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Britain went beyond criminalising thoughtcrime.

If you are inadvertently in a position which might aid a theoretical crime, you can be banished from that part of the country.

http://www.magnacartaplus.org/news/index.php/?page_id=155

If you are inadvertently in a position which might aid a crime, you can be banished from that part of the country.

Whether or not any crime was committed.

http://www.magnacartaplus.org/news/index.php/?page_id=155

Unbeknownst even to most Brits, the recently deposed British Government was waging war on our freedom.

This document is a little out of date but is otherwise an excellent and terrifying source.

Some snippets for you.

The Blair govt twice passed bills which can rewrite the constitution (including that bit about holding elections):

The first one was the Civil Contingencies Act - which can declare a instant dictatorship upon a minor national emergency, uncannily familiar to Hitler's Enabling Act.

The second one was the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act. This one can amend constitutional laws without requiring any discussion in Parliament.

I'm going to assume that the military is looking into this simply because they look into everything, not because they actually plan to deploy it. It's a terrible idea.

1. See the incident a few weeks ago where a soldier was firing machine gun blanks into a crowd during a demonstration. He swapped mags--but unfortunately, the fresh mag was not filled with blanks.

2. A tactical shooting instructor I once had, a cop, told us about the bean-bag shotgun he kept in his patrol car. The barrel was wrapped with blue tape, and there was a strict policy, as "leave without pay and a reprimand in your file", against ever loading it with anything other than beanbag rounds. In a crisis, if you grabbed the blue barrel, you had to be certain you would be firing beanbags, not lead.

3. When you point your gun at a person and pull the trigger, you must be very certain about what the gun will do. This adds a whole 'nother level of complexity to what should be a simple, reliable design. Not only will soldiers and cops inadvertently fire this thing on "kill" not "stun", but there's also a question of whether or not it will fire at all--just as bad if the cop needs to make a bad guy stop.

4. When a bad guy sees a gun pointed at him, he needs to be certain that if he doesn't do as he is told, he will die. I don't want bad guys to see this gun, and decide to take a gamble that it's only set to stun.

5. Americans have, and should have, a deep suspicion towards inappropriate force being exercised under color of law. The way to deal with this is through the Second Amendment, which properly exercised results in soldiers, cops, and civilians[1] regarding each other with mutual respect and caution. If you can't trust your military or police, the answer isn't to give them weak weapons--the answer is to disband them, by force if necessary, and organize trustworthy forces.

[1] NB: Technically, the police are civilians (see for example Robert Peel #7), but I hope this gets my point across. I wish I knew a word for "out of uniform, unbadged civilians", but nothing comes to mind.

Blame Blair and Bush. The Neo-cons lobbied strongly for EU data retention even tho the US would never have it:

http://www.policylaundering.org/issues/comm/

In Britain, your ISP could be forced to have mass surveillance equipment fitted that sends any and all data to the Govt. Your ISP would be prosecuted for telling anyone.
They can also jail you for not telling them your encryption passphrases (or if you can't remember them).

http://www.magnacartaplus.org/bills/rip/index.htm

Just one of the many terrifying laws NuLabour have passed:

http://www.waronfreedom.net/

Hey ABG :)

I got my submission accepted! How excellent is that?

In case you hadn't noticed, the current Labour government were elected by only about 22% of the population, thanks to our bizarre first-past-the-post system. (It was only around 1/3 of those who actually voted, and actually lost the popular vote in England, for the record.)

Needs to be added that the war-criminal only won because the other 2 parties were headed up by an alcohol and Michael Howard (for the Americans, the joke is that people don't need to be reminded why they wouldn't vote for Howard). And the alcholic never really had a chance in the same way that Nader didn't.

Please understand this: the current government is toast. They have been toast since almost the day they won that "historic third term" based on dubious election mechanics. They have no integrity, and no accountability until the next general election, which could still be several years away. Their only concern at this point is to entrench as much of their abusive policy as possible and cement Blair's "legacy" before they are kicked out. It's like having a five-year lame duck government running the show. What does a lame duck administration care about protests? There is no mechanism for the people to remove them from power early, and they have zero chance of securing a fourth victory, so protests don't matter to them at all.

I guess it depended who won the Tory leadership election. But Orwellian tendencies were obvious in this Govt ever since RIPA.

You're absolutely right although, because Britain has escaped totalitarianism, the public think it will never happen.

Consequently, Blair's Government has passed more totalitarian laws than Hitler ever did and hardly anyone has noticed.

http://www.waronfreedom.net/

The media rarely cover it for the same reasons and because the issues don't fit nicely into 300 words. The Tories haven't mentioned it for reasons only known to themselves. And the LibDems never get any media coverage.

There's one going through Parliament now that can punish anyone who (on balance of evidence) might be reasonably expected to inadvertently aid a criminal. That's right, no intent required, no crime has to be committed, just the hypothetical aiding of a hypothetical crime can get you interred.

http://www.magnacartaplus.org/news/index.php/?p=10 0

I've always wondered why New Labour have passed laws to rewrite the constitution at whim, to arbitrarily punish innocent people and perform mass-surveillance at a level that Orwell never dreamed of... knowing that the people they most fear, the Tory Party, would be guaranteed to win the next election.

I don't have time to give you a definite answer, but this might help:

The government can demand that decryption keys be handed over in order to access protected information, where the person concerned has or has had the keys and does not have the information.

It is an offence not to hand over such a key on pain of 2 years imprisonment. You are deemed to have possessed the key if you possessed it at any time before the disclosure notice was served, unless you can show you did not have it after the time the notice was served and before the time you were required to disclose it. You are taken to show that you did not possess it at the relevant time if you can adduce sufficient evidence to raise an issue with respect to this matter and the contrary is not proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Note that if you ever had the key you will have to produce evidence you no longer have it, i.e. provide evidence for a negative. Also, if the notice requiring disclosure demands secrecy it is an offence to let anyone know that you've been asked to hand over the key(s) in question on pain of 5 years imprisonment.

The legal requirements here undermine the use of public key systems, such as PGP, to protect information that is communicated between people. Whilst it is possible to set things up to minimise this impact and even circumvent these powers, this simply imposes costs on ordinary users who wish to keep their communications secret for any reason (criminals can circumvent these powers anyway!), and also puts people who use PGP at risk of having to disclose their private keys (thus compromising the security of all the info sent to them) or going to prison for destroying, forgetting or losing a key.

See sections 49 to 56 which define the powers and offences related to this issue. See also Schedule 2.

Or the human cattle ID cards Act, which creates by far the world's most intrusive Big Brother database on citizens by linking up 5+ previously unconnected databases...

The Dictatorship Bill, also called the Abolition of Parliament Bill, Totalitarianism Bill or (by the Govt) the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill is nothing less than a naked grab for power. After being amended 3x, the Bill was passed in the form described here.

LRRB enables ministers to rewrite our constitution with only rudimentary scrutiny. Consider the extraordinary mass surveillance / coersion implications of the ID Cards Act. Even the well-organised opposition could not stop this legislation.

What chance then of:
1. Spotting obscure but deeply damaging clauses hidden in the boring legislation?
2. Motivating the Tories, LibDems and enough New Labour drones to subsequently block it?

LRRB is then carte blanche for Blair to do what he will with this country. What can we deduce of his plans?

New Labour already rejected an amendment to stop LRRB re-writing our most important constitutional laws. They then promised to introduce new amendments fulfilling the same thing. Our skepticism was once again justified. This is more than enough evidence that Blair wants dictatorial powers.

LRRB is obviously a precursor to passing laws which Parliament wouldn't otherwise pass.

Considering the deeply scary laws he's got through Parliament, the likelihood is that he wants something so badly, and so unpalatable that he won't even risk presenting it for proper Parliamentary scrutiny.

- He does not need Parliamentary approval to invade Iran
- He already has Hitler's Enabling Act.
- He has already passed RIPA and the ID Cards Act for more Big Brother snooping than anything China or North Korea have.
- He already has locked up people for 3 years without trial or even being questioned - although he has been twice been 'told off' for breaching the Human Rights Act in this way.

I did not believe that he needs LRRB to repeal the HRA - indeed one welcome amendment was to exclude the HRA from being amended. When every other explanation has been ruled out, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be considered. I think something much worse is coming although I dread to think what.

That's a really bizarre way of saying that no single group can amend the constitution without the other groups' permission.

Thanks to our lack of a codified constitution, we have lost the right to a fair trial! We can be legally arrested for pretty much anything and have DNA samples kept permanently on record. We have lost a second House with the power to keep the first House in check. Therapist-client confidentiality privilege is gone etc

Our Govt is now seeking to deprive us of passports unless we join the world's most intrusive mass-surveillance scheme.

Other attacks on British freedom here.

Main comment

His Government just blocked an amendment that would prevent LRRB being used to abolish elections, imprison everyone etc.

We have already had the Civil Contingencies aka Nazi Enabling Act which gives near unlimited powers to Ministers in the event of an emergency (eg burning down the Reichstag).

We have already had the dreadful Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act forced upon us. RIPA can force ISPs to secretly install mass surveillance equipment or imprison you if you do not release your PGP keys.

And the insidious Identity Cards Bill is hanging like a Sword of Damocles over British privacy and freedom. ID cards are just a front for an unbelievably intrusive database that would make the Stasi blush. The excellent No2ID campaign cannot persuade the House of Lords to hold this up for much longer...

Other attacks on British freedom here.

As Woodrow Wilson pointed out:

Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it... The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.

Whether you consider it your duty to protect Britain's freedom or whether it is merely expedient because you'd like to live here, please write to your MP and join the many campaigners who are dedicating their lives to this fight.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

... although Echelon is a UKUSA agreement. In the UK, nearly all internet traffic is tapped by the Echelon network up the road at GCHQ. Every email address will have a record showing how many times you've said "bomb" and God knows what else. Up to 1 million citizens will have files that link to their email addresses, bank account numbers etc.

In the UK, of course, the powers that be weren't satisfied and so RIPA was born.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) allows the government to access a person's electronic communications in a very unrestricted manner, thus infringing in the privacy of their correspondance in a manner many would not tolerate regarding their postal communications. The act:

• Enables the government to demand that an ISP provides access to a customer's communications in secret;
• Enables mass surveillance of communications in transit;
• Enables the government to demand ISPs fit equipment to facilitate surveillance;
• Enables the government to demand that someone hands over keys to protected information;
• Allows the government to monitor people's internet activities;
• Prevents the existence of interception warrants and any data collected with them from being revealed in court

In other words, unlimited mass surveillance of the internet.

This info is derived from the excellent Magna Carta Plus site which details how British freedoms have been destroyed over the last 10 years.

Not content with that, our Dear Leader is creating a way of linking together all our records on British civil (and corporate) databases, by numbering us under the Identity Cards Bill. This will create a database on citizens' way of life which is 20x more intrusive than anything else the planet has ever seen.

Furthermore, British citizens be will required to buy a "Government Approved" identity to use public services, be allowed to travel in or out of the country, maybe even to vote.

Because the Government has successfully kept such legislation low profile, only around 1 in 20 citizens are aware of it. Those who are aware are terrified, especially as the Govt keeps threatening to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights.

The totalitarian UK Government already has unlimited access to ISP records, courtesy of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
RIPA also can force ISPs to install mass surveillance equipment.

I mentioned some of the Govt's other totalitarian laws earlier today.

Tony and his cronies write some really attrocious laws that have already limited your freedoms, including RIPA and the Terrorism Act

Home Office extends online snooping laws

The Terrorism Act 2000

Then there is Echelon of course

This is how we know Echelon exists

We may have The Magna Carta and the Human Rights Act in theory, however in practice you hang by only a very thin thread, like the student who was arrested for having an interest in the David Shaylor case

British student arrested under Official Secrets Act

Now if only I could clone Guy Fawkes...

This site details RIP (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000)), which has nothing to do with reglation, but with allows unwarrented searches of computer data, without the data holders knowledge or permission.

Don't joke about it. In the UK, virus writing is already defined as terrorism because it is an action "designed to interfere with or seriously disrupt an electronic system". Studying viruses is also terrorism, since "a person commits an offence if he collects or makes a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or he possesses a document or record containing information of this kind". By downloading an article about the SirCam virus into your browser's cache, you may have inadvertently committed an act of terrorism. But don't worry, the police won't bother to arrest you unless you do something to piss them off. Better keep your head down from now on, terrorist.

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Don't joke about it. In the UK, virus writing is already defined as terrorism because it is an action "designed to interfere with or seriously disrupt an electronic system". Studying viruses is also terrorism, since "a person commits an offence if he collects or makes a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or he possesses a document or record containing information of this kind". By downloading an article about the SirCam virus into your browser's cache, you may have inadvertently committed an act of terrorism. But don't worry, the police won't bother to arrest you unless you do something to piss them off. Better keep your head down from now on, terrorist.

--