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LY DD © oF VEN? IS THE SKY FALLING? Ihe Geophysical Research Letters journal of 1 May 1997 (vol. 24, no. 9, pp. 1103-1106) has published an interesting paper, "Evidence for long-term cooling of the upper atmosphere in ionosonde data", written by Thomas Ulich and Esa Turunen of the geophysical observatory at Sodankyla, Finland. The authors have found support for the theory that increased con- centrations of greenhouse gases will cause a cooling of the stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere, causing the atmos- phere to shrink. One estimate for the doubling of CO: was the low- ering of the ionosphere (F-2 layer) by 15 to 20 kilometres. (Source: Jim Scanlon, jscanlon@linex.com, published in Blazing Tattles, vol. 6, no. 6, June 1997; www.concentric.net/~blazingt) out, only the government—not an individual—could sue for breaches of confidentiality or abuses of the records. A few days later, Fahey said that the government would agree to extend the Privacy Act to these con- tractors, but critics observe that many of the prospective contractors do their data processing out the country in places like Singapore and China. (Source: Privacy Journal, May '97; e-mail 5101719@mcimail.com) US, BRITISH INTELLIGENCE BEHIND LIBYA FRAME-UP ik April 1996 Dispatches, the flag- ship current affairs program of Britain's Channel Four, presente convincing evidence that the fatal shooting of Woman Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher, outside the Libyan People's Bureau in London in 1984, was engineered by elements of British an American intelligence as part of a Libya destabilisation campaign. The film, made by the highly regarded Fulcrum Productions, caused an uproar and was the subject of a debate in the House of Commons on 8 May 1996. More recently, Dispatches has presente new information which identifies Admiral Poindexter and Colonel Oliver North as the two US individuals responsible for organising the assassination of WPC Fletcher. Shadowy members of Britain's security and intelligence apparatus are alleged to have cooperated, but they remain unidentified. Dispatches claims that Herman Hein, a senior figure in Berlin's guns-and-dope underworld, was a principal figure operat- ing on behalf of al-Burkan, the anti- Qadhafi terrorist group financed in part by wealthy Libyans living in exile. Hein was the linchpin for selling and shipping weapons to London. Helmut Nagler, a Berlin weapons expert, claimed to have remodelled a special silencer for the weapon—a 9-mm Walther PPK handgun—allegedly used in the killing. He also claimed responsibility for driving the gold-coloured Mercedes to London where, at the Lancaster Hotel, he handed over his concealed cargo to a senior al-Burkan member named Zatout. Meanwhile, Zatout remains a fugitive from German Police and is said to be tion would leave the records unprotected by any privacy requirements, because Australia's federal Privacy Act does not cover contractors. (By contrast, the Privacy Act in the USA, which covers fed- eral agencies, also covers private contrac- tors that process data for federal agencies.) If the Government's plan is implemented and the Privacy Act is not amended, Australian citizens would have no right to inspect and correct 'government' files on them maintained by private contractors. Fahey said at first that he would ensure privacy "through stringent contractual con- ditions", but, as the Opposition has pointed PRIVATISING PRIVACY he Australian federal government has added insult to injury, following its surprise reversal in March of a campaign promise to support legislation protecting personal data in private businesses. Finance Minister John Fahey said on 25 April that the federal government would transfer computer processing of millions of tax, health, law enforcement and welfare files to the private sector. This privatisa- 6 = NEXUS AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1997