Another lost freedom regarding computer use [IMP]

[-:Undertaker:-]

In resurrecting the Intercept Modernisation Programme, the Government breaks a clear, basic and fundamental promise

http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2010/10/in-resurrecting-the-intercept-modernisation-programme-the-government-breaks-a-clear-basic-and-fundam.html

http://www.davebrothers.info/2010/11/05/another-loss-of-freedom/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5215413/Every-phone-call-email-or-website-visit-to-be-monitored.html


More details are emerging on the astonishing news Dan covered earlier (http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2010/10/the-big-brother-snooping-database-is-back.html): the appalling "Intercept Modernisation Programme" is to continue (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8075563/Every-email-and-website-to-be-stored-by-government.html) despite the Conservative Party's recent pledge to reverse the rise of the surveillance state (http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2009/09/%7E/media/Files/Policy%20Documents/Surveillance%20State.ashx). Actually, do have a look at that last link. It's remarkable that they've left the paper on their website; perhaps the thinking is that everyone's so concerned with the spending review that nobody will notice the rank hypocrisy? Whatever the explanation, leaving it up breaks with the longstanding tradition of repainting the commandments on the side of the barn whenever Napoleon changes his mind.


And it can't be blamed on the formation of the Coalition, either. The Coalition Agreement (http://programmeforgovernment.hmg.gov.uk/) promised to "end the storage of internet and email records without good reason". Buried in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_191634.pdf), the Government plans to introduce

a programme to preserve the ability of the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to obtain communication data and to intercept communications

Couple this with the disgusting u-turn on the Summary Care Record (http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2010/06/the-coalition-have-performed-a-disgraceful-uturn-on-the-summary-care-record.html), despite similarly clear and concrete promises, and a troubling picture emerges; it is fascinating and dreadful to see the speed of bureaucratic capture, the reversion to bureaucratic authoritarianism on show - intrusions are piling up so fast that my extended essay published last week (http://critical-reaction.co.uk/2780/14-10-2010-the-coalition-and-civil-liberties-part-2) is already out of date. The IMP will allow the security services and the police to spy on the activities of everyone using a phone or the internet. Every communications provider will be obliged to store details of your communications for at least a year and obliged in due course to surrender them up to the authorities. The authorities will be able to track every phone call, email, text message and website visit made by the public on the absurd pretext that it will help to tackle crime or terrorism.

Just see how the surveillance state is being reversed, eh!?

By Alex Deane (http://bigbrotherwatch.typepad.com/home/alex-deane.html)


Another loss of freedom by the coalition which pledged to reverse the surveillance state, more stark is the backtrack by the Liberal Democrats who have been proved yet again to be neither Liberal or Democratic.

We have more CCTV than anywhere else in the world (more than the so called Police-state China which has nearly 20 times the population of the United Kingdom), we can hold detainees for longer than Zimbabwe without charge and we can be carted off to Europe and held in a prison cell for months on end without even being given a trial and without a British judge overseeing the process.

Drip drip drip and the steady loss of freedom goes on.

Thoughts?

[GommeInc]

News like this just makes me support locking all political parties and their members in the Houses of Parliament and nuking it. So far the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have gone back on all of the things people voted them for. There's the EU, which is proving to be a lost cause for the British people. Surveillance was meant to die out but it seems the Government want to know what porn we're watching as well as downloading. It's such a waste of money and time, when there are more important things out there to worry about.

[Jordy]

News like this just makes me support locking all political parties and their members in the Houses of Parliament and nuking it. So far the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have gone back on all of the things people voted them for. There's the EU, which is proving to be a lost cause for the British people. Surveillance was meant to die out but it seems the Government want to know what porn we're watching as well as downloading. It's such a waste of money and time, when there are more important things out there to worry about.I honestly don't know what you were expecting from the Tories. I assumed you voted Conservative at the time of the election most people because they were going to sort out the deficit? In my eyes they're succeeding in doing that. Whilst I'm Eurosceptic I never thought for a minute that Cameron would do anything much when it came to the EU and survillence, and I'd be surprised if you thought it was going to be anything different. If the EU was the main concern for me, I'd of voted UKIP? But seeing as the economy is for me, I voted Tory and they seem to be doing the right things there.

[GommeInc]

Economy wise, they're doing a decent job. I voted Liberal Democrats rather than the Conservatives because at the time the Conversations kept muddling their speeches saying they'll do certain things then the next time they come to talk, they seem to be suggesting the opposite (and yes, the Lib Dems seem pro-EU, but I voted for things important at the time like cutting red tape, student tuitions, the deficit and surveillance, the EU was just one factor). But what is off putting is that they maybe tackling the debt the UK is in, but they're steering away from other things that probably got more votes that the huge debt the country was in, with some of the factors e.g. surveillance/the EU possibly being apart of what has caused some of the debt in the first place, areas that could be cut down to help save money. I went for economy too, but unlike the Tories, the Lib Dems suggested changes in similar areas but may not go back on their word, but it seems Lib Dem translates into Tory in some respects :P