Big Brother Watch
Big Brother Watch is a UK-based civil liberties campaigning organization that works to oppose surveillance and defend privacy and civil liberties, including through campaigns, research, and legal challenges.www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk
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Search complete. 52 mentions across 30 episodes found for "Big Brother Watch".
Oct 7, 2026
Toby YoungHOST
Um, and, um, there were, there were some free speech safeguards, and we've discussed this before.
Toby YoungHOST
There were some free speech safeguards in the Online Safety Act that the Free Speech Union and other pro-free speech lobby groups like Big Brother Watch managed to persuade the Conservative government to insert.
Toby YoungHOST
I mean, they were pretty modest.
Toby YoungHOST
Um, but, um, we got them to insert, um, that, um, uh, there would be a duty on the big social media companies to keep up, uh, journalistic content, content produced by recognized news publishers, and content of democratic importance.
Iain DaleHOST
Right, thank you all very much indeed for coming on the programme tonight.
Iain DaleHOST
Now, tomorrow's panel back in London includes the former Conservative Health Minister, James Bethel, civil liberties campaigner, Silky Carlo, who's the director of Big Brother Watch, plus the businessman known as the Black Farmer, Wilfred Emmanuel Jones.
speaker_0NARRATOR
This has been a Global Production.
C.J. HopkinsGUEST
I just...
C.J. HopkinsGUEST
There's a new report that came out, um, I think it was Big Brother Watch, uh, Silkie Carlo's organization in the UK.
C.J. HopkinsGUEST
Um, I think over the last five years, over 60,000 people in the UK have been arrested for communications offenses.
Tucker CarlsonHOST
Yeah, more than in Russia, which has a larger population.
William YarwoodGUEST
We're not going to have any prospects of liberty under this government.
William YarwoodGUEST
I mean, go back to sort of some of the Big Brother Watch stuff.
William YarwoodGUEST
Obviously, yes, they reneged on digital ID, but they're still introducing it by the back door via a bunch of other ways.
William YarwoodGUEST
And of course, it was just a cynical move from Burnham to try and push himself away from the last storm of regime.
Mike RobinsonHOST
Absolutely.
Mike RobinsonHOST
Now, there's been pushback from the usual suspects, including Big Brother Watch, who, aside from UK column, have probably done the most to highlight these issues.
Mike RobinsonHOST
Now, they demand oversight by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, which they say has been shut out of counter disinformation work, despite asking to be involved.
Mike RobinsonHOST
That isn't going to happen, in my opinion.
Fraser MyersHOST
Yeah.
Tom SlaterHOST
So during COVID, Big Brother Watch did a great report on this, quite alarming report, where these- Um, again, these organizations within government, the Counter Disinformation Unit, as well as something called the Rapid Response Unit, I think now stood down
Fraser MyersHOST
And then also the 77th Brigade-
Tom SlaterHOST
Yes
Kasia MadeiraCORRESPONDENT
Revolut stress that this system is different and is encrypted, adding, we utilise comprehensive cryptography that ensures no biometric data can be intercepted by man-in-the-middle attacks.
Kasia MadeiraCORRESPONDENT
Big Brother Watch, the civil liberties campaigning group, says it wants dedicated legislation for facial recognition technology that sets out clear protections
Caroline NichollsHOST
for the public.
Caroline NichollsHOST
Have you ever wondered whether your dog actually understands what you're saying? Scientists think they may be listening more closely than we realise.
Iain DaleHOST
It didn't actually read it to me, though, but I'm assuming that I can make it do that.
Iain DaleHOST
Silky Carlo joins me, director of the Civil Liberties and Privacy Campaign Group, Big Brother Watch.
Iain DaleHOST
Silky, very good evening.
Iain DaleHOST
Now, I don't know, I can't predict what you're going to say on this and what line you're going to take.
7 MINS LATER
Iain DaleHOST
I know I'm not, but you never know what other people are thinking, do you? And I suppose, well, you can say, well, you should just not bother about what other people think, but it's human nature to do so.
Iain DaleHOST
Silky, thank you very much indeed.
Iain DaleHOST
That's Silky Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch.
Iain DaleHOST
Come to your calls in a moment.
David MeyerHOST
And again, the mission was quite similar, but it quickly became deeply involved in trying to push back against false online narratives about the COVID pandemic.
David MeyerHOST
And in doing so, it really infuriated an awful lot of people, including free expression campaigners at organizations like Big Brother Watch.
David MeyerHOST
They said that it went far too far in clamping down on lawful speech.
David MeyerHOST
And that is a problem in the UK.
David MeyerHOST
People have had knocks on their doors from the police over things that they have said online quite a lot.
David MeyerHOST
And so these campaigners are expressing fears that this is just another chapter in the same book.
David MeyerHOST
I'll just quote what Silky Carlo, who's the director of Big Brother Watch, had to say about the announcement.
David MeyerHOST
It is right that the UK government takes action against foreign hostile states disinformation campaigns, but the public also deserves assurances that such action is strictly limited to overseas threats.
Mike RobinsonHOST
Apple then took the case to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which is the court responsible for overseeing the use of the legislation, but those hearings were to be held in secret.
Mike RobinsonHOST
So a group of privacy campaigners, including Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch, and Index on Censorship took that to the tribunal and a judge ruled that the hearings should be heard in public.
Mike RobinsonHOST
The tribunal said that it did not accept that the revelation of the details of the case would be damaging to public interest.
Mike RobinsonHOST
or prejudicial to national security.
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