James Millbank reports: A wealthy businessman was arrested at home in front of his wife and young son over an email which council officials deemed ‘offensive’ to gipsies – but which he had not even written. The email, concerning a planning appeal by a gipsy, included the phrase: ‘It’s the ‘do as you likey’ attitude…
Category: Non-U.S.
Pirate Party protests ‘naked’ scanners in their underpants
Scantily clad Pirate Party supporters demonstrated over the weekend at several German airports to show their opposition to controversial “naked” scanners planned for security checks. Despite the frigid temperatures outside, the protesters assembled nearly naked groups at airports in Berlin, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf on Sunday afternoon. The participants stripped down to their underpants, marching behinds…
Revenue set up VIP unit (but don’t the little people deserve privacy too?)
TJ McIntyre writes: One recent story which didn’t attract as much attention as it should have was the revelation that the Revenue have set up a special VIP unit to minimise leaks of confidential information about public figures. This emerged with the publication of an audit by the Data Protection Commissioner which found significant weaknesses…
Switzerland court rules UBS disclosure of client information was illegal
The Federal Administrative Court of Switzerland ruled Friday that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) violated the law in February 2009 when it ordered UBS to disclose information to the US on more than 250 of the bank’s clients. FINMA issued the order after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) accused UBS of assisting…