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NEW LAWS COULD see mobile phone networks shut down in certain areas during the G8 summit due to the threat of terrorist activity.
Minister for Justice and Defence Alan Shatter told the Select Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality today that the proposed amendments to the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Bill 2013 came about because of the possibility of terrorist activity when the G8 takes place in Fermanagh in June.
He said that he intends to introduce amendments to “deal with threat to life and property posed by explosive devices which make use of mobile communications technology in their construction or activation”.
Prevent death or damage
Shatter described the purpose of the amendments as allowing for “direction to issue to mobile phone services providers to cease service provision in a limited area in order to prevent death or damage to property”.
The provision will contain safeguards to ensure that any interference with services is limited to the extent necessary to deal with the threat, he added.
In order for the full house to have an opportunity to consider these new elements, the amendments will be introduced at report stage on 22 May.
As these provisions are outside the scope of the current title of the bill, the title will also have to be amended.
The reason behind the legislation, said Shatter, is that it is “possible that terrorist groups may try to use the occasion of the summit to at the very least garner publicity for themselves”.
He said that there is also a “real danger of loss of life if such a device was successfully detonated”.
Threats
In 2012, Pakistan blocked its mobile phone service during Eid to prevent possible terror attacks. Mobile phones have been used to detonate bombs in some countries, including Madrid in 2004.
In 2003, the FBI said that it found bombs that were detonated by remote control in Saudi Arabia, while in 2002 a Jersusalem bombing was detonated using a call from a mobile phone.
It was also investigated whether a bomb planted in Belfast in March of this year could have been detonated by mobile phone.
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Worrying. How easy for the Dail to pass this legislation which in essence will be capable of just cancelling citizens’ rights. I fully appreciate security considerations for the summit and all that. This proposed legislation could then be used for spurious purposes. Remember the Haughey Fianna fail regime and phone tapping aided by senior Gardai.
If the security situation is so insecure then why not hold this summit in some specially built bunker in the Moave desert and let the rest of us get on with life.
+100. Excellent comment sir
Interestingly enough I read in the Sunday Times that there was a story going around that in the 1980′s Charlie Haughey arranged for every copy of Private Eye to “disappear” before they crossed the Irish Sea because they contained a story about his affair with Terry Keane. If Shatter wants to bring this in as a security measure then fair enough but it should only be a one off. Although the cynic in me says that the chances of that are about the some as me winning the lotto.
Exactly! Point well said.
well you don’t have a “right” to have a mobile phone signal, but you are right about the other thing – why not hold the bl**dy G8 summit in a desert somewhere?!
Utterly pointless. There are plenty of other RF comms technologies out there. Will they start jamming all radio frequencies in the vicinity of the G8 summit?
Agreed, but it gives Shatter and anyone after him to cut mobile phone services at any point of their choosing in the future (AKA bad news press etc).
Facist effort if you ask me, Unless the law automatically expires as soon as the G8 summit ends and cannot be reinstated without a full referendum. Otherwise its another Government control mechanism that can be turned on, when the Government of the day chooses to do so.
Yeah but point is other RF methods are not used as much as you either must be close and you risk tones of other signals setting it off right beside you vefore you plant it.
But I suppose digital equipment might be a benefit
My first thought too Cathal, I’ve no problem with giving out a special license applied for in advance.
But carte Blanche to turn off the signal?
I’m afraid the trust isn’t there, todays whitewash on the penalty points, Rabbite admitting to lying, the list goes on.
this is nonsense as you can phone from anywhere in the world. The G8 is in NI so to be effective the area of the device is shut down so it does not RECIVE a signal not the other way around.
As the g8 is in NI, shatter does not need to introduce this!!
Green, I think that the way it works is that phone signals overlap over the border and that is why Shatter is bringing this about. It’s a pity that Shatter and the Government weren’t so proactive in sorting out roaming charges along the border areas over the years.
The conference is taking place in Fermanagh, but not all the delegations are staying there. For example, the Russian delegation is staying in Sligo.
The Russians got lucky!
Why….Are the G8 gonna be making threats against someone?
Well- you’re either with us or against us as the man said.
What saddens me is that these men have the power and the mandate to really make the world a better, happier, healthier place. They could be heroes and go down in history as leaders who stood up for what is right. But they choose the other way- kowtowing to the dictates of the looney money and power brigade to the detriment of us all.
To quote Hunter S. Thompson ” The towers are gone, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for peace in our time, in the United States or any other country, make no mistake about it; we are at war now – with somebody – and we will stay at war with that mysterious enemy for the rest of our lives” Perpetual war and fear suits the puppet masters that pull the G8 strings, keeps them in control, makes them a shed load of cash and suits their bloodlusting.
Your dead right Anne, Bashar Al-Assad stood up to these mutts and refused to be their puppet….look whats goin on in Syria now, fake proxy revolution to get rid of him.
But the CIA won’t be able to record people’s calls if that happens
Jaysus. You serious when you say that?
Yes, they record EVERY phone call in the states and have done since 2001. This was revealed a couple of weeks ago on CNN. But quickly hushed up since
A lot of paranoid nutcases used to believe that calls between Britain and Ireland were being monitored. Turned out they were absolutely right.
Oh calls in states are monitored. Not mobiles the gsm encryption is to hard. Now if you call country to country yes but not internally on mobiles.
By the was its not the cia its the nsa tasked with that.
They dont listen to your calls within ireland.
Or maybe they do……. paranoid much!!!!:)
Here you go Guardian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON This has been going on for years and the Brits used 2 watch towers in South Armagh to spy on the Republic. These were the last 2 towers to be taken down, one of them was designated Golf Two Zero, I forget the other designation. Also some years back some unknown personnel installed equipment in the satellite up-link base station in Middleton and anyone who asked what they were for was told to mind their own business. Hollywood makes people think that this sort of SIGINT stuff is made up but it isn’t. Palace Barracks in Belfast is home to 1000+ MI5 spooks whose job it is to intercept in real time the communications of targets world wide. It is also the largest MI5 facility outside the UK “mainland” and serves as a fallback center in the event that that Puzzle Palace in London ever gets compromised.
Of course they can listen to cell calls! Why do you think they are paranoid about Huawei?
It’s not about paranoia, it’s a civil right to privacy yet they are more Orwellian than Orwell predicted.
Its not hushed up btw. Whats this illuminati cia cover up thing. Its nsa I think people have this fascination with the cia for whatever reason.
But ive even watched a national geo show on the nsa headquarters and tge computing power they hqve for recording calls and the key phrases needed to trigger a human ear to listen.
Its a very open secret. Governments cant hide things like that because if more then one person knows then its not a secret
They have been at it since the 1960s..So in future answer the phone like this “FUK you Govt agencies!! Hello?”
The CIA operates outside the US borders in covert operations. Whatever the NSA can do the CIA does it ten times better.
Do you really think the NSA would show their real secrets in a Nat geo documentary?!
The illuminati exist. I didn’t used to think so but as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to believe it.
Satellite phones?
The Taliban have been using these in Afghanistan for years but they are usually only used for large devices due to the expense involved.
Will they shut down the Ethernet also?
Surely, in Israel, that is constantly under Terrorist threat, the whole country would have the cell phone networks turned off all the time??????
Or is it a case that Shatter and co, want this law in place for future Government efforts on controlling and managing media/communication controls?
It is illogical and sniffs of pure facist controls in my opinion.
Cathal, most of the threats to Israel come in the form of suicide bombs and rockets. Car bombings are rare and the Israelis also are the world leader in GSM interception so they would pretty much know who is doing what, when and where. So much so that any fighters against Israel will not carry a phone because they know that it can be used to track them and even listen into their conversations remotely. By that I mean that there is technology available to turn on the mouthpiece of the phone remotely so as to record the conversation around the user without them knowing it.
Good point Indoga,
But the Ethernet won’t work without the mobile phone networks. If that’s what you mean.
A person could still make a call to another phone using viber for example. But the Internet/wifi would need to be on and if the phone masts are turned off then that’s also viber turned off. (unless they hack into someone’s home broadband within the affected area and within range of the intended site)
Will they stop trolls from trolling?
Creeping towards total control FFS. Have the G8 in North Korea or Iran, they do that sort of control freak stuff so well.
Ummm kinda a bit ignorant there aren’t we? What about dissident explosives that can be triggered remotely? I think its good idea once its only done for emergency reasons
I only use my phone for emergency reasons.
PS I also object to road closures to facilitate the idiotic posturing of of these clowns.
You know they are introducing unmanned surveillance drones for the occasion too which will be kept in use after the event and which have a mandate to cross the border into the republic.
I think the greatest act of terrorism is making a commodity out of our planet, putting profit and mega corporations like Monsanto before the well being of people and the natural world.
G8 represents a right gathering of terrorists if you ask me.
Actually, they’re called the illuminati
Up to 8000 security involved. I tried to get Edward Luttwak to come and talk for the West Cork Philosophical Society on whether it might be a possible opportunity to implement a grande coup d’état but as he is now one of the defence advisors, he very politely declined! Funnily enough he now holds one of the key positions that his book outlined as a vital part in building a coup d’état strategy.
Any update on the Financial Terrorists who robbed our country blind? Any amendment to bills relating to fraud of this nature? No? No chance of getting Dunne from America after he was escorted out of this country in the dead of the night, no? No, didnt think so.
Rendition flight for David drumm ?
John you might be on to something there. The Government jet has to fly around just to keep the pilots flying hours up to date which is totally understandable. Now if, hypothetically. someone were to get on to the wrong jet and end up in Ireland where there was a lot of law and corporate enforcement people waiting for them would there be a great outcry from the public?
Jason
Here is your update on the financial terrorists.
The new leader is living in the Phoenix Park, and used the Government Jet to fly from Rome so he could make every citizen of this country responsable for David & Seanie’s actions.
It would be a perfect time for someone to do a robbery in the area where the phones are shut down! Most people use mobile phones for this…
Also, don’t the Garda Tetra Radios use a digital signal and use the antenna of mobile operators…? Would these be shut down too?
TETRA operates on a different system. You are correct though on the robbery side of things. Most alarms that are connected to a business are connected by land line to an alarm center. If the land line is cut then a mobile link kicks in and if the networks are down then it gives gangs free reign to rob all round them.
On the one hand it makes sense but on the other hand there is more than one way to set off a device. The Brighton bomb was set off by rigging up a video player recording timer that could be set for up to a month. Terrorists know that the networks will probably be shut down so they will adapt to this and come up with a new method.
Shur a stop watch can have a count down of a year or more.
Careful lads all this talk of bomb making gonna have special branch on yer tails in no time
My Sister who lives in Sligo tells me that the Russians and Putin are staying in a former mental hospital for the G8. It should be fun when they find out.
Must be the clarion. I stayed there a while back. It’s a gorgeous hotel.
They should all be put in a mental hospital. As that lovely kid said, they are being paid hundreds of thousands per year yet the children’s hospital has to rely on donations to buy paint and brushes.
Pathetic.
Yeah and Free Pussy Riot ya feckin Russian slime bag!
This is just an attempt to demonise the protestors to the G8. Keep saying terror terror terror to the press and it will justify the police going down hard on the protestors because there might be terror!
Carlin
Sure Enda must qualify as a terroist by now. Sure the Brits called his parties former leader Michael Collins one and all he did was kill a few occuping soldiers. Enda has emprovised a whole nation.
The phone in the photo is bombproof
Will I get a refund for the time it’s off?
Excellent question. I’d put it to your service provider and request a reply in writing. If that’s unsatisfactory, tell The Shat that you’ll sue him and his department for lost revenue.
Hold the meeting in cork or Kerry…. No bloody network coverage most of the time anyway!
What part of the G8 summit is taking place in a foreign country does Shatter not understand?
Shows how much of this countries controls FG/Labour have given away, when the phone services of an independent state and its citizens are turned off to suit the requirements of other occupying states.
Carcu it’s FG and Labour in power. The same crowd that were around during the Dublin/Monaghan bombings. What did you expect?
This is a really scary sign of things to come, we are living through the beginnings of the complete erosion or our liberty, and we don’t seem to care,
I have a huge problem with this G7 group of “we’re the best” country’s coming onto our island and shutting our shit down not inviting us …. And for what ?????
What about the potential lost of human life due to the inability to make an emergency call?
Don’t worry folks – disruptions to services are only likely to affect Cavan and Monaghan where the service is shite anyway.
How are they going to do the traditional warning calls if networks are blocked?
There must be a pay hone somewhere. Either that or carrier pigeon.
There is something ironic about a mobile phone that was supposed to detonate a bomb having 4 missed calls. Did the bomb have it on silent. Damn, the bomb is not picking up …
this is censorship of general public communication media domain. In my opinion it has nothing to do with threat to security, it does however have a lot to do with egoistic attention seeking, fear mongering, paranoia laced and demanding authoritarian control for the G8 mafia and just another test of public subjugation acceptance levels
F*&k Off.
As usual, Fine Gael trying to curtail our rights on behalf of Britain.
This is being held in Fermanagh, it’s not our problem.
Does Fermanagh even have a network signal?
does this thing think its king? since when had it the right to go around demanding phone networks shut down on his command? it has lost the run of itself.
The G8 is worrying about getting killed. How about they do some good in the world and then people won’t want to kill them. Oh wait….. It’s not about the people
political leaders around the world are gonna love the month of june first the bilderberg meetings then the g8 all the space of 2-3 weeks…….time they all get together like 1 big family :)
I’m sure this was already done. Service in Rathgar is as useful as a politicians manifesto. Also deer park is like a signal black hole. They could just have it there. Big deal if they turn it off. But how will Ivor make all those calls?
Perhaps i’m being too cynical but it seems to me that this is simply to disrupt the organisation and mobilisation of demonstrators who will undoubtedly be there on the day.
Good idea. If only they could’ve done this the day of the Omagh bombing.
Eight most developed states. Poor countries with same climates and similar resources just copy them instead of resenting their success
The dogs on the street can see that the puppet Shatter has been told what to do here by the global overlords. What is more worrying is that he will stroke a pen and pass it into law at their behest.
Lolwut? Crazy… as if phones are saying, “plz hack me, kthxbai”
Another hare brained scheme?
How much did that cost for someone to dream up of the idea and charged Shatter for so called consultation?
More facist state bolloxology,
What next , farmers not allowed to use fertiliser,
What about users of pressure cookers etc etc etc .
Just shut the phones off forever and there’ll be no more bombs. For jayziz sake.
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