SMRs and AMRs

Monday, April 02, 2012

Britons Protest Government Eavesdropping Plans

By ALAN COWELL
NYT

LONDON — British lawmakers and rights activists joined a chorus of protest Monday against plans by the government to give the intelligence and security services the ability to monitor the phone calls, e-mails, text messages and Internet use of every person in the country.

The Home Office said the measures were vital to provide police and security services with “communications data to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public.”

Under the proposal, made public in The Sunday Times of London, a law to be introduced later this year would allow the authorities to order Internet companies to install hardware enabling the government’s monitoring agency, known by its initials, GCHQ, to examine individual communications without a warrant.

A similar effort to enhance the authorities’ powers was made by the previous Labour government in 2006, but it was abandoned after ferocious opposition from groups including the two parties — the dominant Conservatives and the smaller Liberal Democrats — which now form the coalition government.

(More here.)

1 Comments:

Blogger Patrick Dempsey said...

What's the big deal - government eavesdropping is for the good of the people. These events should be celebrated, especially in left-leaning political circles.

In America, since each of us every day is engaged in the 'market place of ideas' - intellectual commerce, if you will - it is perfectly within the purview of the federal government to 'regulate' this 'commerce' and eavesdrop on our emails, phone-calls, blog posts, and any other intellectual conversation that might have an 'effect' on commerce.

This is the same arguement used to justify ObamaCare, so it's hardly a stretch to think if ObamaCare is constitutionally legal on the commerce grounds, so it US government eavesdropping on the same arguement of 'commerce'.

Still think Wickard v Filburn shouldn't be overturned?

11:32 AM  

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