State surveillance: 1 in 78 adults spied upon by the state

[-:Undertaker:-]

Daily Mail: One in 78 adults comes under state surveilance

Britain's extraordinary march towards a surveillance state is revealed today by shock new figures. They show that one request is made every minute for officials to spy on someone's phone records or email accounts. The number of Big Brother snooping missions by police, town halls and other public bodies has soared by 44 per cent in two years.

Last year there were 504,073 new cases - an average of 1,381 a day. It is the equivalent of one adult in 78 coming under state-sanctioned surveillance. The snoopers are using a law originally aimed at terror suspects. But their targets include people suspected of storing petrol without a licence and bringing a dog into the country without quarantining it.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said last night: 'It cannot be a justified response to the problems we face in this country that the state is spying on half a million people a year. 'The Government forgets that George Orwell's 1984 was a warning, not a blueprint. We are still a long way from living under the Stasi - but it beggars belief that is necessary to spy on one in every 78 adults.' The requests to intercept email and telephone records were made under the hugely controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

I think this country over the past decade or so has became a mirror image, if not worse than the former Soviet Union was when it comes down to state surveilance and dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin would of used this level of surveillance, had they of had it at their disposal at that time.

I suppose though its Labour and what did people expect when they voted for them back in 1997, 2001 and 2005. They have turned the country into a state where the government does not trust its own people which is not democracy at all.

What is your opinion on a big brother state?

[Jackk]

would people have to go to the diary room every now and then?

[Jordy]

I'm not really all that bothered by survellience, the government will find nothing of interest monitoring me. There is the advantage of additional security which has proved vital against terrorists (It stopped the plot to blow up passenger jets over the Atlantic) and there's no real evidence of it being abused. Councils use it for petty things but I don't see that as particularly serious.

Although Cameron has spoke out about this as of recent, I'm not sure the situation would be any different if the Tories were in government. The security services have recommended it and the technology is so widely available now.

All countries in the world will have had much increased survellience in the past decade, just the UK more so than others.

Edit: Oh and Dan, leave fascism and socialism out of this (and also the EU and thatcher), I know it's a comparison but it's not particularly relevant.

[Sammeth.]

I'm shocked the Daily Mail would print such a thing.

[-:Undertaker:-]

I'm not really all that bothered by survellience, the government will find nothing of interest monitoring me. There is the advantage of additional security which has proved vital against terrorists (It stopped the plot to blow up passenger jets over the Atlantic) and there's no real evidence of it being abused. Councils use it for petty things but I don't see that as particularly serious.

Although Cameron has spoke out about this as of recent, I'm not sure the situation would be any different if the Tories were in government. The security services have recommended it and the technology is so widely available now.

All countries in the world will have had much increased survellience in the past decade, just the UK more so than others.

Edit: Oh and Dan, leave fascism and socialism out of this (and also the EU and thatcher), I know it's a comparison but it's not particularly relevant.

I think if the Conservatives gain office it will stall but unless they are radical I doubt it will recede, sadly. I haven't mentioned the EU/Thatcher/socialism so why did you even mention them?

[Jordy]

I think if the Conservatives gain office it will stall but unless they are radical I doubt it will recede, sadly. I haven't mentioned the EU/Thatcher/socialism so why did you even mention them?

Tories could put an end to some of it but they'll always be a lot of surveillance, there's no going back now. You touched on socialism when you brought Stalin up along with Hitler and you can't really use them in this context. Surveillance wasn't available to either leader so there's no point speculating whether they would or wouldn't of used the technology. It's like saying the Romans would of used speed cameras to monitor the speeds of Chariots had they been invented. And it's just you have a habit of bringing the EU and Thatcher into things which have little to do with what's being discussed.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Tories could put an end to some of it but they'll always be a lot of surveillance, there's no going back now. You touched on socialism when you brought Stalin up along with Hitler and you can't really use them in this context. Surveillance wasn't available to either leader so there's no point speculating whether they would or wouldn't of used the technology. It's like saying the Romans would of used speed cameras to monitor the speeds of Chariots had they been invented. And it's just you have a habit of bringing the EU and Thatcher into things which have little to do with what's being discussed.

They are totally relevent to the conversation (Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union along with Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich) and I know you only posted that to score 'forum points' over me just then.

Oh and you have just done the very thing you accuse me of doing, when I didn't mention or even plan to mention the European Union or Margaret Thatcher but have to now, because you brought it up.

[Oleh]

it would be nice, only if it was against convicted terrorists/felons and suspicious people, i think if they monitor everyones emails, we should revert back to horse sent messages

[Inseriousity.]

'forum points'

oh dear...

I'm surprised with that fraction btw. Maybe I'm just paranoid but I expected it to be something stupid like 1/5. but 0.01% doesnt sound too bad.