Recent legislation is cause for concern in the UK (1st quartile), which is a leader in the Europe-wide trend of adopting overbroad counterterror legislation that threatens expression. The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act poses a threat to freedom of conscience, thought, and religion, as well as freedom of expression online.[1]
In December, counterterror legislation was used to crush peaceful demonstrations: the ‘Stansted 15’, protesters trying to prevent the deportation of illegal asylum seekers, were tried under counterterror legislation.[2]
The European Court of Human Rights also ruled that the UK government’s mass interception and surveillance programme is a violation of the rights to privacy and freedom of expression.[3]
The UK police started to use facial-recognition technologies at protests – a violation of privacy and anonymity.[4] The authorities were also found to be illegally carrying out surveillance against CSO Privacy International.[5]
[1] ARTICLE 19, UK: Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill Could Criminalise Expression and Opinions, 9 October 2019, available at https://www.article19.org/blog/resources/uk-counter-terrorism-and-border-security-bill-could-criminalise-expression-and-opinions/
[2] ARTICLE 19, UK: Terror-Related Legislation Should Not be Used to Sanction Protests, 12 December 2018, available at https://www.article19.org/resources/uk-terror-related-legislation-should-not-be-used-to-sanction-protests/
[3] Privacy International, UK Mass Interception Law Violates Human Rights – But the Fight Against Mass Surveillance Continues, 13 September 2018, available at https://privacyinternational.org/feature/2267/uk-mass-interception-law-violates-human-rights-fight-against-mass-surveillance
[4] Liberty, Why You Should Get Your Face Painted If You’re Marching Against Trump, 11 July 2018, available at https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/news/blog/why-you-should-get-your-face-painted-if-youre-marching-against-trump
[5] Privacy International, Press Release: UK Intelligence Agency Admits Unlawfully Spying on Privacy International, 25 September 2018, available at https://privacyinternational.org/press-release/2283/press-release-uk-intelligence-agency-admits-unlawfully-spying-privacy