If you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear!
 

Thats what people say about the detention without trial, the ID cards, the DNA data base etc etc, but I read that Walsall council (just one for an example) have used legislation intended for terrorists over 900 times to snoop on staff and the general public for amongst other things, fly tipping, parking issues, an employee with a back problem (because he went swimming), benefit fraud, trading standard issues etc etc......

I dont know where this is going, even the Government has asked local authorities to be careful about when the use their new powers. Apprarently most of the issues investigated were innocent.

We're a nation of data gatherers, the desire for information has become to great for us to contain.... data capture is used for everything from supermarkets (loyalty cards) gathering details on what you buy and when to councils wanting to know what you throw away!

We're getting close to a point where all this information 'joins up' from your pay through to your spend and disposal...... once that happens it'll become a true nanny state ;)

There have been a lot of instances of misuse of this legislation. This includes quite a few matters of national security such as not having your wheelie bin lid fully closed :wonder:

The classic case was that old boy who was hauled out of the labour party conference by a bunch of security men, sorry thugs, for daring to heckle. That was done under terrorism laws. True democracy in action...........

Makes you spit. dl

Thats why i take cash out the machine and spend that, they spying little tw@s cant track what i spend my money on then!

No, but they know what area you were in to withdraw the money ;)

And in addition I can I track you via the CCTV cameras for the rest of the day once I capture a good picture of your face and tell the survelliance software to go to work ...

Steve

Something that is utterly bemused by the hi-tech method of..... wearing a hat.

Or sunglasses

Or waiting until its cloudy

Or in fact just looking down.

Great things these CCTV systems.... :Whatever_

Good article about this available at: Bruce Schneier Cryptogram

Look on the bright side given the track record of Governments and big IT projects, the chances that all the data on an individual will find its way into one database is just north of zero.

Communications Data Bill

Be very afraid......

Actually I don't know.. I think they will build it...only it'll have more data than is needed for purpose, leak like a sieve, be open to anyone who fills in the appropriate forms, and will become a one stop shop for identity thieves and other fraudsters.

The only problem then is the problems you'll face trying to prove you DIDN'T actually do something... when the computer says you DID.... and the computer is NEVER wrong!!

All scares the sh!t out of me tbh!

They have been laying the groundwork for complete knowledge about everything we do and own or where we go ever since they got into power.

As has been mentioned there are enough instances of misuse of this power and I personally would not be prepared to trust any government with this kind of power.

I would say that it will go a lot further than just a nanny state.

Les :(

Scares me too, too much big brother in the UK.

Yes, I agree. Although you'd be surprised at the number of people who just 'forget' that there are CCTV cameras almost everywhere and don't take the precaution of doing something as complicated as wearing a hat... or more specifically different hats at different times / places.

Steve

Well, if it helps catch even one benefit thief, I'm all for full monitoring 24/7. Losing all my privacy is, in my humble opinion, a small price to pay for this.

I think we should take the surveillance a step further and introduce CCTV cameras into peoples homes. That way, we can make sure that the riff-raff of this country do not do anything the government doesn't approve of.

I, for one, salute our new civil servant CCTV monitoring overlords.

We should ban the use of sunglasses and hats too, they are not compatible with the governments surveillance targets.

**

this makes my pi55 boil.

the phrase "if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear" is the metaphor that underpins orwell's '1984'. it's a satirical warning about totalitarianism, not a policy soundbite.

that it is regularly trotted out by government, ACPO and other intellectually lazy, incompetent parts of the public sector as a serious justification for an intrusive state just goes to show how stupid, intrinsically authoritarian, anti-libertarian and anti-democratic they are.

the real meaning of course is "if you hide from us, then you should fear us". government no longer serves the people - in an age when technology is the enabler, its intention is for the people to serve government.

if you believe in personal freedom then ask your MP and the local councillor (for your electoral ward) if he or she agrees with the "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" argument for ID cards and increased state surveillance. it's the cost of two letters and two stamps. if they say "yes", withdraw your vote and tell them why.

Who are 'they'?
Are you talking about 'those' who commissioned the first census?
Bloody Herod and his gang of cronies :D

We've had enquiries at work for a very large PKI scheme that would involve the potential management of 100s of millions of digital certificates. There is only one current IT project that big - ID cards. Although this hasn't been confirmed, it's a pretty certain bet that this is what it is. So 'they' are going ahead with the scheme....

Its a good read that book-if a bit frightening, isn't it?

Les

You might be closer to the mark than we all think!

Les :D