Monday, July 19, 2010
EU Authorities: Implementation of Net Surveillance Directive Is Unlawful | Electronic Frontier Foundation
EU Authorities: Implementation of Net Surveillance Directive Is Unlawful | Electronic Frontier Foundation
In a landmark announcement issued today, the data protection officials across the European Union found that the way that EU Member States have implemented the data retention obligations in the 2006 EU Data Retention Directive is unlawful. The highly controversial 2006 EU Data Retention Directive compels all ISPs and telecommunications service providers operating in Europe to retain telecom and internet traffic data about all of their customers' communications for a period of at least 6 months and up to 2 years.
The timing of the Article 29 Working Party’s opinion is particularly sensitive because the European Commission is currently conducting an evaluation of the impact of the Data Retention Directive on economic operators and citizens in Europe. One of the possible outcomes of this evaluation is a recommendation that the Data Retention Directive should be amended or repealed in its entirety. The Article 29 Working Party has submitted its report to the European Commission to provide the Commission with vital empirical evidence for its evaluation of whether to recommend the amendment or repeal the Directive.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Revealed: brutal guide to punishing jailed youths | Society | The Observer
Revealed: brutal guide to punishing jailed youths | Society | The Observer
Some of the restraint and self-defence measures approved by the Ministry of Justice include ramming knuckles into ribs and raking shoes down the shins. Other extraordinary passages in the previously secret manual, Physical Control in Care, authorise staff to:
■ "Use an inverted knuckle into the trainee's sternum and drive inward and upward."
■ "Continue to carry alternate elbow strikes to the young person's ribs until a release is achieved."
■ "Drive straight fingers into the young person's face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of the same hand downwards into the young person's groin area."
Earlier this month the government was prepared to go to a tribunal to fight against the disclosure of the manual, despite the information commissioner ruling that the public interest was so grave the document should be released. The Ministry of Justice backed down and last week released the entire 119-page document. Previously, officials had even refused to give a copy to the parliamentary human rights committee.
MDMA (ECSTASY)-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY RELIEVES TREATMENT-RESISTANT PTSD IN FIRST COMPLETED CLINICAL TRIAL
MDMA (ECSTASY)-ASSISTED PSYCHOTHERAPY RELIEVES TREATMENT-RESISTANT PTSD IN FIRST COMPLETED CLINICAL TRIAL javascript:void(0)
London, UK (July 19, 2010) – MDMA (±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as Ecstasy), may one day offer hope for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), even people for whom other treatments have failed. Clinical trial results out today in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, published by SAGE, suggests that MDMA can be administered to subjects with PTSD without evidence of harm and could offer sufferers a vital window with reduced fear responses where psychotherapy can take effect.
Participants treated with a combination of MDMA and psychotherapy saw clinically and statistically significant improvements in their PTSD – over 80% of the trial group no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, stipulated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV-TR) following the trial, compared to only 25% of the placebo group. In addition, all three subjects who reported being unable to work due to PTSD were able to return to work following treatment with MDMA.
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