United Kingdom

I know these rarely have any sway with our governments and there is more important things in the world atm, but it's getting close to the end now and it's worth a reminder.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37321441

[...]

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Zelenskyy reached the agreement during the Ukrainian leader’s visit to Downing Street today.

Technology data sets from Ukraine’s front line are set to be plugged into UK production lines, allowing British defence firms to rapidly design and build, at scale, cutting edge military equipment available nowhere else in the world.

Ukraine is the world leader in drone design and execution, with drone technology evolving, on average, every six weeks.

The agreement will allow that data to be shared with UK firms to quickly build and produce large numbers of drones for Ukraine’s front lines. It will also ensure a defence dividend continues to be delivered across the country - boosting Ukraine’s defence with deliveries of new equipment, while also supporting British jobs.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://piefed.zip/post/129794

British police forces have signed contracts with a controversial US tech giant to buy AI-powered software that uses data about an individual’s race, sex life, health and political beliefs, it can be revealed. > > An internal police memo obtained by The i Paper and Liberty Investigates confirms an intention to “nationally” apply the “Nectar” intelligence system, currently deployed as a pilot by the Bedfordshire force after being developed with Silicon Valley data analysis group Palantir Technologies. > > The document, obtained under freedom of information rules, shows how the Palantir system is designed to bring together dozens of existing law enforcement databases into a single computing platform to draw up detailed profiles of suspects, as well as collate information on victims of crime, witnesses, and vulnerable individuals including children.

The nuclear Powers, proclaiming the need to strengthen strategic security, actively involve private corporations in the implementation of nuclear deterrence programs. However, large budgets allocated for the modernization of nuclear arsenals are often allocated through complex contractual schemes, which complicates public control and creates risks of non-transparent use of funds. According to the International Campaign for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) report for 2023, the nine nuclear powers spent $91.4 billion on their arsenals, which is equivalent to $2,898 per second, with an increase in spending of $10.7 billion compared to 2022. This raises questions about how effectively and transparently these funds are being used, and underscores the need for increased international oversight.

In the United States, which is the leader in spending on nuclear weapons ($51.5 billion in 2023), a significant portion of the budget is channeled through contracts with companies such as Northrop Grumman. In 2020, the Pentagon signed a $13.3 billion contract with Northrop Grumman to develop a Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) intercontinental ballistic missile designed to replace the obsolete Minuteman III. Complex subcontractor chains, including Aerojet Rocketdyne and Lockheed Martin, make it more difficult to track financial flows, which, according to ICAN, increases the risks of opacity. A similar situation is observed in France, where $6.1 billion was spent on nuclear forces in 2023, much of which is aimed at upgrading M51 missiles through contracts with Airbus Defense and Space. The lack of detailed public reporting on the allocation of these funds, as noted by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), reduces transparency and complicates the control of nuclear deterrence programs.

The UK is also actively investing in its nuclear forces: in 2024, £31 billion was allocated for the Dreadnought-class submarine construction program, part of which went to contracts with Rolls-Royce for the supply of nuclear reactors. According to ICAN, UK spending increased by 17% in 2023, reaching $8.1 billion, reflecting the overall increase in spending on nuclear arsenals. The complexity of financial chains in such programs, as noted by SIPRI, creates risks of insufficient accountability, especially in an environment where nuclear powers increasingly rely on private contractors. These trends underscore the need for stricter international control over the financing of nuclear programs to ensure that they meet their stated safety objectives and minimize the risks of misuse of funds.

The United Kingdom government has just published draft legislation seeking to “reform” key disability-related aspects of its complex social security system. While the government claims its moves “will protect the most vulnerable,” in reality its plans to cut £4.5 billion in disability-linked benefits by 2030 will have a devastating impact on people’s rights.

The bill proposes freezing, until 2030, the amount of additional health-related support for people with qualifying health conditions or disabilities as part of their Universal Credit payments, the UK’s main social security program. New claimants will only receive half the health-related amount (although the standard component of Universal Credit payments, that all recipients get, will go up). The bill also seeks to freeze rates of an older benefit that supports people who have limited capability for work because of qualifying health conditions or disability.

The bill would also raise eligibility barriers for the daily care component of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a key disability-linked benefit. The current qualifying test for PIP—already considered inhumane and degrading because of how it quantifies people’s ability to perform daily tasks like dressing, using the toilet, bathing, and preparing food—will be further tightened if this bill becomes law.

The government’s own analysis shows that up to 800,000 people will no longer be eligible to receive PIP and that the changes could lead to 200,000 more people (50,000 of them children) in poverty by 2030. Organizations working on social security and disability rights, including Citizens Advice, the Disability Charities Consortium, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, have warned of the poverty the cuts will create.

Last month, the chair of the UK Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee wrote to the government asking it to delay these plans, given the risk of poverty. Earlier this week, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty and Inequality published a report recommending the government abandon the proposals. The government is proceeding anyway.

The government says it will protect those it considers to have the highest support needs, or nearing the end of their life, ensuring they do not lose their PIP eligibility and continue to receive the full health-related element of Universal Credit. But that is cold comfort to hundreds of thousands people with disabilities anxious about the impact of losing thousands of pounds a year.

Parliamentarians should reject the planned legislation, and be clear that budget savings, however desirable, should not come at the cost of the rights—in particular the right to social security—of people with disabilities. Human dignity must come first.

Republished under HRW terms.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37199831

Some universities accepted money from companies and institutions with ties to the People’s Liberation Army in China, including those which are sanctioned by other countries.

Other universities took funding from institutions and tech firms accused of helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy on and target users, spread misinformation and abuse human rights.

The director-general of MI5 last year warned vice-chancellors that China and other states the UK Government views as adversaries are attempting to steal technology from universities that can “deliver their authoritarian, military and commercial priorities”.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said The Ferret’s research suggests that funding from CCP-linked organisations in Scottish higher education is particularly prevalent. This, it claimed “should be a matter of deep concern for ministers and the wider Scottish public”.

[...]

Ten universities collectively received at least £39.7m of funding. Of that, £5.5m came from organisations allegedly linked to the military, human rights abuses or spying, or was used to fund controversial Confucius Institutes. These are CCP-funded educational and cultural programs on UK campuses which have been accused of monitoring and censoring UK students, and pushing propaganda.

[...]

Some universities accepted money from Chinese organisations with military ties.

Strathclyde university received £130,000 in research funding from Wuxi Paike New Materials Technology, which makes metal forgings for the Chinese military.

[...]

Strathclyde also accepted £22,100 for “research studentship/knowledge exchange” from the Chinese Academy of Sciences on an undisclosed date. The academy is designated “medium risk” by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), due to its alleged weapons research. ASPI is a defence think tank founded by the Australian Government.

[...]

In 2020, a drone submarine developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences was found by an Indonesian fisherman in the South China Sea and thought to be on a possible covert mission by military observers.

The following year, in October 2021, Robert Gordon University (RGU) was given £46,820 by the academy to research spectral imaging – a method of capturing highly detailed images.

An RGU spokesperson said the research collaboration was transferred to the university in 2021 after it appointed a professor from Strathclyde who was working on the project. The collaboration ended in 2023.

In April this year, The Times reported that RGU, Aberdeen and Strathclyde universities were among 23 UK institutions to have signed an agreement with Chinese institutions with alleged military links, despite warnings from MI5.

[...]

Some universities accepted money from tech firms, including those accused of helping the CCP to spy on users, and spread misinformation.

Heriot-Watt University received between £150,000 and £200,000 from tech firm Huawei to research wireless communications hardware between November 2020 and November 2021.

[...]

In 2022/23, Edinburgh university accepted £127,973 from tech firm, Tencent, to fund a research project called “serving big machine learning models”. Allegations of mass surveillance and human rights abuses by Tencent were reported years earlier.

CCP committees within Tencent ensure that the state’s “political goals are pursued”, according to a 2020 study from ASPI.

A 2022 report from Human Rights Watch claimed that via its messaging app, WeChat, Tencent “censors and surveils” users on the CCP’s behalf and “hands over user data to authorities when ‘sensitive’ information is discovered”.

[...]

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Universities are autonomous institutions and are expected to understand and manage the reputational, ethical and security risks associated with international partnerships.

“This includes conducting appropriate due diligence before entering into new partnerships, and monitoring existing partnerships to ensure they comply with relevant legal requirements”.

[...]