Latest news with #Statewatch
Irish Independent
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
EU border software vulnerable to hacks, confidential reports warn
The Schengen Information System II (SIS II) had thousands of cybersecurity issues that the European Data Protection Supervisor, an EU auditor, deemed to be of 'high' severity in a 2024 report. It also found that an 'excessive number' of accounts had administrator-level access to the database, creating 'an avoidable weakness that could be exploited by internal attackers'. While there is no evidence that any SIS II data was accessed or stolen, a breach 'would be catastrophic, potentially affecting millions of people', said Romain Lanneau, a legal researcher at EU watchdog Statewatch. SIS II, which was first implemented in 2013, is part of an EU-wide effort to strengthen the bloc's external borders using digital and biometric technologies at a moment in which governments around the world are taking tougher stances on migration. The system allows member states to issue and view real-time alerts when tagged individuals, a group that includes terror suspects and people with outstanding arrest warrants, attempt to cross an EU border. SIS II, which currently runs on an isolated network, will eventually be integrated with the EU's Entry/Exit System, which will automate registration of the bloc's hundreds of millions of annual visitors. EES will be connected to the internet, which could make it easier for hackers to access the highly sensitive SIS II database, the report warns. Alerts issued by SIS II can contain photos of suspects and biometric data such as fingerprints taken from crime scenes. Since March 2023, the alerts have also incorporated so-called 'return decisions' – legal rulings that flag a person for deportation. While the vast majority of the system's estimated 93 million records relate to objects such as stolen vehicles and identity documents, about 1.7 million are linked to people. Of those, 195,000 have been flagged as possible threats to national security. Since individuals don't generally know that their information is in SIS II until law enforcement acts on it, a leak could potentially make it easier for a wanted person to evade detection. The audit determined that SIS II was vulnerable to hackers overwhelming the system, as well as attacks that could enable outsiders to gain unauthorized access, documents show. A spokesperson for EU-Lisa, the agency that oversees large-scale IT projects such as SIS II, said the agency couldn't comment on confidential documents, but that 'all systems under the agency's management undergo continuous risk assessments, regular vulnerability scans, and security testing.'
Euronews
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Can governments stop killings before they happen? UK explores creating 'murder prediction' programme
ADVERTISEMENT The UK government is studying whether they can develop a 'murder prediction' programme that will use police and government data to decide how likely someone is to kill, new research has found. Information for the project was gathered through several freedom of information (FOI) requests filed by Statewatch, a UK-based civil liberties and human rights charity. The UK's Ministry of Justice (MOJ) wrote to Statewatch that the Homicide Prediction Project is a study to "review offender characteristics that increase the risk of committing homicide," and to "explore the power" of various datasets from the Police National Computer and Manchester Police to assess homicide risk. Related Prisoners in Finland are being employed as data labellers to improve accuracy of AI models The MOJ assessed several databases to look at personal and criminal history data, assessments completed by probation officers on motivation, need and risk, incident data, alerts and custody information for inmates who had at least one conviction before January 1, 2015. "This work is for research purposes only," the FOI response to Statewatch reads, noting that any assessments will not affect any judicial outcomes. "No direct operational or policy changes will come as a result," it added. Yet, the data protection assessment said a final report with a reflection on "future operationalistion and/or policy development based on the work" would be produced. 'Deeply wrong' Sofia Lyall, a researcher with Statewatch, said the project will "reinforce and magnify the structural discriminal underpinning the criminal legal system". "Building an automated tools to profile people as violent criminals is deeply wrong, and using such sensitive data on mental health, addiction and disability is highly intrusive and alarming," she continued. Related Algorithm used in Catalan prisons has 'substantial deficiencies,' audit finds Lyall asked the minister of justice to "immediately halt" the development of this tool and instead to "invest in genuinely supportive welfare services". Euronews Next reached out to the MOJ to clarify what the project's intended goals are and whether it would be further developed but did not receive an immediate reply.
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Predictive policing has prejudice built in
Re your article ('Dystopian' tool aims to predict murder, 9 April), the collection and automation of data has repeatedly led to the targeting of racialised and low-income communities, and must come to an end. This has been found by both Amnesty International in our Automated Racism report and by Statewatch in its findings on the 'murder prediction' tool. For many years, successive governments have invested in data-driven and data-based systems, stating they will increase public safety – yet individual police forces and Home Office evaluations have found no compelling evidence that these systems have had any impact on reducing crime. Feedback loops are created by training these systems using historically discriminatory data, which leads to the same areas being targeted once again. These systems are neither revelatory nor objective. They merely subject already marginalised communities to compounded discrimination. They aren't predictive at all, they are predictable – and NagdeeAmnesty International UK The 2002 movie Minority Report was about a police unit that arrested people before they could commit crimes. Science fiction may be coming true. The unit's head, played by Tom Cruise, was accused of 'future murder' and had to go on the run. As we are finding out with AI tools, these programs have built-in limitations and HigginsSan Diego, California, US Reading about the government's 'sharing data to improve risk assessment' project calls to mind the Thought Police in George Orwell's Nineteen WalmsleyWirral, Merseyside Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Can governments stop killings before they happen? UK explores creating 'murder prediction' programme
The UK government is studying whether they can develop a 'murder prediction' programme that will use police and government data to decide how likely someone is to kill, new research has found. Information for the project was gathered through several freedom of information (FOI) requests filed by Statewatch, a UK-based civil liberties and human rights charity. The UK's Ministry of Justice (MOJ) wrote to Statewatch that the Homicide Prediction Project is a study to "review offender characteristics that increase the risk of committing homicide," and to "explore the power" of various datasets from the Police National Computer and Manchester Police to assess homicide risk. Related Prisoners in Finland are being employed as data labellers to improve accuracy of AI models The MOJ assessed several databases to look at personal and criminal history data, assessments completed by probation officers on motivation, need and risk, incident data, alerts and custody information for inmates who had at least one conviction before January 1, 2015. "This work is for research purposes only," the FOI response to Statewatch reads, noting that any assessments will not affect any judicial outcomes. "No direct operational or policy changes will come as a result," it added. Yet, the data protection assessment said a final report with a reflection on "future operationalistion and/or policy development based on the work" would be produced. Sofia Lyall, a researcher with Statewatch, said the project will "reinforce and magnify the structural discriminal underpinning the criminal legal system". "Building an automated tools to profile people as violent criminals is deeply wrong, and using such sensitive data on mental health, addiction and disability is highly intrusive and alarming," she continued. Related Algorithm used in Catalan prisons has 'substantial deficiencies,' audit finds Lyall asked the minister of justice to "immediately halt" the development of this tool and instead to "invest in genuinely supportive welfare services". Euronews Next reached out to the MOJ to clarify what the project's intended goals are and whether it would be further developed but did not receive an immediate reply.
Euronews
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Can governments stop killings before they happen? UK explores 'murder prediction' data programme
ADVERTISEMENT The UK government is studying whether they can develop a 'murder prediction' programme that will use police and government data to decide how likely someone is to kill, new research has found. Information for the project was gathered through several freedom of information (FOI) requests filed by Statewatch , a UK-based civil liberties and human rights charity. The UK's Ministry of Justice (MOJ) wrote to Statewatch that the Homicide Prediction Project is a study to 'review offender characteristics that increase the risk of committing homicide,' and to 'explore the power' of various datasets from the Police National Computer and Manchester Police to assess homicide risk. Related Prisoners in Finland are being employed as data labellers to improve accuracy of AI models The MOJ assessed several databases to look at personal and criminal history data, assessments completed by probation officers on motivation, need and risk, incident data, alerts and custody information for inmates who had at least one conviction before January 1, 2015. 'This work is for research purposes only,' the FOI response to Statewatch reads , noting that any assessments will not affect any judicial outcomes. 'No direct operational or policy changes will come as a result,' it added. Yet, the data protection assessment said a final report with a reflection on 'future operationalistion and/or policy development based on the work' would be produced. 'Deeply wrong' Sofia Lyall, a researcher with Statewatch, said the project will 'reinforce and magnify the structural discriminal underpinning the criminal legal system'. 'Building an automated tools to profile people as violent criminals is deeply wrong, and using such sensitive data on mental health, addiction and disability is highly intrusive and alarming,' she continued. Related Algorithm used in Catalan prisons has 'substantial deficiencies,' audit finds Lyall asked the minister of justice to 'immediately halt' the development of this tool and instead to 'invest in genuinely supportive welfare services'. Euronews Next reached out to the MOJ to clarify what the project's intended goals are and whether it would be further developed but did not receive an immediate reply.
