Slashdot Mirror
UK Government To Demand Data On Every Call, Email, and Tweet
judgecorp writes "The UK government is proposing a law that would require phone and Internet companies to store information on all communications, and hand it to the security services when required. The Communications Capabilities Development Programme (CCDP) abandoned by the last government is back on the table, proposed as a means to increase security, and likely to be pushed through before the Olympics in London, according to reports."
Thank you Tory Government for proving you're just as big a bunch of cunts as the others.
When they were in opposition?
I guess whether it looks like a good idea or not largely depends on whether you're the one choosing the "preferred bidders". And thinking about your post-political career.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Doubleplusungood!!!!!!
What remains is a pathetic pretender which occupies the same position on the globe,
but which deserves no respect from its citizens or anyone else in the world.
This IS where the USA is heading, in case anyone was wondering. And before
you jump to conclusions with some xenophobic diatribe, allow me to
mention that I am American.
But I'm afraid they won't remove that law after the Olympics.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
That's a side effect of two-party/adversarial politics. The party in power only opposes stuff because they see it as their job to. If the current government proposed a law outlawing the mistreatment of kittens Labour would probably find an angle to argue against it. It's because party politics isn't about serving the people any more (if it ever was), it's about beating the other party at the next election, and that means scoring points wherever possible.
The only thing more depressing than a situation where one side opposes the exact same thing they supported when on the other side of the chamber, is when both sides agree on something, and it gets rushed through without any of the issues being examined.
I remember a conversation between my wife a naturalized US citizen and her kin from the UK about security and who cares how much they know as long as you have nothing to hide. It is amazing and sad but a vision into our future. There is a whole series of reports and exposes in the British press a few months ago about how the presence of all the cameras and surveillance tactics have done nothing to make the country any safer. It is basically a giant scam to sell products to the UK government but .... now it is entrenched.
Oh well this is how freedom ends right ? With thunderous applause?
ACK
Are you serious or just trolling?
The reason for this is simple. If your child is kidnapped by an insane pedophile, you want the Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) to use everything they can to find that guy.
Sure, within the limits of the law and, in the US at least, the Constitution.
If a record of tweets, blogs, phone calls and IMs helps them do that, it could save your child.
So could putting cameras in all our houses. Where do we draw the line? I'd rather not live in a police state for the few times it may be convenient.
Privacy is a great idea, but there are a lot of bad guys out there and we want to keep tabs on them. I think a better solution is to find a government we can trust.
Good luck with that.
Dude I think the right-wing with their obsession with big-business, concentrating wealth in the hands of a few and assuming people are worthless unless they have money has kind of helped. As for this libertarian bollocks about people fending for themselves, well I wonder how many of you lot work for the government in some manner or other (military, security, university researchers, politics, military contractors - jeez even computer companies probably sell half of their shit to the public sector). Remember throughout the entire of human history since the discovery of agriculture there existed a parasitic ruling class that sucked up the surplus production from the masses in order to build its castles/temples & live a life of luxury. This goes on for thousands of years in different forms - nobility, emperors, bankers.... and when someone suggests a century or so ago 'Hey, lets take some of this wealth and give it back to the people' the supposed freedom-loving right-wing scream "SOCIALISM!!!"
As for this law, well thats being pushed by a Tory government. The last Labour government were also quite right-wing & like most of your US politicians in the pockets of big business. So if you're remotely bothered about this then perhaps you'll start fighting against the global corps who control your life instead of sounding like an Alex Jones wannabe. You lot are going to keep screaming about socialism until every last fucking right you have has been taken by the rich at which point it'll be too late to do anything at all...
Name-calling aside, I think Parent has a point. I'm pretty sure it's the responsibility of the people to keep government power limited and we definitely have been slacking off lately in favour of all the wonderful handouts. We ask that it runs everything then we complain that it does so for its own sake rather than ours. We kid ourselves if we think government any less selfish than those evil corporations. We're too lazy to vote with our dollar against the latter and too lazy to change the former and keep it in check. Bottom line is that we get what we deserve.
I see this as a natural reaction: The Internet has caused a little surge of activism lately and we can very well see how that has the government running scared.
Mind the frickin' laser...
I think a better solution is to find a government we can trust.
The only answer to that is: A government that doesn't have such powers. Sorry but you can't have your cake and eat it... You either accept that your rights are in someone else's hands to be abused, or yours to defend. The middle ground situation you're looking for is never stable enough to last more than a generation, if that.
Mind the frickin' laser...
Governments will never stop seeking more and more power over individuals. Corporations will always serve the will of their plutocrat masters.
Anonymity is the ONLY effective defense against power, that is why powerful interests do everything they can to eliminate it.
"The People" who aren't in either of those camps need a means of anonymous, distributed, communication that is outside of anyone's control.
Imagine a box anyone with a little electrical knowledge can wire into a hot outlet. Or a solar powered "wifi grenade" that can be thrown on a roof to make a node in the mesh and last until someone finds it. Set these up to connect to existing hotspots to piggyback on the "plutocrat" internet. Configure them to be low noise enough that they are difficult to distinguish from regular traffic. Add a little onboard storage and files can be "cloud stored" and impossible to remove.
We are coming to a crossroads. The future will be either the one of the boot stomping on the face like 1984, or one where the evil men who seek power are constantly frustrated by freedom loving individuals who have a greater understanding of technology.
encrypt your phone calls, email, everything