Misplaced Pages

#572427

150-676: Operation Branchform is a Police Scotland investigation into possible fundraising fraud in the Scottish National Party (SNP) that was launched in 2021 and is ongoing as of November 2024. The investigation concerns allegations that £666,953 raised by the SNP since 2017 specifically to campaign for independence in a proposed second Scottish independence referendum was in part improperly spent on other activities. The investigation has expanded to cover allegations of embezzlement , signature forgery , and misreporting of loans made to

300-403: A Heckler & Koch G36 carbine. Former Chief Constable Sir Stephen House 's founding policy decision was that ARV officers would be granted a standing authority to overtly carry their sidearm and, in addition, controversially allowed ARV's to be able to respond to routine incidents (non-firearms incidents) "to provide support to local policing through regular and tasked patrols". This policy

450-476: A Zoom meeting of the SNP's NEC that, "We don't need to talk about the finances. The finances are absolutely fine". The meeting - which was recorded and released publicly in April 2023 - was to discuss a report commissioned by depute leader Keith Brown on financial transparency, following the resignation of Douglas Chapman. Brown's report recommended a "monthly written summary of income and expenditure, confirmed via

600-641: A desktop or laptop screen at once, up to 4 people per screen in iPhone and Android mobile phones and tablet computers , and up to 16 people per screen on iPad . Zoom security features include password-protected meetings, user authentication, waiting rooms, locked meetings, disabling participant screen sharing, randomly generated IDs, and the ability for the host to remove disruptive attendees. As of June 2020, Zoom began offering end-to-end encryption to business and enterprise users, with AES 256 GCM encryption enabled for all users. In October 2020, Zoom added end-to-end encryption for free and paid users. It

750-478: A macOS user to join a Zoom call, with their video camera activated, without the user's permission. Attempts to uninstall the Zoom client on macOS would prompt the software to re-install automatically in the background using a hidden web server that was set up on the machine during the first installation so that it remains active even after attempting to remove the client. After receiving public criticism, Zoom removed

900-412: A white-label product , so other companies can embed it in their own products, with the calls running over Zoom but not carrying the company's brand name. In July 2021, Zoom released Zoom Apps which integrated a marketplace of third-party applications such as Dropbox Spaces , Asana , and SurveyMonkey . In August 2021, Zoom launched Focus Mode, designed for use in educational settings. When active,

1050-676: A 12-month period and have at least two years previous police service. Special constables undertake a standardised comprehensive training program which normally runs over a course of at least eight weekends with one full week spent at Scottish Police College in Tulliallan . When on duty, they wear the exact same uniform as their regular counterparts. There are no differences in their uniform and they are visually indistinguishable from their regular colleagues. Special constables can be used in time of need, usually working alongside regular officers on community policing or emergency response teams and in

1200-544: A Facebook account was being used with the service, and without disclosing it to the user. Zoom responded that it had been made aware of the issue and patched the app to remove the SDK after learning that it was collecting unnecessary device data. The company stated that the SDK was only collecting information on the user's device specifications (such as model names and operating system versions) in order to optimize its service and that it

1350-504: A SNP NEC meeting that month, Beattie said £666,953 had been raised through referendum-related fundraisers from 2017 to 2020, and that £51,760 had been spent directly on campaigning for another referendum. He said funds were "earmarked" for that purpose, and "amounts equivalent to the sums raised" would be spent on "the intended purpose". The police investigation was launched in July 2021 following seven complaints. In August 2021, Sturgeon told

1500-433: A Zoom advisor who was formerly security chief at Facebook , noted that a lack of end-to-end encryption is common in such products, as it is also true of Google Hangouts , Microsoft Teams , and Cisco Webex . On May 7, 2020, Zoom announced that it had acquired Keybase , a company specializing in end-to-end encryption, as part of an effort to strengthen its security practices moving forward. Later that month, Zoom published

1650-400: A blog post on April 1, 2020, CEO Yuan announced a 90-day freeze on releasing new features, to focus on fixing privacy and security issues within the platform. On July 1, 2020, at the end of the freeze, the company stated it had released 100 new safety features over the 90-day period. Those efforts include end-to-end encryption for all users, turning on meeting passwords by default, giving users

SECTION 10

#1732775922573

1800-554: A carrier agreement with Global BT Business to offer a fully managed Zoom Meetings service featuring a choice of connectivity and integration with its global voice network. In February 2021, Zoom added a "virtual receptionist" feature in the Kiosk Mode for Zoom Rooms. The feature was created to cater to in-person visitors at a business to interact in the lobby without physical contact. On March 22, 2021, Zoom announced that it would start selling its videoconferencing technology as

1950-478: A chief superintendent. All divisional commanders are "people who came up through the ranks in that part of the country". Divisions are further split into Area Commands under chief inspectors. These are then managed by ward;under an inspector, mirroring the 353 wards used in local authority elections; every ward in Scotland has its own local policing team (response) and problem solving team (community). As of 2023,

2100-579: A complaint referred to them by Greater Manchester Police . This complaint alleges that the SNP recorded unregistered cash gifts as money brought in by fundraising to conceal a "cash for seats" operation, whereby donors were prioritised for selection for elected seats. In November 2023, two former sheriffs , Kevin Drummond KC and Douglas Cusine, of the legal group Quis, warned that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service raised questions over

2250-676: A deputy chief officer and ten assistant chief constables. All force executive officers are based at Tulliallan Castle in Kincardine, Fife or Stirling Randolphfield. Police Scotland uses the same rank structure and insignia as other police forces in the United Kingdom. Local policing in Scotland is overseen by a deputy chief constable. The country is divided geographically into 3 regions – North, East and West, each headed by an assistant chief constable. There are 13 divisions, each covering one or more local authority areas and headed by

2400-660: A diverse fleet of vehicles, including many varied high speed watercraft. In July 2020 Police Scotland in co-operation with Ultimate Boats Police Scotland arranged a 3 year contract to operate a purpose built fully recyclable high speed vessel. The boat can reach up to 50 knots with a range of 400 nautical miles and is based on the River Clyde in order to provide extra support to marine incidents. The vessel became operational in June 2022. The mounted branches of Strathclyde Police and Lothian and Borders Police were merged prior to

2550-514: A document for peer review, detailing its plans to ultimately bring end-to-end encryption to the software. In April 2020, Citizen Lab researchers discovered that a single, server-generated AES-128 key is being shared between all participants in ECB mode , which is deprecated due to its pattern-preserving characteristics of the ciphertext. During test calls between participants in Canada and United States,

2700-470: A feature integrating third-party apps so they can be used within the Zoom interface during meetings. The first such apps were expected to be available around the end of 2020, from companies including Slack , Salesforce , Dropbox , and Qatalog . In October 2020, Zoom gave its users better security with an upgrade to end-to-end encryption for its online meetings network. Also in October 2020, Zoom signed

2850-553: A former SNP candidate for the City of Edinburgh Council who was later reselected for the 2024 council by-election, wrote on Twitter: "We should be completely clear about the events of the last few days. The British establishment could not destroy the SNP at the polls. So they are destroying us through the media and a deliberately protracted overblown police and legal action. It was announced in early April, after Murrell's arrest, that accountants Johnston Carmichael had resigned from auditing

3000-479: A grotesque circus, compounded by the storming of SNP HQ." Foote also insisted on Peter Murrell's innocence: "First minister Sturgeon and her husband lived under crushingly intense scrutiny. It is inconceivable to me that Peter would so much as consider doing something dodgy lest it rebound and put his wife in jeopardy." Sir Iain Livingstone , then Chief Constable of Police Scotland, defended the investigation at

3150-479: A group of young people attempting to contact spirits through a remote séance on Zoom, and premiered on Shudder in July 2020. A live reading of Kristoffer Diaz 's 2009 play The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity over Zoom streamed on Play-PerView from August 15t to August 20, 2020. In the 2021 film Locked Down , directed by Doug Liman and starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor , characters communicate through Zoom conferences. From July 3 to 4, 2020,

SECTION 20

#1732775922573

3300-412: A live table read of the script for the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High was hosted by Dane Cook , with performers including Brad Pitt , Jennifer Aniston , Julia Roberts , original cast member Sean Penn , Matthew McConaughey , Shia LaBeouf , Morgan Freeman (who served as the narrator), Jimmy Kimmel , Ray Liotta , and John Legend , to raise money for the charity CORE . The broadcast of

3450-652: A loan of £107,620 made to the SNP in June 2021 had come from the party's then-CEO Peter Murrell, and that the Electoral Commission had not been informed until over a year later, in August 2022, despite this being a breach of the commission's reporting rules. The stated reason for the loan was to assist with the party's cash-flow after the Scottish Parliament election in May 2021, although by April 2023

3600-451: A marketing intelligence company known as Nacho Analytics (NA), which provided its members access to the URLs of real-time Zoom meetings of firms such as Oracle, Dell, Walmart, Uber, UCLA and Capital One. NA's dissemination of meeting URLs enabled its members to Zoombomb these meetings. In April 2020, Zoom increased its default security settings to mitigate Zoombombing. The company also created

3750-477: A meeting of the Scottish Police Authority on 25 May 2023, saying that; "A diligent, thorough and proportionate criminal inquiry is being conducted with integrity. I have previously asserted and will reassert today that I would fiercely resist any attempt to bring political pressure to my decision making or upon any police operation." Sturgeon was arrested on 11 June 2023. Later that day, she

3900-679: A new "report a user to Zoom" button, intended to catch those behind Zoombombing attacks. Zoom encrypts its public data streams, using TLS 1.2 with AES-256 ( Advanced Encryption Standard ) to protect signaling , and AES-128 to protect streaming media . Security researchers and reporters have criticized the company for its lack of transparency and poor encryption practices. Zoom initially claimed to use " end-to-end encryption " in its marketing materials, but later clarified it meant "from Zoom end point to Zoom end point" (meaning effectively between Zoom servers and Zoom clients), which The Intercept described as misleading and "dishonest". Alex Stamos ,

4050-609: A number of addresses. The police searched Murrell and Sturgeon's private residence in Glasgow, including the garden, and also searched and removed documentation from the SNP's headquarters in Edinburgh. After questioning, Murrell was released without charge pending further investigation. A Niesmann + Bischoff motorhome, with a sales price of around £110,000, was subsequently seized from the home of Peter Murrell's mother in Fife as part of

4200-569: A peer-review of the operation was conducted by the National Crime Agency , which the police described as normal "good practice". In October 2022, the accountant firm Johnston Carmichael resigned from auditing the SNP's finances, after over a decade working with the party. The news of their departure was kept from the party's NEC and did not become public knowledge until April 2023. The SNP would be without auditors for over six months. In December 2022, Wings Over Scotland reported that

4350-473: A report in relation to Peter Murrell and that an investigation into two other individuals "a man aged 72 and a 53-year-old woman" were still ongoing. Following the 2024 United Kingdom general election , where the SNP lost 39 Westminster seats and was reduced to the second-largest party in Scotland, former SNP MPs blamed the ongoing police investigation for the scale of the defeat: Tommy Sheppard , who lost his seat to Scottish Labour , remarked; "And then there

4500-422: A security vulnerability was discovered that allowed a remote unauthenticated attacker to spoof UDP messages that allowed the attacker to remove attendees from meetings, spoof messages from users, or hijack shared screens. The company released fixes shortly after the vulnerability was discovered. In July 2019, security researcher Jonathan Leitschuh disclosed a zero-day vulnerability allowing any website to force

4650-508: A single offering, was launched. Also in June 2022, Zoom opened its Zoom Apps developer program to all developers, via Zoom Apps SDK. With the release of Zoom One, the company offers video conferencing translation and captioning for 11 languages: English, simplified Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. This feature is available with the Business Plus and Enterprise Plus plans. Zoom

Operation Branchform - Misplaced Pages Continue

4800-468: A standing authority or if they were secured in the vehicles. The operational functions and cover of the ARV's also varied including if they could be tasked for routine incidents and one legacy force did not have a regular ARV patrol. Police Scotland introduced ARV patrols in all 13 local policing divisions in Scotland with 275 dedicated officers. ARV officers carry a X26 or X2 Taser , a Glock 17 handgun and

4950-515: A statutory duty to work with councils to shape local services. Establishing a single service aims to ensure more equal access to national and specialist services and expertise such as major investigation teams and firearms teams, whenever and wherever they are needed." The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill was published in January 2012 and was approved on 27 June 2012 after scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament . The bill received royal assent as

5100-409: A substantial increase in stop and search activities and warned any police officers not meeting the higher targets would be subjected to a performance development review. Police Scotland has previously denied setting stop and search performance targets for individual officers. The next month, it was revealed that between April and December 2013, Police Scotland's officers stopped and searched members of

5250-1046: A total of three hull-loss accidents involving their aircraft, two of which resulted in fatalities. Police Scotland had access to a loan helicopter (also a Eurocopter EC135, registration G-CPSH , formerly of the Chiltern Air Support Unit ) from the National Police Air Service . This was removed from service with the formation of NPAS, due to budget cuts. Police Scotland received their own, new H135 (renamed EC135) in early 2017, registered G-POLS. The aircraft continues to be leased from Babcock, who also still provide pilots, maintenance and support. Police Scotland has two full-time units skilled in both underwater search and marine capability are based in Greenock (1 Sergeant and 11 Constables) and Aberdeen (dive supervisor and four Constables), as well as number of non-dedicated divers are retained across

5400-429: A virtual table read of an episode of The Golden Girls , reimagined with an all-Black cast. The second episode featured an all-Black cast in a table read of an episode of Friends , hosted by Gabrielle Union and featuring Sterling K. Brown and Uzo Aduba . Familiarity with Zoom meetings in nation-state diplomatic and bureaucratic circles, partially due to the global COVID-19 pandemic , substantially contributed to

5550-440: A weapon whilst pretending they care about truth and honesty." On 22 August, the SNP's accounts for 2023 were published by the Electoral Commission. The accounts showed that the party still owed Peter Murrell £60,000 for a loan of £107,620 made three years previously to support cash flow after the 2021 Scottish Parliament election . The party reported a surplus of £661,568, after reporting a deficit of £804,278 in 2022. However, this

5700-438: Is a proprietary videotelephony software program developed by Zoom Communications . The free plan allows up to 100 concurrent participants, with a 40-minute time restriction. Users have the option to upgrade by subscribing to a paid plan, the highest of which supports up to 1,000 concurrent participants for meetings lasting up to 30 hours. A beta version of Zoom that could host conferences with only up to 15 video participants

5850-471: Is absolutely no doubt that it is running in relation to Mr Murrell, so certainly the police and Crown office have to be alive to that. The police inquiry cannot go on indefinitely." On 6 October, the Sunday Mail reported that prosecutors were investigating claims that over £100,000, supposedly spent on refurbishments to SNP party headquarters, was paid to a non-existent company. A major high street bank

6000-622: Is answerable to the Scottish Police Authority , and the force is inspected by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland . Scotland is also policed by the Ministry of Defence Police , British Transport Police , and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary within their respective jurisdictions. Both the Metropolitan Police and National Crime Agency also have some jurisdiction in Scotland. In regard to

6150-449: Is available for domestic telephone service in 47 countries, and the company has sold 3 million seats for the service. Zoom for Home, a category of products designed for home use, became available in August 2020. Zoom Phone Provider Exchange, which gives customers options for voice services, reaches more than 70 countries. In July 2022, an option was added on Zoom Phone to turn on end-to-end encryption during one-on-one calls between users on

Operation Branchform - Misplaced Pages Continue

6300-414: Is available on all platforms, except for the official Zoom web client. Zoom also offers a transcription service using Otter.ai software that allows businesses to store transcriptions of the Zoom meetings online and search them, including separating and labeling different speakers. In July 2020, Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone became available as hardware as a service products. As of July 2022, Zoom Phone

6450-913: Is currently the head of roads policing. The Collision Investigation function sits within Road Policing division. Unlike many other forces, there is no dedicated Collision Investigation Unit. Instead investigating serious and fatal RTCs lies with specially trained officers who carry out the role beside their core road patrol functions. Six operational support units (OSUs) have been established to provide specially skilled officers trained in over ground search, public order and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) response. When not used in their specialist roles OSU officers are deployed in local communities focusing on issues as directed by demand. OSUs are based in Aberdeen, Inverness and Dundee (North), Edinburgh and Alloa (East) and Glasgow (West). Across

6600-468: Is to distribute An Independent Scotland: Household Guide to every household – all 2,460,000 of them! To achieve that, I am asking you to join me in making a donation to this specific project". In January 2020, the pro-independence blogger Stuart Campbell , through his website Wings Over Scotland , claimed that the SNP's published accounts for 2018 did not contain enough money to cover the ring-fenced sums that were said to have been raised. In October 2020,

6750-448: Is used by a variety of individuals and private and public organizations, including banks, schools, universities, healthcare providers, and government agencies, and for ceremonies such as birthday parties, funeral services, and bar and bat mitzvah services. In 2020, Zoom formed a partnership with Formula One to create a virtual club where fans can go behind the scenes and take part in virtual activities through Zoom, beginning with

6900-578: The New York Times reported that Dropbox engineers had traced Zoom's security vulnerabilities back over two years, pushing Zoom to address such issues more quickly, and paying top hackers to find problems with Zoom's software. In the same article, the New York Times noted that security researchers have praised Zoom for improving its response times, and for quickly patching recent bugs and removing features that could have privacy risks. In

7050-598: The 101 telephone number and contact points which connect callers at police stations directly to officers, as reasons for the proposed closures. The plans were condemned by some opposition MSPs . In November 2016, it emerged that 58 further stations could close as part of an estates review. In 2014, the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh was opened. This £73   million secure facility houses several specialist investigative and analytical departments of

7200-474: The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards on September 20, 2020, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, featured nominees participating through Zoom. On an alternate music video for the 2020 single " Ice Cream " by Blackpink featuring Selena Gomez , the artists appeared via Zoom from their homes. The series Zoom Where It Happens , airing on Zoom as a partnership between Zoom and Black female artists, launched in September 2020 with

7350-704: The Hungarian Grand Prix . An article published in July 2020 in the San Francisco Chronicle noted a new real estate trend in San Francisco and Oakland where some listings include "Zoom rooms" with backdrops for Zoom calls. Richard Nelson 's play What Do We Need to Talk About? takes place on Zoom, with its main characters congregating online during the COVID-19 pandemic using the platform. Written and directed by Nelson, it

7500-517: The Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism at the Home Office . Major Investigation Teams (MITs) are located throughout Scotland and are responsible for leading the investigation of all murder inquiries and large-scale and complex criminal investigations. Although each MIT will be responsible for investigating cases within its own area, where required they will be able to be deployed anywhere in

7650-572: The Police National Computer and related databases; this unit was to share work with an existing department in Govan, a proposal which local council leaders claimed was not what was originally presented to them during the consultation process. That department was formally launched in May 2018. As of August 2023 , the force is led by an executive team that includes Chief Constable Jo Farrell , plus three deputy chief constables,

SECTION 50

#1732775922573

7800-547: The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 . In September 2012, chief constable Stephen House of Strathclyde Police was announced as the future first chief constable of Police Scotland. He was sworn into the post on 1 October 2012. The first chair of the Scottish Police Authority , Vic Emery (then the convener of the Scottish Police Services Authority ), was appointed in August 2012. As

7950-574: The Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Conservatives called on the SNP to give new assurance that it would continue to co-operate with the police inquiry. Speaking to the Daily Record , SNP leader and First Minister Humza Yousaf rejected Foote's past comments on the investigation and re-iterated that the party would cooperate fully with the police. In late August 2023, Police Scotland confirmed that they were assessing

8100-598: The United Kingdom CTSFO Network , and are equipped with the SIG MCX carbine. In June 2016, it was announced there would be an additional 124 armed officers, of these, 90 officers would be dedicated to armed response vehicles and 34 would be trainers and specialist firearms officers, bringing the total number of armed officers to 365. The Dog Branch comprises 75 police dog handlers located throughout Scotland. Training has been centralised at

8250-458: The dark web . In response to the multitude of security and privacy issues found, Zoom began a comprehensive security plan, which included consulting with Luta Security, Trail of Bits, former Facebook CSO Alex Stamos , former Google global lead of privacy technology Lea Kissner, BishopFox, the NCC Group , and Johns Hopkins University cryptographer Matthew D. Green . On April 20, 2020,

8400-463: The "protracted period of time" taken by the investigation. Drummond and Cusine said that; "The Crown is likely to have been kept up to date with the nature of the inquiry. If that is correct it can only be conjectured that either the Crown has instructed further investigation of elements of that report, or the delay is not on the part of the police but on the part of the Crown." They further added that; "In

8550-598: The Air Support Unit was inherited from Strathclyde Police , the only police force in Scotland to possess such a unit at amalgamation in April 2013. The majority of calls the helicopter is tasked with are missing persons incidents, however it also supports the likes of vehicle pursuits, command and control for events as well as mutual aid for other police services. The helicopter crew consists of one civilian pilot and two police officer observers. The Police Scotland and Strathclyde Police Air Support Units have suffered

8700-543: The Crown Office." Sillars suggested that the delays showed that the Crown Office was "unable to disentangle law from politics." Police Scotland Police Scotland is the second-largest police force in the United Kingdom (after the Metropolitan Police ) in terms of officer numbers, and by far the largest territorial police force in terms of its geographic area of responsibility. The chief constable

8850-626: The Domestic Abuse Investigation Units. Another unit within the division is the Force Flexible Policing Unit (FFPU, or "Flexi Teams" as they are known locally), based in all three command areas (North, East, West). This unit's primary function is to act upon specific geographical intelligence relating to spikes in crime trends (particularly involving violence, alcohol, antisocial behaviour or other high volume crime), and carrying out taskings in

9000-476: The Electoral Commission published the SNP's 2019 accounts. These did not list the referendum campaign funds separately and showed that the money the SNP had to hand, around £97,000, was again much less than the amount that was said to be ring-fenced. The SNP's then treasurer, Colin Beattie , emailed SNP donors regarding allegations that the referendum campaign fund had already been spent. Beattie insisted that there

9150-515: The Grampian and Highlands Regions. The RPAS unit use two types of drones, being the DJI M210 and DJI Phantom . The drones are transported via 4x4 vehicles and are operated by two specially trained police officers. The RPAS unit is primarily used in urban areas at events as well as missing person searches, road traffic collisions (RTCs) and post incident investigations. The helicopter element of

SECTION 60

#1732775922573

9300-492: The International Association of Constitutional Law and Alma Mater Europaea used Zoom Webinar to conduct the first "round-the-clock and round-the-globe" event, featuring 52 speakers from 28 countries and several time zones. Soon after, a format of conferences that "virtually travel the globe with the sun from East to West", became common, some of them running for several days. On September 17, 2020,

9450-509: The Mac device to perform a privilege escalation attack by installing malicious code using the app's auto-update feature, thereby giving them full control over the victim's device. " Zoombombing " is a phenomenon where uninvited participants join a meeting to cause disruption. In July 2019, security researcher Sam Jadali uncovered the DataSpii leak. This catastrophic leak was facilitated by

9600-707: The Metropolitan Police this is due to their national responsibilities for the protection of the Royal Family and other prominent persons, such as the Prime Minister, and for counter-terrorism . After a consultation process, the Scottish Government confirmed on 8 September 2011 that a single police service would be created in Scotland. The Scottish Government stated that "reform will safeguard frontline policing in communities by creating designated local senior officers for every council area with

9750-530: The National Dog Training Centre in Glasgow. The Air Support Unit consists of three Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) teams based at Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness as well as one helicopter based at Glasgow City Heliport which is owned and operated by Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore under contract. RPAS became operational in May 2019 at Aberdeen and Inverness due to the high amounts of search for persons incidents in

9900-499: The SNP as a whole deny any wrongdoing. As of February 2024, Police Scotland had spent over an estimated £1.3 million on the investigation according to a Freedom of Information release. Fundraising for a proposed second Scottish independence referendum by the Scottish National Party began in 2017 and, after the snap general election of that year, the fundraising effort was closed down. Labour Party Member of

10050-613: The SNP group in Parliament, was at risk if the SNP did not produce audited accounts for their Westminster Group by 31 May 2023. It was announced on 3 May 2023 that the SNP had appointed new auditors, the AMS Accountants Group in Manchester , over six months after the previous auditors had resigned. The SNP Westminster Group ultimately submitted their audited accounts before the 31 May 2023 deadline. Legal costs from

10200-506: The SNP's Finance and Audit Committee (Cllr Frank Ross, Cynthia Guthrie and Allison Graham) resigned over a lack of access to party accounts. As a result, long-time Scottish independence campaigner Sean Clerkin made a complaint to Police Scotland about the allegedly missing funds in March 2021. In May 2021, Douglas Chapman also resigned as SNP National Treasurer, saying he "had not received the support or financial information required to carry out

10350-533: The SNP's finances (both for the central party and the Westminster Parliamentary group), after over a decade working with the party. It later emerged that they had done so "around October" 2022, according to Humza Yousaf , the new leader of the SNP, who also said he was unaware that the party was without auditors until he took office. The news of their departure was kept from the party's NEC. Over £1 million of Short Money , public funds payable to

10500-561: The Scottish Parliament James Kelly asked the Electoral Commission to investigate whether the SNP had spent the money on campaigning in the general election. The SNP denied this, saying the money raised was ring-fenced for a future referendum campaign. A second fundraiser followed in April 2019. This fundraiser also claimed to be ring-fencing donations for a specific purpose, saying "Our plan

10650-631: The Scottish public at a rate of 979.6 per 10,000 people, a rate three times higher than that of the Metropolitan Police and nine times higher than that of the New York Police Department . It was also revealed that the Scottish Police Authority, the body tasked with overseeing Police Scotland, had removed criticism of the force's use of stop and search powers from a report it had commissioned. Also removed from

10800-676: The Secret Intelligence Service ( MI6 ), the Security Service ( MI5 ), and many other police forces in the UK. Police Scotland has limited responsibilities in relation to counter terrorism, with the Metropolitan Police being the main force behind counter terrorism operations throughout the UK. However, the SCD does have counter-terrorism in its remit, and relies on daily support from several UK agencies, including MI5 and

10950-535: The Specialist Crime and Operational Support Divisions e.g. Dog Unit and Roads Policing. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic , at the request of Police Scotland, Special Constables with the organisation increased their hours. Completing more than 90,000 duty hours from the months of March 2020 to April 2021, with A & D Division's each volunteering over 10,000 hours. Zoom (software) Zoom Workplace (commonly known and stylized as zoom )

11100-1004: The Verifpal citation was pulled from the whitepaper at the last moment for unspecified reasons. Kobeissi also linked to a tweet by Zoom security consultant Lea Kissner which he described as a public character assassination attempt issued in response to his repeated requests to have his work cited in the research paper published by Zoom. Zoom admitted that some calls in early April 2020 and prior were mistakenly routed through servers in mainland China , prompting some governments and businesses to cease their usage of Zoom. The company later announced that data of free users outside of China would "never be routed through China" and that paid subscribers will be able to customize which data center regions they want to use. The company has data centers in Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America. In August 2021,

11250-576: The ZoomOpener webserver without adequate consent, did not uninstall the web server after uninstalling the Zoom App, and secured its Zoom Meetings with a lower level of encryption than promised." On November 9, 2020, a settlement was reached, requiring the company to stop misrepresenting security features, create an information security program, obtain biannual assessments by a third party, and implement additional security measures. In November 2018,

11400-408: The ability to choose which data centers calls are routed from, consulting with security experts, forming a CISO council, an improved bug bounty program, and working with third parties to help test security. Yuan also stated that Zoom would be sharing a transparency report later in 2020. On November 16, 2020, Zoom announced a new security feature to combat disruptions during a session. The new feature

11550-639: The ability to record meetings and have them automatically transcribed. On some computers and operating systems, users are able to select a virtual background, which can be downloaded from different sites, to use as a backdrop behind themselves. Use of the platform is free for video conferences of up to 100 participants at once, with a 40-minute time limit. There is a 10-minute timeout period between free 40-minute meetings. For longer or larger conferences with more features, paid subscriptions are available. Features geared towards business conferences, such as Zoom Rooms, are also available. Up to 49 people can be seen on

11700-405: The absence of any explanation by Police Scotland or the Crown Office, the delay in such a high profile case is capable of stimulating perceptions of cover-up. For that reason alone, it can be said that the Crown Office should offer a public explanation for the lack of progress." The Crown Office said that Police Scotland had yet to submit a report to them. Sean Clerkin, who made the original report to

11850-451: The accounts owing to missing documentation related to membership, donations, and raffle income for the period of 2021–2022. The SNP insisted that this was due to "administrative processes", and that "there is no suggestion that the accounts do not present an accurate picture of the party’s financial position." In July, the police said the operation had grown beyond the initial allegation of fraud and would now look at potential embezzlement and

12000-508: The bank account", to increase transparency. According to a party source, Sturgeon insisted that "there was nothing wrong with the accounts and that people should stop talking about it because it was undermining the party. It's fair to say she was pretty raging about it. She went on at some length telling everyone that everything was absolutely fine and that it shouldn't be discussed." The recommendations in Brown's report were not acted on. In 2022,

12150-566: The branch obtains any intelligence they shall pass on the information to the security service (MI5) or the service / agency appropriate to the current situation. The Special Branch also gathers intelligence on political and animal rights extremist activity, and any environmental extremism. In addition the Special Branch provides personal protection to VIPs or certain individuals who may be vulnerable to potential terror attacks or other types of attacks. The Special Branch works very closely with

12300-490: The companies disabled their integration. In May 2020, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it was looking into Zoom's privacy practices. The FTC alleged in a complaint that since at least 2016, "Zoom maintained the cryptographic keys that could allow Zoom to access the content of its customers' meetings, did not provide advertised end-to-end encryption, falsely claimed HIPAA compliance, installed

12450-404: The company addressed security and privacy concerns. Zoom has been criticized for its privacy and corporate data sharing policies, as well as for enabling video hosts to potentially violate the privacy of those participating in their calls. In March 2020, a Motherboard article found that the company's iOS app was sending device analytics data to Facebook on startup, regardless of whether

12600-468: The conduct of the Police Scotland investigation, saying that the possibility that Branchform is a "wild goose chase" should be considered, and warning of "serious consequences for the investigating authorities" should no charges be brought. Foote also denounced the search of Sturgeon and Murrell's home: "The use of forensic tents and a whole platoon of plod at the house turned a routine process into

12750-468: The country to provide additional support. The dive and marine unit supports several kinds of operations such as missing persons, counter terrorism, evidence recovery event patrols, etc utilising a range of vehicles and equipment. All Police Scotland divers are specially trained and must participate in an eight week dive course in co-operation with other specialist units, all with a varied background in policing and experience. The dive and marine unit boasts

12900-570: The country to respond to need and demand. The National Anti Corruption Unit is the first of its kind in UK policing and works in partnership with the public sector to prevent corruption in publicly funded organisations. The unit also offers a specialist investigative capability. The unit is split into two teams, one focused internally within Police Scotland whilst a second team focuses on other publicly funded organisations. The existing Scottish Intelligence Coordination Unit and Strathclyde Police Vice and Trafficking Unit combined on 1 April 2013 to form

13050-590: The date of formation approached, it was widely reported that the new chief constable and the Scottish Police Authority were in disagreement over the control of backroom staff. Police Scotland officially came into being on 1 April 2013 under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, merging the following police forces around Scotland: This merger also included the: In June 2014, a leaked Police Scotland internal email to police managers in Dunfermline ordered

13200-401: The design phase of Zoom's new encryption protocol, as described in their whitepaper published in June 2020. Kobeissi published a week's worth of conversations with Zoom's security leadership in support of his claim, including Max Krohn, which included eight Verifpal models that Zoom's team asked for feedback on, promises of a citation to credit Kobeissi for his contributions and an admission that

13350-506: The direction of the investigation into Nicola Sturgeon and Colin Beattie. An Advice and Guidance Report was sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service , detailing the progress of the investigation so far and asking for formal direction on how to proceed. A police spokesperson said: "On 9 August, we presented the findings of the investigation so far to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and we await their direction on what further action should be taken." The Crown Office said

13500-473: The divisional structure is as follows: As of September 2023 : The Specialist Crime Division (SCD) provides access to national investigative and intelligence resources for matters relating to major crime, organised crime, counter terrorism, intelligence, covert policing and public protection. SCD comprises more than 2000 officers and targets individuals that pose the most significant threat to communities. Officers from Border Policing Command operate in

13650-582: The efficacy of the Western response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Zoom has been criticized for "security lapses and poor design choices" that have resulted in heightened scrutiny of its software. Many of Zoom's issues "surround deliberate features designed to reduce friction in meetings", which Citizen Lab found to "also, by design, reduce privacy or security". In March 2020, New York State Attorney General Letitia James launched an inquiry into Zoom's privacy and security practices. The inquiry

13800-434: The entirety of 2019. In March 2020, the Zoom app was downloaded 2.13 million times. During the COVID-19 pandemic , there was a major increase in the use of Zoom for remote work , distance education , and online social relations. Zoom was one of the most downloaded mobile apps worldwide in 2020 with over 500 million downloads. As of April 2020, Zoom had more than 300 million daily meeting participants (calculated as

13950-615: The exchange of information and intelligence between Police Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service . The unit also develops and supports policy, procedure, planning, research, technology development, advice and communication between Police Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service. The Licensing and Violence Reduction Division (LVRD) contains a number of miscellaneous functions including the titular alcohol licensing and violence reduction teams. One of

14100-426: The fiduciary duties of National Treasurer". Nicola Sturgeon , then party leader and wife to Peter Murrell , then the party's chief executive, took over as acting treasurer, with Electoral Commission rules requiring someone to be in the post at all times. MP Joanna Cherry then resigned from the SNP's National Executive Committee later that month, saying on Twitter, "A number of factors have prevented me from fulfilling

14250-546: The force area the OSU comprises a total of 6 Inspectors, 18 Sergeants and 172 Constables. Armed Policing provides Armed Response Vehicles (ARV), the Specialist Firearms Unit and Armed Policing Training. Prior to the inception of Police Scotland, the routine tasking and visibility of ARV officers varied widely across Scotland with deployment models varying for matters such as if officers carried side arms with

14400-630: The form of high visibility patrols and public reassurance. The City of Glasgow was one of the first in Scotland to successfully trial a specialist Violence Reduction Unit . Policing of Scotland's roads network is the responsibility of the Roads Policing Unit. The unit is split into three areas, west, east and north which cover their respective Local Police Divisions. The departments aim is to achieve casualty reduction and wider operational objectives. There are roughly 500 road policing officers in Scotland, Chief Superintendent Louise Blakelock

14550-492: The formation of Police Scotland. The combined branch now provides mounted support throughout Scotland. The mounted branch is based in Stewarton , East Ayrshire , and has a strength of 22 horses. Police Scotland operate three mountain rescue teams (Grampian, Strathclyde & Tayside), which provide search and rescue capabilities to those in need. Police Scotland also holds responsibility for search and rescue provision across

14700-484: The former First Minister's home has been very heavy handed. It was completely over the top." Dolan called for the issue of police powers to be raised in the Scottish Parliament . His comments were criticised by Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation , as "based on theory rather than fact". Police Scotland declined to comment on an ongoing investigation. Others claimed that

14850-581: The higher-profile units within the LVRD is the Domestic Abuse Task Force (DATF). The DATF has a presence in each of the command areas as DATF (West), DATF (East) and DATF (North). The DATF (North) is unique amongst the three in having sub-offices in N Division (Highlands and Islands), A Division (North-East) and D Division (Tayside). The DATF has national responsibility for pro-actively addressing domestic abuse. Its divisional equivalents are

15000-485: The identity of meeting participants), and Video Engagement Center (for businesses to digitally interact with customers). Other updates include revamped virtual whiteboard features, including touchscreen whiteboards that can be digitized for remote participants, and improved collaboration between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Chat. In October 2021, the option to automatically generate closed captions in English for Zoom meetings

15150-412: The investigation to be ended by the end of 2024 so it would not overshadow the 2026 Holyrood elections. Criminal defence lawyer Thomas Leonard Ross KC also expressed concern at delays in the investigation: "Once somebody is charged then they have the right to a trial within a reasonable time. Before a person is formally charged, there might be an argument as to whether the clock is efficiently running. There

15300-466: The investigation was a conspiracy: SNP MSP James Dornan accused the police and media of having "some kind of collusion about making sure the media are in attendance when the slightest thing happens", and described the search of the Sturgeon-Murrell home as "like Fred West 's house". Police Scotland denied any suggestion that the media was informed of the search ahead of time. Mairianna Clyde,

15450-449: The investigation were reported to have contributed to the SNP having financial difficulties by April 2023. On 18 April 2023, Colin Beattie was arrested in connection with the investigation. He was released without charge pending further investigation later the same day. He resigned as party treasurer the next day. MP Stuart McDonald was appointed as the new treasurer. In May 2023, Murray Foote, previously SNP media chief, openly denounced

15600-499: The investigation, including those who were not in place when the inquiry began. The Times reported that the move was directed by the Crown Office. On 18 April 2024, Peter Murrell was re-arrested and charged with embezzlement. He was released from custody the same day, and later resigned his membership of the SNP. On 23 May 2024, the police sent a report on their findings to Scotland's prosecution service. A Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service spokesman confirmed that it received

15750-409: The investigation. Beattie said he did not know about the purchase of the motorhome at the time. The police's tactics in their search of Sturgeon and Murrell's home, especially the erection of a forensic tent over the front door, were questioned by Scottish Nationalists. Noel Dolan, a former special adviser to Nicola Sturgeon, said: "I believe the police behaviour in the use of tents outside and invading

15900-844: The key was provisioned from servers located in mainland China where they are subject to the China Internet Security Law . On June 3, 2020, Zoom announced that users on their free tier will not have access to end-to-end encryption so that they could cooperate with the FBI and law enforcement. Later, they said that they do not "proactively monitor meeting content". On June 17, 2020, the company reversed course and announced that free users would have access to end-to-end encryption after all. On September 7, 2020, cryptography researcher Nadim Kobeissi accused Zoom's security team of failing to credit his open-source protocol analysis research software, Verifpal, with being instrumental during

16050-567: The largest items related to work on SNP HQ. On 28 October, in a letter to the Herald , former SNP depute leader Jim Sillars expressed concern over delays in the investigation. Sillars compared the SNP's administrative arrangements to that of "a very small company", and questioned why "with only three people originally taken to a police station for questioning, and the small size of the SNP management core, apparently no conclusion can be reached after three years of police investigation and references to

16200-425: The loans, but would not act until the police investigation had concluded. The same month, Police Scotland was investigating claims that signatures were forged on documents related to SNP finances, with the named person denying that they had written the signature, or having any knowledge of the documents. By the end of February 2024, it was reported that Police Scotland had requested to re-interview SNP staff as part of

16350-479: The major airports in Scotland and undertake examinations and searches of passengers under the Terrorism Act 2000 . The Special Branch - note that "special branch" is not the official term used by Police Scotland - is a covert part of the service, which may consist of various units. The Special Branch's primary role is to gather intelligence on terrorist operations and all terrorist-related incidents, and when

16500-447: The majority of the loan had not been repaid, with £60,000 still outstanding. In February 2023, it was reported that the police planned to speak to key witnesses within the party. Former party treasurer Douglas Chapman, as well as several other former officials from the party's governing body, were subsequently reported to have been contacted by police in the days before Nicola Sturgeon announced her intention to resign as First Minister. In

16650-418: The mandate party members gave me to improve transparency & scrutiny & to uphold the party’s constitution. I won’t be making any further comment at this stage". A month after Chapman's resignation, Peter Murrell loaned more than £107,620 to the party. This loan was not declared to the Electoral Commission until August 2022, more than a year late. Beattie was re-appointed as Treasurer in June 2021. After

16800-456: The misuse of funds. That month, the outgoing Chief Constable, Sir Iain Livingstone, re-iterated his defence of the investigation, telling the BBC's Today programme that the time taken was proportionate to the allegations of fraud and embezzlement because of the need to obtain information from banks and other financial institutions. Addressing allegations that the search of Sturgeon and Murrell's house

16950-642: The mode will hide participants' screens from each other (though they can see each other's names) while the host retains the ability to see everyone's camera stream or screen share. The feature is available across all Zoom accounts, including free ones. In September 2021 at Zoomtopia, the company announced that end-to-end encryption would now be available as an upgrade for Zoom Phone users. The company also announced bring your own key (BYOK) (for users to manage their own encryption keys that Zoom cannot access or see), Verified Identity (a multi-factor authentication feature working through Okta that allows users to confirm

17100-430: The nation, a responsibility it often delegates to mountain rescue or HM Coastguard . Special constables are unpaid volunteers who have the same police powers as their full-time counterparts when on or off duty. They must spend a minimum of 96 hours per year on duty. Although they are unpaid a "Recognition Award Scheme", remodelled in 2016, awards a payment of £1,100 to Special constables who achieve 180 hours service in

17250-403: The new National Human Trafficking Unit (NHTU). The investigation of rape and other sexual offences is a key priority for Police Scotland. National Rape Taskforce units are located in Glasgow and Aberdeen and work alongside Divisional Rape Investigation Units. They provide a national investigative capacity and a case review function. The Prison Intelligence Unit (PIU) provides an interface for

17400-478: The number of times someone joins a meeting, which can happen multiple times per day). Zoom One has six tiers: Basic, Pro, Business, Business Plus, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus. Zoom is compatible with Windows , macOS , iOS , Android , ChromeOS , and Linux . It is noted for its simple interface and usability, regardless of technological expertise. Features include one-on-one meetings, group video conferences, screen sharing, plugins, browser extensions, and

17550-527: The officers based there transferred to a new £24   million office in the Dalmarnock district of the city, although some operational functions, such as the control room for Ayrshire and Renfrewshire , moved to the regional communications facility in Govan . In October 2013, it was announced that the number of police control rooms and call handling service centres in Scotland was under review, with

17700-399: The party to the Electoral Commission . The investigation has seen the arrest of former SNP Treasurer Colin Beattie and former SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon , both of whom were released pending further investigations, and former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell , who has been charged with embezzlement of funds in relation to the investigation. All three and

17850-470: The police including forensic services , and is also the base for other law enforcement-related agencies such as the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service , HM Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Agency . Police Scotland was responsible for the security of the 2014 Commonwealth Games . In 2015, the former Strathclyde Police headquarters in Pitt Street, central Glasgow were closed and

18000-505: The police investigation was politically-motivated. Dornan further denounced the investigation as a "farce" in conversation with other Twitter users: "The minute we're seen to even attempt to interfere in police business we would, rightly, be slaughtered. The whole thing is a farce imo [in my opinion] and there are questions for the police to answer but we need to keep our distance... I don't think it's affecting party members much, they see it for what I see it, but it does allow others to use it as

18150-457: The police report is under consideration. At this point, senior Crown Office lawyers were still considering whether there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Peter Murrell and whether it would be in the public interest to do so. In October 2024, nearly two months after submitting the Advice and Guidance Report, Chief Constable Jo Farrell confirmed that Police Scotland had yet to receive a response to

18300-408: The police, claimed that the police were "dragging their heels". By December 2023, Police Scotland was reported to be investigating over 1,000 alleged instances of fraud as part of Operation Branchform, including the provenance of a Jaguar I-Pace worth up to £95,000 that had been bought by Peter Murrell in 2019. The car was photographed on the driveway of Murrell and Sturgeon's home in March 2021, but

18450-668: The possibility of seven out of ten such offices closing. Control rooms considered for closure included Dumfries , Aberdeen and Inverness ; the Dumfries control room closed in May 2014, with the workload absorbed by existing facilities in Glasgow and Motherwell . The facilities in Glenrothes and Stirling soon followed, with all their calls and dispatching moved to a single site for the east of Scotland at Bilston, Midlothian . Closures in Aberdeen and Inverness (with control functionality moving to Dundee and call handling across

18600-438: The press. Murrell was subsequently blamed by the SNP national executive committee for giving Foote misleading figures, and he resigned as SNP Chief Executive "with immediate effect" on 18 March 2023 ahead of a vote of no-confidence. On 5 April 2023, Murrell, by this time no longer the SNP's chief executive, was arrested by Police Scotland in connection with the investigation, with the police saying they were conducting searches at

18750-515: The report and "was still awaiting direction". On 5 October, Sean Clerkin, who made the original complaint to police in 2021, expressed frustration at the protracted nature of the investigation, and claimed to have been subject to persecution from other Scottish independence supporters: "All these years down the line I have been persecuted by nationalists who have persecuted me on social media and at rallies. Threatening to do me in, threatened to take me out and I have had death threats." Clerkin called for

18900-414: The report were calls for a review of stop and search on children and for clarification of the policy's primary aim. In October 2013, Police Scotland announced proposals to close 65 out of 215 police station public counters and reduce opening hours at others. The force cited a drop in the number of people visiting public counters and the development of new ways for the public to contact the police, including

19050-449: The same company account. In September 2020, Zoom added new accessibility features to make the app easier to use for those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or visually impaired. New features include the ability to move around video windows in gallery view, pin video windows to be spotlighted; improved keyboard shortcuts; new tools to adjust the size of closed captioning text; and sign language interpreters' windows can now sit directly next to

19200-463: The same period, there were calls for Murrell to stand down because of the investigation into the loan he had made to the SNP. During the 2023 SNP leadership election , a dispute over membership numbers prompted the resignation of Murray Foote as the party's media chief. Foote had previously been reassured by Peter Murrell that reports that the SNP's membership had dropped by 30,000 were false, and had described such allegations as "inaccurate drivel" to

19350-827: The security feature was previously Web-only. As of April 2020, businesses, schools, and government entities who have restricted or prohibited the use of Zoom on their networks include Google , Siemens , the Australian Defence Force , the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs , the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs , SpaceX , and the New York City Department of Education . In May 2020, the New York City Department of Education lifted their ban on Zoom after

19500-497: The software had more than 200 million daily meeting participants, bringing the company increased challenges. Zoom agreed to focus on data privacy and issue a transparency report. In April 2020, the company released Zoom version 5.0, which addressed a number of the security and privacy concerns. It includes passwords by default, improved encryption, and a new security icon for meetings. In September 2020, Zoom added support for two-factor authentication to its desktop and mobile apps;

19650-403: The speaker. In October 2020 at Zoomtopia, Zoom's annual user conference, the company unveiled OnZoom, a virtual event marketplace with an integrated payment system where users can host and promote free or paid live events. With OnZoom, users will be able to schedule and host one-time events or event series for up to 1,000 attendees and sell tickets online. The company also announced Zoom Apps,

19800-509: The three sites in the Central Belt ) were delayed until 2017 as a result of a Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) review of the service, following a July 2015 incident in which two persons died after their vehicle had crashed off the M9 motorway ; the matter had been reported to the police just after the crash but was not investigated further at the time as the call

19950-414: The time the loans were made, parties were obliged to report donations higher than £7,500. Smaller donations from a single donor which exceed the reporting threshold when taken together also needed to be reported. The SNP accepted that "as both loans were in the same calendar year, they should have been reported". The Electoral Commission said that it would consider enforcement action over the late reporting of

20100-654: The vulnerability and the hidden webserver to allow complete uninstallation. In April 2020, security researchers found vulnerabilities where Windows users' credentials could be exposed. Another vulnerability allowing unprompted access to cameras and microphones was made public. Zoom issued a fix in April 2020. Motherboard reported that there were two Zoom zero-days for macOS and Windows respectively, selling for $ 500,000, on April 15, 2020. Security bug brokers were selling access to Zoom security flaws that could allow remote access into users' computers. Hackers also put up over 500,000 Zoom user names and passwords for sale on

20250-461: Was closed on May 7, 2020, with Zoom not admitting wrongdoing, but agreeing to take added security measures. In April 2020, CEO Yuan apologized for the security issues, stating that some of the issues were a result of Zoom's having been designed for "large institutions with full IT support". He noted that in December 2019, Zoom had a maximum of 10 million daily meeting participants, and in March 2020

20400-644: Was commissioned by The Public Theater and premiered on YouTube on April 29, 2020, as a benefit performance. The New Yorker called it "the first great original play of quarantine". Oprah's Your Life in Focus: A Vision Forward was a live virtual experience hosted by Oprah Winfrey on Zoom from May 16 through June 6, 2020. In Source Material's 2020 play, In These Uncertain Times , directed by Samantha Shay, characters communicate on Zoom. The British found-footage horror film Host , directed by Rob Savage , features

20550-491: Was expanded to all accounts, including free ones. The feature had previously only been available for Premium users. In April 2022, Zoom added features including gesture recognition, a virtual whiteboard, and Zoom IQ for sales. In February 2022, the company launched Zoom Contact Center, a cloud contact center optimized for video calls and integrated directly into Zoom. In June 2022, Zoom One, which brings together chat, phone, whiteboard, and video conferencing capabilities into

20700-406: Was heavy-handed, Livingstone described the search as proportionate to the circumstances, and specifically addressed the forensic tent: "The tent was there, as were all the other measures, to protect the interests of justice and to protect the individuals involved." In August 2023, Murray Foote was appointed chief executive of the SNP. In view of Foote's previous comments on Operation Branchform, both

20850-417: Was largely accomplished from two levies on party branches, which raised £670,000 to support campaigning in the 2023 Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election and the 2024 UK general election. The party's auditors, AMS Accounts Group of Manchester, again issued a "qualified opinion" owing to missing documentation. On 5 September, it was reported that Police Scotland had asked prosecutors for further guidance on

21000-458: Was launched on August 21, 2012. On January 25, 2013, version 1.0 of the program was released with an increase in the number of participants per conference to 25. By the end of its first month, Zoom had 400,000 users. By 2013, Zoom had more than one million users. After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, by February 2020, Zoom had gained 2.22 million users in 2020 – more users than it amassed in

21150-531: Was made without proper consultation provoking both political and public debate. In October 2014, the policy was changed so that an ARV can only be tasked to an incident involving firearms or a threat to life. The Strategic Firearms Unit (formerly the Tactical Firearms Unit), which was inherited from Strathclyde Police , consists of Specialist Firearms Officers (SFO) and Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers (CTSFO), who form part of

21300-594: Was not collecting personal information. In the same month, Zoom was sued by a user in U.S. Federal Court for illegally and secretly disclosing personal data to third parties, including Facebook. Zoom responded that it "has never sold user data in the past and has no intention of selling users' data going forward". In April 2020, a Zoom information gathering feature was found that automatically sent user names and email addresses to LinkedIn , allowing some participants to surreptitiously access LinkedIn profile data about other users without their express consent. Soon after,

21450-458: Was not properly logged onto the computer systems due to inefficient interim procedures in place following the recent restructuring in the eastern region. The Aberdeen control room and service centre closed in March 2017, and Inverness followed in February 2018, with staff at the latter location invited to re-train in a dedicated unit performing criminal record checks and other enquiries via

21600-455: Was released without charge. Some SNP politicians, including Ash Regan MSP, called for Sturgeon to be suspended from the party, but new leader Humza Yousaf said he would not suspend her as she had not been charged. By the end of June, the SNP was reported to be ready to submit audited accounts to the Electoral Commission ahead of a deadline of 7 July. However, the party's Manchester-based auditors, AMS Accountants Group, qualified their audit of

21750-433: Was reported to have been sold later that year through the car trading service We Buy Any Car . In January 2024, it was reported that the SNP had failed to declare to the Electoral Commission two loans worth a total of £15,000 made by Peter Murrell to the party in 2018. The loans were only declared in October 2023. Both loans were for £7,500. One was paid back within two days, while the other was paid back within two weeks. At

21900-434: Was reported to have flagged transactions connected with SNP accounts in 2023, with a source saying; "One of the biggest items being looked at is a six figure sum which on paper appears to have been spent creating a media suite at the Edinburgh offices. There are receipts but it is unclear whether the company named on receipts really existed." The police were said to be investigating embezzlement of up to £500,000, of which one of

22050-463: Was said to be a default for all free and paid users and made available on the Zoom clients for Mac , Windows , and Linux , as well as Zoom mobile apps. On August 12, 2022, Wired magazine reported on three separate security vulnerabilities discovered by security researcher Patrick Wardle affecting the Zoom Mac OS desktop app. The vulnerabilities allowed an attacker who already had access to

22200-452: Was still ongoing and that Nicola Sturgeon and Colin Beattie remain under investigation. Sky News reported that Farrell said that the police were unable to "say when Operation Branchform will end". In response, SNP MSP for Glasgow Cathcart , James Dornan , shared the post on Twitter and wrote: "I have May 2026 in the draw." As the next Holyrood elections are due to be held on 7 May 2026, Dornan's comments were interpreted by many as implying that

22350-534: Was the elephant in the room. Operation Branchform. Never mentioned, always there. Hard to fight an election with your former leaders awaiting charges, especially when many of the public perceive little distance between now and then." Mhairi Black , who stepped down as MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South , described the investigation as reflective of deeper structural issues within the party. On 14 August, in an interview with Sky News , Chief Constable of Police Scotland Jo Farrell confirmed that Operation Branchform

22500-436: Was £593,501 in the "Referendum Appeal Fund" that was ready to be deployed "instantaneously", and that the SNP did not separate restricted funds from the rest of the annual accounts. Beattie claimed that the donations were "woven through" the income figures for that year. In the 2020 SNP internal elections, Douglas Chapman was elected as SNP National Treasurer, replacing Colin Beattie. On 20 March 2021, however, three members of

#572427