What does 'many' mean in 'stopping many terrorist plots'?

Yesterday, Andrew Parker, the new head of MI5, spoke out (though not by name) against Edward Snowden and the Guardian.

‘GCHQ intelligence has played a vital role in stopping many of the terrorist plots that MI5 and the police have tackled in the past decade.
‘It causes enormous damage to make public the reach and limits of GCHQ techniques. Such information hands the advantage to the terrorists.
'It is the gift they need to evade us and strike at will. Unfashionable as it might seem, that is why we must keep secrets secret, and why not doing so causes such harm.’

It's interesting to contrast the above with information emerging in the US about the efficacy of the programs whose existence Snowden leaked. Yochai Benkler writes in The Guardian:

In a 2 October hearing of the Senate judiciary committee, Senator Leahy challenged the NSA chief, General Keith Alexander:

Would you agree that the 54 cases that keep getting cited by the administration were not all plots, and that of the 54 only 13 had some nexus to the US? Would you agree with that, yes or no?

Alexander responded:

Yes.

Leahy then demanded that Alexander confirm what his deputy, Christopher Inglis, had said in the prior week's testimony: that there is only one example where collection of bulk data is what stopped a terrorist activity. Alexander responded that Inglis might have said two, not one.
In fact, what Inglis had said the week before was that there was one case "that comes close to a but-for example and that's the case of Basaaly Moalin". So, who is Moalin, on whose fate the NSA places the entire burden of justifying its metadata collection program? Did his capture foil a second 9/11?
A cabby from San Diego, Moalin had immigrated as a teenager from Somalia. In February, he was convicted of providing material assistance to a terrorist organization: he had transferred $8,500 to al-Shabaab in Somalia.

We Want to See Double

Stop Climate Chaos is running a campaign to double funding for cyclists and pedestrians in Scotland. Write to your SMP (takes under two minutes) and attend the demo at lunchtime on Wednesday 30 October.

SCRIPT Workshop

Vrije University is hosting the SCRIPT Workshop.

Workshop on Secure Cloud and Reactive Internet Programming Technology

When and where?
The workshop will take place 12 to 13th of November 2013 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Brussels, Belgium.

Theme and Goal of the Workshop
With the advent of JavaScript as a mature and powerful programming language running in the web browser, the web has changed for good from a mere document delivery service to a true distributed computing platform. Scripts now regularly use asynchronous message passing to send complex, structured data back and forth among distributed machines.

Unfortunately JavaScript was never designed to serve as a language to build advanced reliable and secure distributed applications. This has recently given rise to a number of language design initiatives that use the JavaScript infrastructure as an advanced virtual machine on top of which new web languages can be implemented.

We feel that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg on this subject and that many new language design initiatives will follow. The goal of the SCRIPT workshop (Secure Cloud and Reactive Internet Programming Technology) is to gather expert language designers and to let them present their view on the state of the art in this domain. SCRIPT is a workshop, not just a symposium, and the audience is more than welcome to actively engage with the speakers during and after the talks.

Speakers include:

Eelco Visser (Delft U., NL)
Daan Leijen (MS Research Redmond, US)
Manuel Serrano (INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, FR)
Adam Koprowski (Google, US)
Sébastien Doeraene (EPFL, CH)
Mario Südholt (Ecole des Mines de Nantes, FR)
Philip Wadler (U Edinborough, UK)
Gavin Bierman (MS Research Cambridge, UK)
Shriram Krishnamurthi (Brown U., US)
Adam Chlipala (MIT, US)

I'm looking forward to it!
 

Tutu, Apartheid, and Israel

Charging Israel with 'apartheid' against Palestinians is controversial, so I was interested to discover this speech by Desmond Tutu from April 2002, reprinted in the Guardian under the title Apartheid in the Holy Land.

In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders. 

What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.

Fun in the Afternoon

Congratulations to Greg Morrisett, Tarmo Uustalu, and the entire team that assembled ICFP 2013. One session stood out in my mind, ''Fun in the Afternoon'', 15.30—16.30 Wednesday 25 September, chaired by Jeremy Gibbons.

• Fun with Semirings [Functional Pearl], Stephen Dolan
• Efficient Divide-and-Conquer Parsing of Practical Context-Free Languages, Jean-Philippe Bernardy and Koen Claessen
• Functional Geometry and the "Traité de Lutherie" [Functional Pearl], Harry Mairson

Links to the papers above. The content of the papers was excellent, and the presentations were engaging. The presentation of the second was particularly notable because neither of the authors could attend, and John Hughes presented it in their stead, spectacularly. (Note to self: figure out how to work the phrase ''Don't worry about it'' into my next presentation.)

The first explains how semirings generalised with a closure operator combine the power of linear algebra with the power of regular expressions, including an application building on Doug McIlroy's Power Series, Power Serious. The second explains how to bring parsing into the 21st century, devising an algorithm that can distribute across a large number of processors. And the third explains how to bring computing into the 16th century, describing the design of violins and lutes in a DSL embedded in Scheme.

Indeed, I think this may have been my favourite session at a conference ever, with the exception of Guy Steele's presentation of Growing a Language at OOPSLA 1998. Which reminds me of a remark made by Jack Kennedy when hosting a dinner of Nobel laureates in 1962: ''I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.''

Blondie

And as if staring in XKCD wasn't enough (see previous entry), functional programming also features in Blondie, of all places. Does this mean FP has really gone mainstream? Spotted by Andrew Tolmach.

Functional

XKCD tackled functional programming last week. The title text nails it: ''Functional programming combines the flexibility and power of abstract mathematics with the intuitive clarity of abstract mathematics.''

Was it a coincidence that this panel appeared on the last day of ICFP? ICFP was in Boston this year, and Munroe lives nearby in Somerville.

Myths about the gagging law

38 Degrees writes:

In three weeks, MPs have their final vote on the gagging law - a law that would mean ordinary people, campaigning groups and charities would be severely restricted in how they can campaign in the year leading up to an election.

The most recent debate was last Tuesday, and we lost a key vote by only a whisker - if just 16 more government MPs had switched sides, a key part of the gagging law would have been defeated. [1]

The growing MP rebellion was in part thanks to you - tens of thousands of 38 Degrees members flooded MPs with emails, phone calls and tweets. 80 local groups of 38 Degrees members went to see their MP face-to-face. Together, we proved that ordinary people are prepared to fight for their right to campaign on important issues.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs are clearly feeling the heat: a growing number of them have started trying to fob us off. They’ve started making all sorts of claims about what the law will and won’t do. They say we have nothing to worry about.

Ros Baston, an independent political law and election solicitor, has taken a look at some of the most common lines MPs have been using when responding to 38 Degrees members and written a detailed document. [2] Here's 38 Degrees take on that document and why we still think we have something to worry about.

Myth 1: The new law will stop "big money" buying / influencing elections.
The government claims that this law is needed to stop US-style "super-PACs", run by millionaires, flooding the airwaves with negative political advertising. But they can't point to any examples of millionaire-backed "super-PACS" in the UK actually existing. Perhaps that's because we already have laws banning big money radio and TV advertising.

The way "big money" actually influences elections in the UK is through massive donations to political parties. That's a huge problem, with wealthy donors basically buying influence and peerages. The gagging law does nothing to stop this - millionaire party donors like Lord Ashcroft or Lord Sainsbury can continue to funnel as much cash into their chosen party as they like.

If the government really wanted to stop "big money" influencing politics, they could introduce a maximum donation limit for both political parties and independent groups. That would tackle the current problem and prevent any future rise in "super-PACs", and it's a measure 38 Degrees members would certainly support. Why are they instead targeting charites, community groups and campaigners?

Myth 2. Civil society will still be allowed to talk about issues - as long as they don’t get involved in party politics.
Important issues which ordinary people care about, like trying to protect the NHS, will be a key election issue for most of the political parties.The gagging law would apply to campaigning on most issues that are being contested by different political parties - i.e. any big issue of the day! For example, if one political party made privatising NHS services a key part of its manifesto, then a 38 Degrees campaign against privatising the NHS would be considered ‘for election purposes’ and be subject to the gagging law. [3]

Myth 3. £390,000 is a lot of money. Why should organisations be allowed to spend more?
In a free society, charities, local groups and ordinary people should be able to come together and campaign effectively. £390,000 is only 2% of what political parties are allowed to spend. Also, the new law says that charities and campaign groups will have to include core staff costs in this limit - something political parties aren’t expected to do.

Groups like 38 Degrees don't need as much money as political parties - we rely on people power rather than expensive advertising agencies. But organising people power does cost some money. 38 Degrees currently costs around £1.1 million per year to run - money spent on maintaining a powerful and secure web site, a small office, a staff team of 15, printing leaflets and posters, hiring church halls for member meetings, and so on. That's all funded by small donations (average donation £10.78) and reported in full in the annual audited accounts. [4]

Banning 38 Degrees from spending more than £390,000 would mean big people powered campaigns like Save our NHS or Save our Forests would be impossible to run.

Myth 4. Charities are happy now that some concessions have been promised
This isn’t true. A wide range of organisations including NCVO, Oxfam, Christian Aid, Countryside Alliance and Friends of the Earth are still warning that the gagging law will have a huge impact on what they can campaign on. [5]

MPs have been claiming that NCVO are now happy with the amendments the government has committed to drafting. In fact the NCVO wrote a piece in The Guardian last week highlighting the problems they still think need solving [6]:

“NCVO and the wider voluntary sector have made it clear that the legislation remains ambiguous and potentially damaging in a number of places. In particular:  

• The proposed list of activities that could count towards controlled expenditure remains neither clear nor workable
• The expenditure thresholds proposed in the new bill, both for registration with the Electoral Commission and as a maximum cap allowed, will be damaging
• The question of how to sensibly regulate groups working in coalition remains to be addressed.”

The government is rushing the gagging law through parliament, but we now have just over two weeks to try to convince MPs to vote the right way. The office team are working hard to pull together some ideas of ways to beat this law and you’ll get an email about this soon. But if you want to get back in touch with your MP and ask him or her about some of these myths, please click the link below.
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/gagging-law-email-mp

If your MP has replied to your email about the gagging law and sent through a different claim you'd like help answering, or if you have some ideas on what we should do next in the campaign, then please get in touch at emailtheteam@38degrees.org.uk.


Thanks for being involved,

Belinda, Susannah, Maddy and the 38 Degrees team

P.S. Earlier this year thousands of 38 Degrees members joined forces with the Children’s Society to call for more children to be given school meals. Yesterday, Nick Clegg announced that children aged 4 - 7 years would get free school meals. That is 1.4 million more school children getting a hot, healthy lunch. Another brilliant victory 38 Degrees members were involved with, proving just how important campaigning is.


Notes:
[1] The Public Whip: Clause 27 - changes to existing limits: vote breakdown: http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2013-09-10&number=82
Twitter: Labour Whips twitter posts, 10 Sept: https://twitter.com/labourwhips
[2] Mythbuster document written by Ros Baston, independent political law and election solicitor, and was formerly Lead Adviser on Party and Election Finance at the Electoral Commission: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/-/Ros%20Baston%20MP%20replies%20mythbuster.pdf
[3] Daily Mirror: Lobby bill: Doctors face being gagged from concerns about NHS privatisation:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lobby-bill-doctors-face-being-2263099#.UjiWppM9XMo.facebook
[4] Read our donations policy and see our accounts here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/pages/donations-to-38-degrees
[5] Oxfam: Lobbying Bill represents a real threat to quality of debate in this country: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/blogs/2013/09/lobbying-bill-represents-a-real-threat-to-quality-of-debate-in-this-country-says-oxfam
Christian Aid: Christian Aid remains deeply concerned at Lobbying Bill: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/september-2013/christian-aid-remains-deeply-concerned-at-lobbying-bill.aspx
Countryside Alliance: The Alliance’s concerns over the Lobbying Bill: http://www.countryside-alliance.org/ca/communities/the-alliances-concerns-over-the-lobbying-bill
Friends of the Earth: U-turn? Nope, the Gagging Bill still gags us: http://www.foe.co.uk/news/gagging_bill_41124.html
[6] The Guardian: The problems posed by the lobbying bill are not completely solved: http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2013/sep/13/charities-lobbying-bill-problems-not-solved

Can you be arrested for sharing a link?

Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Glen Greenwald, David Miranda: now the powers that be are going after another whistleblower/journalist, Barrett Brown. Digital Trends writes:

In 2010, Brown launched Project PM, a group effort billed as a crowdsourced investigation into the “surveillance state.” When Lulz Sec hackers stole some 70,000 emails from security firm HB Gary Federal and posted them online in February 2011, Brown and fellow Project PM members went to work, uncovering a coordinated campaign to discredit Wikileaks and journalist Glenn Greenwald, among other serious revelations. Later, in December of that year, Anonymous posted more than 5 million emails swiped from intelligence contractor Stratfor Global Intelligence, which were read and mined for information by Brown’s Project PM. Those emails contained a slew of revelations, including talk among Stratfor employees of renditions and assassinations.

During the Stratfor investigation, Brown shared a link to the stolen company emails in an IRC chat with other Project PM members. The documents contained some 5,000 credit card numbers and other personal information of a slew of individuals.
...
Two months later, prosecutors charged Brown with 17 crimes, 12 of which are related the identity theft – all because of that link he shared.
...
Brown did not hack any computers. He did not steal any information. And none of the charges he faces allege that he did. Brown simply shared a link that contained stolen data – something journalists, and many other people, do online every day. He faces up to 105 years in prison.

Digital Trends: Can you be arrested for sharing a link? Maybe.
Rolling Stone: Introducing America's least likely political prisoner.
Demand Progress: Tell the Justice Department: Stop the war on journalists, free Barrett Brown.

UK government to ban Greenpeace, Oxfam, Trade Unions

The Transparency of Lobbying Bill sounds innocuous but threatens to prevent any organisation, other than a political party, from taking a stand on any political issue in the year leading up to an election. It has received little scrutiny in the media, but may be passed as early as next week.

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said the bill is "the most pernicious assault on campaign groups in living memory".

Angela Eagle, shadow leader of the Commons, said "This bill amounts to a sinister gag on charities and campaigners in the year before the election."

Even the Electoral Commission, which would be charged with enforcing the law, writes:

the Bill creates significant regulatory uncertainty for large and small organisations that campaign on, or even discuss, public policy issues in the year before the next general election, and imposes significant new burdens on such organisations [emphasis in original]

Take action now, before this pernicious bill slips into law. Next week may be too late.

Write to your MP, via 38 Degrees
We urgently need your help to stop disastrous campaigning proposals, says NVCO
Coverage in The Guardian
Coverage in The Independent