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JohnRich

"England, where we are all prisoners"

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News:
Tony Blair has turned Britain into a land where we are all prisoners

Even George Orwell would be shocked. He described the sinister machinations of a totalitarian police state in his novel, 1984, and laid bare the danger of eroding our basic civil liberties, including the right to freedom of speech and the right to privacy.

Although he famously coined the phrase 'Big Brother is watching you', even Orwell cannot have foreseen just how prescient those words would prove to be.

Today, in Tony Blair's Britain we have witnessed a breath-taking erosion of civil liberties.

The truth is we are fast becoming an Orwellian state, our every movement watched, our behaviour monitored, and our freedoms curtailed.

Between May 1997 and August 2006, New Labour created 3,023 new criminal offences...

Then there has been the incredible number of CCTV cameras - a total of 4.2 million, more than in the rest of Europe put together.

The Government has agreed to let the EU have automatic access to databases of DNA...

The Act which banned the age- old right of protest within half-a-mile of Parliament...

The Terrorism Act 2000, which gives the police unprecedented stop and search powers. In 2005 alone, this law was used to stop 35,000 people - none of whom was a terrorist.

There has been an unprecedented shift of power away from the individual towards the state - but now this power is being used not to defeat terrorism, but to keep tabs on ordinary citizens. As well as a raft of repressive anti-terror legislation, there are the more insidious infringements of our freedom and privacy.

We will soon see the introduction of the vast National Identity Register, linking all databases such as the DNA database to which the EU will soon have access.

The tentacles of these networks will intertwine until they form a vast state surveillance mechanism, which can track every detail of your life: what books you borrowed from the library as a student, your sexual health, your DNA profile, your spending and your whereabouts at any given moment in time.

Ministers are even creating a children's database, which will record truancy, diet, and medical history.

And, of course, ID cards will be issued in 2009 - to be used every time we carry out routine tasks such as visiting the dentist. Soon, biometric data - your iris scan, fingerprints and DNA, will help to identify you further.

And, all the time, there are those CCTV cameras - 20 per cent of the global total, even though Britain only has 0.2 per cent of the world's population.

New Labour has an absolute obsession with these devices. Soon, more sophisticated cameras will be able to recognise your face and the information matched to one of the national databases.

All cars will eventually be fitted with a GPS chip, officially to simplify road tax payments but they will also allow government agencies to track every vehicle in the country.

There are, of course, more alarming implications to being constantly monitored - as Orwell understood. Soon, we will be living in an open-air prison.

Some may ask: why does all this matter? The answer is that to surrender our identity and privacy so comprehensively is to give up something we will never get back.

Although New Labour says its mania for data-gathering is all part of its plan to protect us, there's no guarantee that future governments (who will be inheriting a nationwide surveillance machine and the National Identity Register) won't use it to more malign ends...
Source: Daily Mail

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I knew you could find a thread about England out there somewhere...:ph34r:



The camera thing is a bit creepy to me. It's only starting to make inroads here. In the Mission part of San Francisco the neighborhoods are welcoming the CCTVs, though I find it hard to believe it has real value. We probably still have more red light cameras than anything else, and they've had serious issues as well.

The national ID is here as well, though some states are resisting this unfunded mandate.

Rental cars are using the GPS devices extensively now, for both speed and location monitoring.

and of course, we have the Patriot Act.

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I am quite troubled about the introduction of the National Identity Registry and agree wholly with the closing reamrk in that article. If we give up our privacy and identity so comprehensively we won't get it back.

The main reason this is going to happen is because people are too f***ing apathetic to care about or realise whats being taken from them. It's the whole, "If I've got nothing to hide then I've got nothing to worry about" mentality.>:(

I take issue with a requirement that I carry around a license to exist.

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News:

Tony Blair has turned Britain into a land where we are all prisoners
....


Not true, let me tell you! Just returned from the island and guess what: I'm still free and spent a wonderful week there :)

JohnRich, what would be SC w/o you and your entertaining "news"?: :D:D:D ...

dudeist skydiver # 3105

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Sounds like they have their own version of the Patriot Act. Good thing they are protecting themselves from murderous terrorists, though. If not for all those restrictions on civil rights, they would surely have been destroyed by terrorists by now.

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>but we didn't need all of the other Ant -eye-Torist [sic] crap that is being thrown at us.

So you want to cut and run, eh? Embolden the terrorists? Let your defeatocrats pass pro-terrorist laws that protect evil villains within your country? Go right ahead! The US has learned that individual rights are really not all that important if something scares you, and the world is definitely a scary place.

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It's sickening. I've written to my MP on several occasions, but of course, he can do nothing :)

It's definitely become a police state. The scary thing is how the vast majority of british citizens adopt the line of 'If you've got nothing to hide, it doesnt matter'. Surely that completely undermines any civil liberties our forefathers have worked for many hundreds of years to build?

Here's a nice example; we have a national DNA database, as mentioned. If you're ever arrested, you automatically have to give DNA samples, fingerprints and other biometric data which is stored. However, even if you are found innocent, charges are dropped etc, it's [pretty much] impossible to have your data removed from the register. The official gov't policy is to hold it for 100 years. So, you could be arrested mistakenly over someone elses civil breach, released within 30 minutes, but you're still logged for life.

I want to emmigrate. I have virtually no respect for my country any more (although I do have respect for most of my fellow citizens).

Sickening.

'buttplugs? where?' - geno

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The same reason I would be uncomfortable with granting police the right to search my home summarily wtihout warrant. Its just another step in the erosion of privacy.

You can view it as a small step or a large step but it is a step all the same and in the wrong direction. You have to ask yourself what'll they do next to protect us?

Technologically, they could film inside every persons home or place tracking bugs under peoples skin. Granted those are pretty extreme but if a society becomes accustomed to being filmed and identified everywhere they go then more drastic measures become a matter of routine. That worries me.

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Here's a nice example; we have a national DNA database, as mentioned. If you're ever arrested, you automatically have to give DNA samples, fingerprints and other biometric data which is stored.



DNA samples and fingerprints are taken whenever anyone is brought into custody FOR A RECORDABLE CRIMINAL OFFENCE. Unsure what you mean by other biometric data. I guess you refer to the form which is a description, ie height, build, hair colour, eye colour, tattoo description/location etc and then is updated on the police national computer

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However, even if you are found innocent, charges are dropped etc, it's [pretty much] impossible to have your data removed from the register.



It should be easy. Just inform the data controller for the police force (I think thats the right title) who has a duty under the data protection act and freedom of information act to disclose information held on you and also remove that which is irrelevant or no longer required. Lots of information is regularly weeded out and deemed no longer required,

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The official gov't policy is to hold it for 100 years. So, you could be arrested mistakenly over someone elses civil breach, released within 30 minutes, but you're still logged for life.



Firstly, this information would not be recorded for commiting a civil offence only a recordable criminal offence as stated above. Therefore, as an example, being arrested for Breach of the Peace and later released, you would not have your details taken as its not recordable. Secondly you'd be very lucky to go through the process within 30 minutes :D

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I want to emmigrate. I have virtually no respect for my country any more (although I do have respect for most of my fellow citizens).



Thats your choice, just don't believe all the media hype, especially not the Daily Mail!!!

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http://www.forensic.gov.uk/forensic_t/inside/about/docs/NDNAD_AR_3_4.pdf

Perhaps you'd like to note page 20, where it covers removal. Specifically, that since the Police Act 2001, DNA data remains on the database until death. It specifically mentions how this is *different* to Scotland, where individuals have the right to removal in the case of no charges being brought/dropped etc.

'buttplugs? where?' - geno

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OK, I admit I didn't know it had changed however they are still subject to requirements of the Data Protection Act which states:

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The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them. It provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly.

The Act works in two ways. Firstly, it states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles, which make sure that personal information is:

* Fairly and lawfully processed
* Processed for limited purposes
* Adequate, relevant and not excessive <-- Arguable
* Accurate and up to date
* Not kept for longer than is necessary <-- Arguable
* Processed in line with your rights
* Secure
* Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection

The second area covered by the Act provides individuals with important rights, including the right to find out what personal information is held on computer and most paper records.

Should an individual or organisation feel they're being denied access to personal information they're entitled to, or feel their information has not been handled according to the eight principles, they can contact the Information Commissioner's Office for help. Complaints are usually dealt with informally, but if this isn't possible, enforcement action can be taken.



I agree that if you are released without charge then your details shouldn't be retained HOWEVER it is very rare that someone is mistakenly arrested and released due to genuine error. People are normally released without charge due to insufficient evidence despite you knowing 100% they are guilty of the offence. At least it catches those people who we wouldn't want to slip the net. Its just sad it can catch decent folk who somehow get caught up in amess. But again don't believe the "there I was minding my own business when I got arrested" stories in the Daily Mail

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I totally agree with that article. The national database, set up by the government that hasn't managed to get a single computer system to work and all of which have been over budget. It's a bit hypocritical that even though they can track our every move, they recently exempted themselves from the freedom of information act.

If it keeps going on like these i think a lot of Brits may just go and find some new land and set up a new country where everybody is free;)!

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I knew you could find a thread about England out there somewhere...:ph34r:



The camera thing is a bit creepy to me. It's only starting to make inroads here. In the Mission part of San Francisco the neighborhoods are welcoming the CCTVs, though I find it hard to believe it has real value. We probably still have more red light cameras than anything else, and they've had serious issues as well.

The national ID is here as well, though some states are resisting this unfunded mandate.

Rental cars are using the GPS devices extensively now, for both speed and location monitoring.

and of course, we have the Patriot Act.
Dude. The national ID card has been here for a LONG time. It's called your social security card (#). ;) Some people are just to sheepish to realize it.
I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

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