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Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons

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From the «also, weather's better» department:
Title: Theresa May warns Yahoo that its move to Dublin is a security worry
Author: Nick Hopkins
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:46:09 -0400
Link: http://feeds.theguardian.com/c/34708/f/663871/s/3873a0b7/sc/46/l/0L0Stheguardian0N0Ctechnology0C20A140Cmar0C20A0Ctheresa0Emay0Eyahoo0Edublin0Esecurity0Eworry/story01.htm
Podcast Download URL: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/20/1395347895429/Theresa-May-walking-into--008.jpg

[image 1]

Internet firm is known to be unhappy about snooping and would be under no
obligation to hand over material under Irish laws

Theresa May summoned the internet giant Yahoo for an urgent meeting on
Thursday to raise security concerns after the company announced plans to move
to Dublin where it is beyond the reach of Britain's surveillance laws.

By making the Irish capital rather than London the centre of its European,
Middle East and Africa operations, Yahoo cannot be forced to hand over
information demanded by Scotland Yard and the intelligence agencies through
"warrants" issued under Britain's controversial anti-terror laws.

Yahoo has had longstanding concerns about securing the privacy of its
hundreds of millions of users – anxieties that have been heightened in recent
months by revelations from the whistleblower Edward Snowden.

In February, the Guardian revealed that Britain's eavesdropping centre GCHQ
intercepted and stored the images of millions of people using Yahoo webcams[2]
, regardless of whether they were suspects. The data included a large
quantity of sexually explicit pictures.

The company said this represented "a whole new level of violation of our
users' privacy".

The home secretary called the meeting with Yahoo to express the fears of
Britain's counter-terrorism investigators. They can force companies based in
the UK to provide information on their servers by seeking warrants under the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000 (Ripa).[3]

The law, now under review by a parliamentary committee, has been widely
criticised for giving police and the intelligence agencies too much access to
material such as current emails and internet searches, as well as anything
held on company records.

However, the Guardian has been told that Charles Farr,[4] the head of the
office for security and counter-terrorism (OSCT) within the Home Office, has
been pressing May to talk to Yahoo because of anxiety in Scotland Yard's
counter-terrorism command about the effect the move to Dublin could have on
their inquiries.

Farr, a former senior intelligence officer, coordinates the work of Scotland
Yard and the security service MI5, to prevent terrorist attacks in the UK.

"There are concerns in the Home Office about how Ripa will apply to Yahoo
once it has moved its headquarters to Dublin," said a Whitehall source. "The
home secretary asked to see officials from Yahoo because in Dublin they don't
have equivalent laws to Ripa. This could particularly affect investigations
led by Scotland Yard and the national crime agency. They regard this as a
very serious issue."

The move to make Dublin the centre of its headquarters for Europe, the Middle
East and Africa (EMEA) was announced last month and will take effect from
Friday.

In a statement at the time, Yahoo said Dublin was a natural home for the
company and that it would be incorporated into Irish laws.

The firm insisted the move was driven by "business needs … we believe it is
in the best interest of our users. Dublin is already the European home to
many of the world's leading global technology brands."

However, the firm has been horrified by some of the surveillance programmes
revealed by Snowden and is understood to be relieved that it will be beyond
the immediate reach of UK surveillance laws.

Following the Guardian's disclosures about snooping on Yahoo webcams, the
company said it was "committed to preserving our users trust and security and
continue our efforts to expand encryption across all of our services." It
said GCHQ's activity was "completely unacceptable..we strongly call on the
world's governments to reform surveillance law."Explaining the move to
Dublin, the company said: "The principal change is that Yahoo EMEA, as the
new provider of services to our European users, will replace Yahoo UK Ltd as
the data controller responsible for handling your personal information. Yahoo
EMEA will be responsible for complying with Irish privacy and data protection
laws, which are based on the European data protection directive."

Emma Carr, deputy director of Big Brother Watch, said: "It should not come as
a surprise if companies concerned about maintaining their users' trust to
hold their information start to move to countries with more rigorous
oversight processes, particularly where courts oversee requests for
information." Surveillance laws have a direct impact on our economy and
Yahoo's decision should be ring an alarm in Parliament that ignoring the
serious questions about surveillance that are being debated around the world
will only harm Britain's digital economy."

Under Ripa, a warrant can be issued for an investigation that has
implications for national security, or might lead to the prevention or
detection of serious crimes.

Warrants to seek the retention of communications data can be issued by
specified officers within police forces and the intelligence agencies.

More intrusive surveillance techniques can require the signature of a cabinet
minister. From Friday, investigators may have to seek information by using a
more drawn out process of approaching Yahoo through a Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaty between Ireland and the UK.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We do not confirm the details of private
meetings."

* Yahoo[5]
* Theresa May[6]
* NSA[7]
* The NSA files[8]
* Privacy[9]
* Surveillance[10]
* Internet[11]
* Ireland[12]
* Europe[13]

Nick Hopkins[14]theguardian.com[15] © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or
its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is
subject to our Terms Conditions[16] | More Feeds[17]

[image 18]

Links:
[1]: http://hits.theguardian.com/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.25.5/54167?ns=guardianpageName=Article%3Atheresa-may-yahoo-dublin-security-worry%3A2062963&ch=Technology&c3=Guardian&c4=Yahoo+%28Technology%29%2CTheresa+May%2CNSA%2CNSA+files%2CPrivacy+%28News%29%2CSurveillance+%28News%29%2CInternet%2CTechnology%2CUK+news%2CIreland+%28News%29%2CEurope+%28News%29&c5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CTechnology+Gadgets%2CCorporate+IT&c6=Nick+Hopkins&c7=2014%2F03%2F20+08%3A46&c8=2062963&c9=Article&c10=News&c13=&c19=GUK&c47=UK&c64=UK&c65=Theresa+May+warns+Yahoo+that+its+move+to+Dublin+is+a+security+worry&c66=News&c67=nextgen-compatible&c72=&c73=&c74=&c75=&h2=GU%2FNews%2FTechnology%2FYahoo (image)
[2]: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo (link)
[3]: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/contents (link)
[4]: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/charles-farr (link)
[5]: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/yahoo (link)
[6]: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/theresamay (link)
[7]: http://www.theguardian.com/world/nsa (link)
[8]: http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files (link)
[9]: http://www.theguardian.com/world/privacy (link)
[10]: http://www.theguardian.com/world/surveillance (link)
[11]: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/internet (link)
[12]: http://www.theguardian.com/world/ireland (link)
[13]: http://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news (link)
[14]: http://www.theguardian.com/profile/nickhopkins (link)
[15]: http://www.theguardian.com (link)
[16]: http://www.theguardian.com/help/terms-of-service (link)
[17]: http://www.theguardian.com/help/feeds (link)
[18]: http://feeds.theguardian.com/c/34708/f/663871/s/3873a0b7/sc/46/mf.gif (image)

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Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-23 20:32 +0000
  Re: Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-24 07:28 +0000
    Re: Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons greymausg <maus@mail.com> - 2014-03-24 09:55 +0000
    Re: Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons comp.misc@expires-on-2014-04-02.usenet.andreas-borchert.de (Andreas F. Borchert) - 2014-03-25 16:25 +0000
  Re: Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons greymausg <maus@mail.com> - 2014-03-24 08:58 +0000
  Re: Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons JJ <jjdane@nospamgmail.com> - 2014-03-24 13:20 +0100
    Re: Yahoo move to Ireland for GCHQ security reasons Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-24 20:58 +0100

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