UK PM claims Nick Clegg was in on online snooping expansion plans

10/04/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
It was announced in the last week or so that the UK coalition government had plans to increase its online snooping on UK citizens. Whilst  a few Brits may have shrugged their shoulders and said "so what?" the majority were outraged.

The Tory part of the UK coalition had revealed that new internet snooping legislation proposals would be announced in the forthcoming Queen's speech. The Lib Dem part of the coalition was up in arms.

Nick Clegg, Deputy PM and leader of the Lib Dems was quick to denounce his political allies. He assured the public that there would be a period of consultation and no changes would simply be implemented. PM David Cameron has contradicted this today stating emphatically that Mr Clegg and leading Liberal Democrats were at the table when the plans to increase spying were discussed.

Who is lying is hard to say. Both leaders and parties do not currently have a good track record for telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Perhaps there is an element of truth in what both men have said. We of course will never know.

The May local elections are just around the corner and if the snooping announcement is to cause any political fall-out it will be the Lib Dems who are affected. This is because voters who took a chance on voting LD had hoped for much more from this political party.  They had not from the Tories. 

Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron, has however gone on record as saying that his party will "kill" any attempts by the government to implement the changes, unless they are watered down. That last point is of course significant. How will they be watered down? Will what they call "watered down" be what UK voters believe that to be?

Still we have to remain hopeful. The current proposals would enable the increased monitoring of emails and internet use in real time, and without recourse to a judge for a warrant. Mr Farron has said that he and his fellow party members will not back "authoritarian laws"Well that is good to hear. Most people accept in time there will be some changes but no-one wants an expansion of UK Big Brother. 

Whether we can rely on Mr Farron or trust him though is another variable. In the meantime we can but hope, lobby our MPs, make your voice heard at the elections and sign the many petitions out there, including the one on this blog.

At least one Tory MP opposes the proposals


Tags: Nick Clegg, David Cameron, Online snooping, UK online spying
2 Comments
 

UK Conservative MP opposes Internet snooping extension

02/04/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
Gradually the current UK Coalition are costing the Great British public a small fortune and whittling away at our freedoms. The recent budget by Chancellor Osborne sneakily hit the coffers of British households. At first glance it seemed an OK sort of affair but within days the true nature of it was revealed.

What the government were giving with one hand, by way of changes such as improved personal tax allowances, they were taking away with changes such as increased fuel duty and more. Hiding the negatives of the budget amongst frothy words simply shows how stupid this government think UK people are and how foolish said government are in reality.

Still at least this blogger can write about this on a fairly free Internet right now. Proposals released on, appropriately enough April Fool's day 2012 could change all of this.

As reported yesterday the UK government hope to announce proposals in this year's Queen's Speech which will infringe severely on the freedom of its citizens online. The reason for the changes has been stated as to protect the country from terrorism. Canada a short while ago were considering similar changes all in the name of catching paedophiles. In truth though most western governments love to applaud Internet freedom in countries in the Middle East and in China but hate it in their own back yard.

David Davies, Conservative MP, yesterday said that the proposed changes were, "an unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary people". Human Rights and Civil Liberty groups have agreed.

The BBC reported that:
"A new law - which may be announced in the forthcoming Queen's Speech in May - would not allow GCHQ to access the content of emails, calls or messages without a warrant.  But it would enable intelligence officers to identify who an individual or group is in contact with, how often and for how long. They would also be able to see which websites someone had visited.  In a statement, the Home Office said action was needed to "maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes".

"It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public," a spokesman said.  "As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review we will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows to ensure that the use of communications data is compatible with the government's approach to civil liberties."

David Davis Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary said  "It would make it easier for the government "to eavesdrop on vast numbers of people". "What this is talking about doing is not focusing on terrorists or criminals, it's absolutely everybody's emails, phone calls, web access...All that's got to be recorded for two years and the government will be able to get at it with no by your leave from anybody. He said that until now anyone wishing to monitor communications had been required to gain permission from a magistrate. "You shouldn't go beyond that in a decent civilised society, but that's what's being proposed."

Opinion: As so often in the past once again Mr Davies is talking good sense. Perhaps the current UK government should have looked more closely at the security services it has axed, such as trained police officers and members of the military, rather than go down this road. It will be no replacement for personnel, will drive terrorists underground and in the end simply attack the freedom of law abiding citizens.

All too often, we in the UK complain and voice our concerns but quickly give in. The government will be once again relying on this. The hope will be that once the changes are law we will just accept this attack on our freedom. Is that what you are going to do this time?

Sign the petition here
2 Comments