UK's Cameron wants his own version of the PATRIOT Act

[ksen]

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...-his-spies-to-read-all-communications/384468/

British Prime Minister David Cameron reacted to last week's terrorist attack in Paris by participating in a march declaring solidarity with freedom of expression. Then he went home and attacked freedom of expression with a promise: If his party, the Conservatives, win an upcoming election, they'll pass legislation that would empower security services to read anything sent over the Internet.

"If I am prime minister I will make sure that it is a comprehensive piece of legislation that does not allow terrorists safe space to communicate with each other," he said. “That is the key principle: Do we allow terrorists safer spaces for them to talk to each other. ... Are we going to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read? My answer to that question is: ‘No we must not.’"

ugh

Look for Tor downloads to skyrocket in the UK.

 

[Togo]

Cameron may be out unless he can stop his own right wing leaving to join UKIP. As such he's trying to find as many right-wing talking points as possible to make pledges on.

 

[Warpoet]

Damn. He just lost whatever points he earned by calling Steve Emerson an idiot.

 

[TSwizzle]

Good grief. He is going to hand more power to PC Plod to harass the morons that put out poor taste jokes/comments on Facebook/Twitter and round up heretics that disagree with government. It's bad enough Plod can be round your house quicker than you can type "poofter" without this.

 

[Bomb#20]

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...-his-spies-to-read-all-communications/384468/

Are we going to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read? My answer to that question is: ‘No we must not.’"

Cameron may be out unless he can stop his own right wing leaving to join UKIP. As such he's trying to find as many right-wing talking points as possible to make pledges on.

It would be nice to think that's the explanation; the alternative is that your country is run by an idiot. The notion that any first-world government has any choice about whether to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read can only be entertained by those who know nothing about computers. The ship has sailed. The horse has bolted. Elvis has left the building.

 

[bilby]

Cameron may be out unless he can stop his own right wing leaving to join UKIP. As such he's trying to find as many right-wing talking points as possible to make pledges on.

It would be nice to think that's the explanation; the alternative is that your country is run by an idiot.

I believe that these are not only not mutually exclusive, but are indeed both true.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Cameron in, Cameron out. What difference does it make?
Consider this in the larger context of all the government and corporate intrusions into our personal lives. All the methods you know of. Hells bells, I was just reading a lovely little story about license plate readers and the retention of that data by a private company. I reckon they could just type your plate number in and map out where you've been for whatever time frame desired. Your secret lover, your dealer, that gay bar you go to (not that there's anything wrong with that). I wonder if there are methods completely unknown to us. Without a shred of evidence, I have faith that there are.

We're trying to stop an avalanche already in progress.

 

[Hickdive]

Another example of how power corrupts.

When Blair got into power he immediately rescinded the blanket ban on trade unions at GCHQ but by the end of his rule he was demanding we all carry identity cards (for security, against terrorism etc).

When Cameron got into power he immediately scrapped the whole identity card thing; now, by the end of his rule (hopefully), he is demanding that the government have access to all our internet activity (for security, against terrorism etc).

Here's my top tip: when looking for a needle (terrorist internet communication traffic) in a haystack (everyone's internet communication traffic) your best bet is not to add more hay to the stack. That being the case, existing UK laws can already be used to intercept the communications of known suspects and there is absolutely no need to harvest data in a way that is actually counter-productive.

 

[barbos]

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...-his-spies-to-read-all-communications/384468/

British Prime Minister David Cameron reacted to last week's terrorist attack in Paris by participating in a march declaring solidarity with freedom of expression. Then he went home and attacked freedom of expression with a promise: If his party, the Conservatives, win an upcoming election, they'll pass legislation that would empower security services to read anything sent over the Internet.

"If I am prime minister I will make sure that it is a comprehensive piece of legislation that does not allow terrorists safe space to communicate with each other," he said. “That is the key principle: Do we allow terrorists safer spaces for them to talk to each other. ... Are we going to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read? My answer to that question is: ‘No we must not.’"

ugh

Look for Tor downloads to skyrocket in the UK.

But freedom of expression is not the same as email privacy.
He will be OK if terrorists CC their emails to the world.

 

[Draconis]

Oh, Cameron is very good at talking. Can't see it happening though.