18th August 2010
Political Activists Monitored in Europe Wide Surveillance
Mark Hanson
The UK is part of a Europe-wide surveillance programme initiated against a wide-variety of political activists.
An EU scheme, which is being co-ordinated by Europol, an EU law enforcement agency, has been approved, and involves gathering intelligence and data on persons who engage in political activity which could “potentially” involve illegal acts. The groups highlighted for monitoring go far beyond the already loose definition of “terrorism-related” to include "extreme right/left, Islamist, nationalist, anti-globalisation" groups.
The inclusion of anti-globalisation groups is of particular concern, as protesters in this area are largely peaceful. Environmental campaigners are also thought to be targets.
The surveillance includes gathering information on friends, family and psychological factors as well as internet use, movements and political beliefs.
After Theresa May, the Home Secretary, signed an EU draft which enables Europe-wide sharing of data, the new revelations show the lengths and depth to which Europe is delving into the lives of its citizens.
Europol has been charged with drawing up a list of persons who have links to, or support, various groups, many with no involvement in terrorism. UK police, under the eye of the unaccountable private company Acpo, already engage in surveillance of what they call “domestic extremists”, and now it has become clear from the revelations that this data is shared Europe wide.
Statewatch, the EU civil liberties monitor, released the documents showing the advice given to individual member states as to what data they should be gathering, which includes areas, such as how a person “feels” about a certain group, that can only be obtained by intrusive and covert methods such as phone tapping.
