: the Swiss National council decided on September 18th, 2002 pointing DNA. At this date: 20000 cards existed already in an experimental file. The socialist Nils de Dardel highly protested: Jusqu `now one joined together in the police records the file of the condemned guilty people. Now one will create an electronic file much more massive that of the suspects.

At the time of the electoral campaign of March 2007 in the Canton of Vaud, the Communist party of Vaud (Northern) affirms: Pointing must be banished political culture and administrative: refusal to enter logic pseudo " fight antiterroriste" ”.

European Union

Created in 2004, the European Contrôleur of the data protection (CEPD) is charged to take care, by the means of its recommendations to the States, " so that it is not undermined the rights and freedoms of the people of which the data are traitées" on the European territory. It owes also " to give opinions on the proposals aiming at founding news législations" on the matter, and of " to guarantee an elevated level and coherent data protection in all Europe". From 2004 to 2007, its budget passed from 3 million euros to " a little more than 4 million euros" , and its nineteen manpower to twenty-four people.

June 12th, 2007, the Ministers of Interior Department of the European countries agreed to share, and in network, their files biometric (DNA and digital fingerprints) with an aim of facilitating the police investigations and legal at the European level. However, they could not agree on the exact field of application of this pooling, on the right to the private data protection, nor on the conditions of transfer to non-European countries, such as the United States.

The European Union decided to set up as from on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, a pointing of the travellers of air international transport. Pointing relates to in particular the name, the address, the phone number, the credit card number and the route of the passenger. are excluded from pointing the racial ethnic origin or, the philosophical political opinions, religious beliefs or, the trade-union membership, or the indications on health or the sexual life. The shelf life of these data is unspecified.

Germany

GDR: the Archives of Stasi in GDR under the mode Communiste represent the colossal effort all to know on the citizens of the country.
FRG: These data files required people already exist in FRG, where they were set up in the Seventies by the Office of protection of the Constitution (equivalent of our general informations) at the favor of the fight against terrorism and in particular against the Bande at Baader. Thousands of people were also driven like suspect according to information provided by the companies, the administrations, of the indicators or the investigations of police force because of their political opinions or their trade-union activity or quite simply, of their lifestyle. The Communists, former Communists, sympathizers or friends of Communists are systematically driven, which then makes it possible to exclude them from public employment. On the total of driven people, 80% are regarded as pertaining to the left or the extreme left, 10% with the extreme right-hand side. The 10% remainder are catalogued undesirable.

Austria

In an article of September 25th, 2002, the magazine Falter , published at Vienna, highlighted the supply of data extracted the host computer of the police force at members from the Austrian Liberal party FPÖ. This information related in particular to political opponents and foreigners suspected of penal offenses.

Belgium

Second world war: thanks to the “Belgian file”, the Gestapo stops leaders and militants of the Communist party of Belgium, of which Julien Lahaut and Jean Terfve
Police force: pointing concerns the central Office of research (BCR) which is the power station of information of the ex-Gendarmerie (this one is now integrated into the federal police).
Digital fingerprints: those of: 450000 people are indexed.
Private sector: more: 300000 “bad debtors” were driven in 2003; in June 2003, pointing was extended to the “good payers”.

France

the United Kingdom

Via DNA: at July 15th, 2003, the British police force affirmed to have card-indexed two million people “for remarkable rates of elucidation”.

Controversy: the British ministry of the Interior would have forsaken more: 27500 cards on grave offenses made by British abroad, of which rapes and murders. “Of the cards paper on these crimes remained unutilised with the ministry, whereas the data should have been entered the computing system of the police force to make it possible to control these criminals. ”,

Since 1984, the Information Commissioner' S Office (or ICO ) is an independent commission whose mission is to promote the access of the people to the information held by the State and the protection of the personal data.

Sweden

In Sweden, Safety drives citizens for the defense of the order and the prevention of the infringements. Quarterly reports/ratios are drawn up on the communist activities and the activities Nazis. Chapter 5, article 1 paragraph 2, of the law on the secrecy makes it possible to refuse the access to the files. Seized by a request of Swedish citizens, the European Cour of the human rights estimated that this pointing had brought to the violation of article 8 (right to the respect of the private life and family) of the European Convention of the human rights, with the violation of article 10 (freedom of expression) and with the violation of article 11 (association and right to meet) to the damage of a journalist of the Göteborgs-Posten , one of the principal Swedish daily newspapers, two members of KPML (R) (Communist party Marxist-Leninist (revolutionary) and of a former European deputy, member of the Parti Swedish left, for facts made between 1999 to 2004.

Random links: