Paul Strasburger

Lib Dem peer, retired entrepreneur. Trying to protect privacy and democracy. Supported Bath Rugby through the bad years and now the good.

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

ANNOUNCEMENT. I'm giving up on Twitter or X or whatever it's called today. It's become a haven for people with bad values or none at all. My timeline is now stuffed with junk from people I wouldn't have a drink with and that includes Musk.

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

@LGBTLD @LibDems @mariecgoldman I wonder who wrote that. Not her IMHO.

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

2/The judges were scathing: "It would have been a truly extraordinary step to conduct a hearing entirely in secret without any public revelation of the fact that a hearing was taking place. That would be the most fundamental interference with the principle of open justice."

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

1/Really important win on behalf of UK citizens by Big Brother Watch and other groups. Two judges have rejected an attempt by the Home Office to conceal fact it ordered Apple to break its encryption and so put at risk the data and the privacy of all Apple's UK users.

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

1/Really important win on behalf of UK citizens by Big Brother Watch and other groups. Two judges have rejected an attempt by the Home Office to conceal fact it ordered Apple to break its encryption and so put at risk the data and the privacy of all Apple's UK users.

[Big Brother Watch @BigBrotherWatch]

🚨We’re WINNING: UK Court REJECTS Home Office bid to hear Apple’s challenge against Government orders to break encryption in secret

Together with @OpenRightsGroup & @IndexCensorship we called on the court to open Apple’s closed appeal against the Home Office’s encryption-breaching order to the public.

The UK court today rejecting appeals for more secrecy from the Home Office is a win for free speech and privacy in the UK and internationally.

"This judgment is a very welcome step in the right direction, effectively chipping away at the pervasive climate of secrecy surrounding the Investigatory Powers Tribunal's consideration of the Apple case.

The Home Office's order to break encryption represents a massive attack on the privacy rights of millions of British Apple users, which is a matter of significant public interest and must not be considered behind closed doors.

We are heartened that the Tribunal responded to the important legal arguments we made on the basis of open justice and that our submission calling for proceedings to be opened to the public has made a difference. We will keep campaigning to protect privacy rights in the face of these and other threats to encryption — as once it is broken for anyone, it is broken for everyone."

– Rebecca Vincent, Interim Director | @rebecca_vincent

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

@_CatintheHat @mattgreencomedy Thanks. I'm working on this in Parliament.

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

Pleased @OpenUniversity settled with Almut, but what the hell were they doing allowing themselves to be captured by extremist gender bullies? Time for the management to be much braver and stop this appalling victimisation.

[David Davis MP @DavidDavisMP]

In an attempt to meet the demands of the Home Office - demands made on false illusions of providing security - Apple has been forced to entirely undermine the online security of pretty much every UK citizen who uses an Apple product.

https://t.co/nPLzBoloYY

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

Congratulations to our Government and Home Secretary @YvetteCooperMP, NOT. Ours is now *the only country in world* where citizens cannot use Apple's best encryption to protect their data and photos from hackers and criminals. Big Brother Watch will lead the fight to stop this.

[Big Brother Watch @BigBrotherWatch]

🚨BREAKING🚨

Apple is removing its most robust data protection tool from UK users.

“This decision by Apple is the regrettable consequence of the Home Office’s outrageous order attempting to force Apple to breach encryption. As a result, from today Apple’s UK customers are less safe and secure than they were yesterday – and this will quickly prove to have much wider implications for internet users in the UK.

“No matter how this is framed, there is simply no such thing as a “back door” that can be limited only to criminals or that can be kept safe from hackers or foreign adversaries. Once encryption is broken for anyone, it’s broken for everyone, and as we have cautioned: this will not stop with Apple.

“We once again call on the Home Office to immediately rescind this draconian order and cease attempts to break encryption before the privacy rights of millions are eroded and the UK further ostracises itself from other democracies around the world” - @rebecca_vincent

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

I had to briefly return to X to repost this extremely worrying attempt by our government to break our privacy protections on our phones. Who the hell do they think they are? We live in dangerous times. This MUST be stopped.

[Big Brother Watch @BigBrotherWatch]

🚨Breaking: UK Government orders Apple to let them spy on users' encrypted messages

"We are extremely troubled by reports that the UK government has ordered Apple to create a backdoor that would effectively break encryption for millions of users - an unprecedented attack on privacy rights that has no place in any democracy.

Big Brother Watch has been ringing alarm bells about the possibility of precisely this scenario since the adoption of the Investigatory Powers Bill in 2016.

We all want the government to be able to effectively tackle crime and terrorism, but breaking encryption will not make us safer. Instead it will erode the fundamental rights and civil liberties of the entire population - and it will not stop with Apple.

We urge the UK government to immediately rescind this draconian order and cease attempts to employ mass surveillance in lieu of the targeted powers already at their disposal."

- Rebecca Vincent, Interim Director | @rebecca_vincent

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

Pathetic attempt by Musk to force businesses to spend their money on his failing company Twitter (sorry, X). It's not hard to see why they don't want to be associated with what has become a haven for thugs and racists.

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

@DanielMRussell Not so. It highlights the fact that the IOC is wilfully failing to protect women boxers from having to fight biological males by refusing to test suspects apart from reading their passport.

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

Can anybody explain why a biological man beating up a woman should be an Olympic sport? https://t.co/Bq4XY1GkWN

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

@gwrhelp Your app is selling tickets for the 11:43 from Bath Spa to Paddington but the Departures board shows no such train. What's up?

[Paul Strasburger @LordStras]

Yet another smack in the face for young voters. Why do their landlords need a tax break, for heaven's sake.

[Republican Accountability @AccountableGOP]

Trump in 2016: “She shouldn’t be allowed to run...If she wins, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that situation, we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and, ultimately, a criminal trial. It would grind government to a halt.”

[Layla Moran 🔶🕊️ @LaylaMoran]

What happened in Rafah is condemnable. Calling it a ‘tragic mishap’ minimises the obscene human cost of an operation that the ICJ has ruled should not happen. Shame on the Sunak for standing by in silence.
https://t.co/Mdk0mTLxYN