Ah, I see where you are coming from and disagree with you in so many ways.
The use of this technology, once the National Security Exemption is invoked,
is pretty much beyond the law.
Yesterday's news showed an irrelevant incident. A Jamaican policeman who
executed suspects was acquitted by a patently rigged court case. He is now
free to execute more suspects.
It takes only a small leap to see that this scenario could equally happen
here. After all, Jamaica is a civilised liberal democracy too.
Crime is the excuse that has been given for worthy and good people to deploy
huge barrages of security against the minority who commit it, yet all
citizens are now under surveillance, not simply those who need to be
monitored.
Even Israel, which arguably has more to fear from terrorism, has no such
system!
The USA has the Patriot Act, named so anyone objecting to it is unpatriotic!
At least we do not, but equally I do not recall voting for the overwhelming
mass surveillance that we have here. Nor, I suspect, do most of us recall
voting for it. "Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear" is oft
used in these circumstances, but the Brazilian gentleman executed when going
about his lawful business in Stockwell proved that not to be the case.
Our "rights" under the acronyms you quote simply do not (need not) exist in
practice. "National Security Exemption, sorry" applies instead. Put a more
draconian administration in place and you soon find that national Security
always applies
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lawrence Serewicz
Sent: 22 December 2005 10:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] And what is the UKIC's stance here??
Tim,
I would not worry about the Orwellian world too much because it is already
with us. For example, certain departments of the Crown, I believe Custom
and Excise is one and there is one other, which can enter any home without a
warrant. London is already the most heavily surveilled city in the world.
Moreover, t-ray surveillance, aka millimetre wave imaging aka tadar, allows
the authorities to look inside buildings or into bags or under clothing.
With all of this surveillance, street crime will continue. With all of this
surveillance, benefit fraud will continue.
We need not worry about the technology, we need to worry about the people,
like you and me, who operate the machines and to what ends. When we worry
about the ends, I believe we benefit from having a healthy democratic system
that allows this process. To put it differently, would we have this e-mail
exchange if we lived in North Korea? The ends raise an important caveat
because we are lucky enough to live in a liberal democratic system, which
affords us due process and legal redress for abuses by the state. If the
regime changes then we will have problems. We need to be vigilant against
that change because the balance between individual and state is always
precarious and weighted in the state's favour. To sustain that balance we
need to exercise our rights under the FOIA, DPA, and RIPA. However, we, as
individuals within a liberal democratic system, have accepted that social
contract which has given rise to the surveillance society.
For more information on the question of surveillance, surveillance
technology, and people's attitudes to surveillance see the Information
Commissioner's website:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/documentUploads/CCTV%20report.pdf
The report does give one pause for thought.
Best regards,
Lawrence
Lawrence W. Serewicz
Scrutiny Manager
Management Support Unit
Wear Valley District Council
01388-761-985
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