Campaigners welcome Scottish Parliament inquiry into police use of facial recognition technology 

“It is ironic that on the very day the Bureau is making this case against the British government’s surveillance regime in the highest court in Europe, the same government is hosting a global summit on press freedom.”

Mick Napier of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign says Glasgow City Council’s use of Israeli facial recognition software should come under renewed suspicion following revelations about the hacking of Whatsapp private messages by another Israeli firm with close links to the military

As 2018 comes to a close, the CPJ reports that jailing journalists has become the ‘new normal’, while Scottish PEN finds that self-censorship threatens freedom of speech.

A study produced by Scottish PEN and the University of Strathclyde shows the alarming impact of pervasive surveillance on writers in Scotland.

Ahead of ‘Spycops’ conference, Ellenor Hutson tells of how her environmental activism saw her mysteriously blacklisted from an industry she’d never worked in

“THE THING that sticks with me is that he was the person we wanted him to be. In our wildest dreams, he was who we’d want to attract to the movement.”

CommonSpace brings you the news so you don’t have to go looking for it

TODAY’S INSTALMENT (Wednesday 8 March) of the the CommonSpace daily news roundup includes: Wikileaks allege UK involvement in use of spy software targeting household technology, Brexit Bill returns to Commons after resounding defeat in Lords and International Women’s Day.

News: Wikileaks allege UK involvement in use of spy software targeting household technology

Joanna Cherry MP QC says UK surveillance powers have gone ‘further than any other Western democracy’

THE UK has gone “further than any other Western democracy” in its extension of surveillance powers, according to SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC.

The comments were made during a panel discussion held by Scottish PEN, an organisation which works to defend freedom of speech, after a screening of documentary film The Haystack, which explores the UK Investigatory Powers (IP) Bill. 

Olivia Cappuccini is the founder of Scenes of Reason, an independent media outlet which has produced a documentary investigating the Investigatory Powers Bill (IP Bill) and the affects that it may have on the wider public