UK: Government will spy on every call and e-mail

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4882600.ece

Actually, this has been on the cards for ages. Britain has been the leading voice within the EU for such pan-European initiative.

If you read the comments even the conservative readers of the Times are up in arms!

 

It's awful. I, for one, would never feel comfortable if my calls and messages were scanned by government officials. Anyway, what is the general feeling among the common public in England?

 

To be honest it's not the major news story. Most people are still worried about the financial crash, their jobs and the cost of living.

However it's pretty typical of a British government; there's only one group that the British government hate, fear and distrust more than foreigners and that's the British people. They say it's all being done for our benefit so they can protect us against Al Queda, but we know that's just an excuse so they can take more control of our lives - the same as ID cards and 60 day detention without trial.

The Government desparately need another Al Queda 'atrocity' to justify all this. They know most of us don't give a shit about Osama Bin Laden and don't see him as a threat: so they plant a few bombs - big deal, we've had it before.

There's an extension to this as to why British service personnel, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, are refused service in hotels and bars and told not to wear their uniforms in public, but that's too big a subject to discuss here.

 

It's not a big issue at the moment as the government proposal hasn't been publicised widely...

 

How about the public's privacy and the laws ?

 

in the name of public safety, anti-terrorism things and much more, the government excempts itself from the laws.. the law only applies to nice citizens

 

Oh boy; that's news to me. Why would they do that?

 

traditionally, the armed forces were not allowed to wear their uniforms in public because that would have made them IRA targets

today, they can but few do. the reception on the streets wouldn't necessarily be very positive

 

I don't know about the emails and phone calls but there is a freaking camera on every corner. It freaky how often a person is video taped in the UK.

 

it is estimated that the average person is captured on camera over 300 times every day

 

That has got to be a low estimate.

 

Sputid governments!!!

They don't spy on people they SHOULD do it!! We see attacks, terror campaigns etc etc and they come to spy us?

Oh boy, someone explain to them WE DON'T WANT PEOPLE SPYING ON US.

 

As Divisive Cottonwood says they tend not to get a good reception.

Part, although by no means all, of it is historical. The British state has often used the Army to enforce order; even in the 20th century Churchill was prepared to let troops fire on striking miners. Consequently joining the Army was seen as an act of betryal to your community; even during times of starvation and famine the workhouse was seen as a better and more noble alternative to the army. That inherited memory survives today (in much the same way as something like the Boston Massacre still plays a part in your nation's history) and joining the army isn't really the career that 'nice' people wish for their offspring.

Add this to the fact that about 95% of Britain thinks our involvment in Iraq and Afghanistan is both illegal and immoral. Consequently the people who are deemed to be guilty of perpatrating the terror, death and destruction we've inflicted on those countries aren't viewed sympathetically.

Needless to say the Services, especially the Army, resent their status. The sentiment expressed in Rudyard Kipling's 1892 poem 'Tommy' is probably still true today:

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no redcoats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

 

Don't be stupid they don't exist.

The government doesn't seem to respect us...

 

LOL. That's true with most governments in the world.

 

The current labour government is the most unpopular in years and has a super low approval rating. The problem is, the alternative party are worse...so what can we do?

 

fuck me is it

i wish we had the snp in england

 

Funny thing is: I could possibly still get killed by a terrorist even if the government read all my emails & listened to all calls

 

They read your emails and listen to your calls not to protect you from terrorists, but to make sure that you're not one of them. It's sad. But I guess it's probably the truth.

 

Should my freedoms be restricted unless it solves a problem? I don't believe it is worth it, I feel like a fish in a tank as it is