Every step you take, every move you make: The British government's new plans for mass surveillance

Every step you take, every move you make: The British government's new plans for mass surveillance

By: 

https://www.privacyinternational.org/blog/every-step-you-take-every...



For the past 18 months, I've been investigating the export of surveillance technologies from Western countries to despotic regimes, but I never thought I'd see a democratic government proposing to install the kind of mass surveillance system favoured by Al-Assad, Mubarak and Gaddafi. Yet the Home Office's latest plans would allow the authorities unprecedented levels of access to the entire population's phone records, emails, browsing history and activity on social networking sites, entirely unfettered by the courts. This is a system that has no place in a country that would call itself free and democratic.

The idea of a 'modernised' (read, 'more invasive') surveillance law was first proposed by the Labour government in 2009. They argued that changes were required in order to restore the status quo of the early 1990s, when we all used landlines and BT ran all the networks. Call and location records were generated and stored by BT for commercial purposes, and the police thus had ready access to pretty much every communication in Britain. But in the era of Google, Facebook and Twitter, the authorities have been cut off from significant chunks of people's communications and a lot of data resides on foreign servers. The government designed the 'Interception Modernisation Programme' to give themselves access to all this juicy new information, but after controversy about the cost, ethics and feasibility of the project it was ditched in the run-up to the 2010 general election.

The Coalition Agreement that formed the current government clearly stated that IMP-style mass surveillance of the British public was unacceptable, but now the old policy seems to have risen from the grave as the innocuously-named Communications Capabilities Development Programme. The Home Office will try to pretend that the CCDP is a brand new idea, in that it forces companies to store data locally and make it accessible to police whenever they request, rather than automatically transferring data from ISPs and mobile network providers to GCHQ for centralised storage. But the idea of a central database was abandoned before IMP was formally proposed, so in fact the two projects are basically identical. More importantly, the principle is the same: the government should have the right to intercept everyone's communications, all of the time, without the inconvenient requirement of judicial warrants.

The Leveson Inquiry has shown us just how dangerous unfettered police powers can be. We know now that information, once collected, can never be 100% secure and is always vulnerable to exposure by human error or corruption. Yet in the midst of a recession, the government wants to spend billions of pounds peering into our private lives with an intensity that would make even the most ruthless tabloid journalist blush.


Views: 53

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by Charles Magus on April 10, 2012 at 12:46pm

Destroy Governments and let the people rule themselves!   All Government officals should be in deep deep dungeons underneath the Earth!  And I ain't talking about Deep underground Military bases!   I am talking of a stinking hole where bad food is sent through a small tube to the prisoners (Government officials) below!  They can live in their own filth too!   They have been talking shit for years, they may as well live in it!

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Saint Quinn favorited Burbia's video
8 hours ago
Doc Vega posted blog posts
15 hours ago
Burbia commented on tjdavis's blog post The Jewish Couple That Taught Bob Dylan Hebrew and Introduced Him to Zionism
"Haaretz put this story behind a pay wall. Sali Ariel and Terry Noble were the names of the couple…"
yesterday
William Heckman is now a member of 12160 Social Network
yesterday
cheeki kea commented on tjdavis's photo
yesterday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's video
Thumbnail

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future Forever

"It's a sad day on the highway. But I guess the show must go on. Watch out for the ruination of…"
yesterday
cheeki kea posted a video

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future Forever

This Woman DESTROYED Harley-Davidson's Future ForeverWelcome to Ride Radar – Your Frontline Source for Motorcycle Deals, Trends & Market Mayhem.Looking for t...
Wednesday
tjdavis posted a photo
Wednesday
Burbia posted a status
"Who knew releasing the MLK files and literally deflecting, it ends up implicating himself with the Epstein Files."
Tuesday
Burbia posted a video

Dan Bilzerian DEMOLISHES MAGA Nutjob Patrick Bet-David on His Own Show

Watch as two powerhouse personalities collide in this no-holds-barred debate on one of the world’s most contentious issues. Patrick Bet-David, known for his ...
Monday
Doc Vega's 7 blog posts were featured
Sunday
tjdavis's 2 blog posts were featured
Sunday
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's blog post Track AIPAC
Sunday
FREEDOMROX's blog post was featured

MRNA VACCINES: Question

Hello my fellow sojourners,I know it has been five years since the Plandemic, but one question has…See More
Sunday
Less Prone favorited FREEDOMROX's blog post MRNA VACCINES: Question
Sunday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Saturday
cheeki kea posted a photo
Saturday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Jul 18
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Marjory Taylor Green Proposes Bill Abolishing Geoengineering or Weather Modification
"cheeki kea Marjory is in a daily battle with Democrats on the hill constantly coming up with more…"
Jul 18
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Jul 16

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted