Gordon Brown moved yesterday to dominate the terror and security agenda, grabbing a Tory proposal for an integrated single border force and then challenging David Cameron to accept that the scale of the terrorist threat requires an extension of detention without charge to up to 56 days.
The move, announced in a ground-breaking Commons statement, follows months of discussions with police and security services on a range of measures, including post-charge questioning of suspects, the use of intercept evidence in court and a proposal that convicted terrorists be treated in the same way as sex offenders.
– The Guardian
Every person who leaves or enters Britain will be electronically screened under new measures designed to expose terrorists hiding among the travelling public, Gordon Brown announced yesterday.
Profiles detailing passengers’ criminal records, employment histories and even spending patterns – derived from credit cards used to buy airline tickets – will be available to security agencies.
The enhanced entry and exit checks will apply equally to British citizens and foreign travellers.
Physical embarkation checks, abolished in the mid1990s, will be reintroduced on some priority routes and could exacerbate the security delays at airports.
– The Times
How serious was the hacking attack on Apple’s iPhone?
Certainly not as trivial as many Apple backers suggested. The security company Independent Security Evaluators announced that it had found a way to take over an iPhone by injecting a bit of code through its web browser, causing a “buffer overflow” – which is like a river overflow, but with bits, not water – and thus persuaded it to hand over its recent text messages, Google Maps visits, addresses and phone numbers, and even secretly turn on its microphone so it could act as a bug.
– The Guardian
MI5 and MI6 were criticised yesterday for failing to warn ministers when they discovered that the CIA had begun to exploit British intelligence material to detain terrorist suspects and interrogate them in secret holding centres such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
In an investigation of the so-called American “rendition” policy ? seizing terrorist suspects and flying them to third-country prisons ? the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) uncovered evidence that the Americans had ignored a long-standing arrangement that they had with MI5 and MI6.
– The Times
Airline passengers are in danger of being turned into potential terrorist targets by the new security regime at airports, MPs warn today.
Lengthy queues at check-in desks and in departure halls are vulnerable to a bomb attack – presenting a “significant security threat”.
The warning comes in a withering report by the all-party transport committee on the many problems endured by passengers, as the summer season enters its height.
– The Telegraph
