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Comment: Wake Up Everyone
Posted on 08/02/09
An Ex Loughborough (UK?) resident
When I was growing up I used to be proud of this country and rightly so. Yes it had its problems including terrorism. However most people went about their daily business without the overpowering scrutiny from authorities. Indeed, the UK, like many other countries, prided itself in providing a home for defectors fleeing from oppressive regimes that wanted to control and monitor their citizens every move, regardless of whether they had done anything wrong.
What sickens me nowadays is that there has been a coup. The Controlling State, which many view, including myself, has eroded the basic liberties that have been thought for over thousands of"years. The Magna Carta, back in 1215 stated "NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs". There has been a long tradition of freedom and the right to go about ones business. Both my grandfathers fought in the Second World War to defend the British peoples freedom. Nowadays the Controlling State is monitoring our every move with intends to dramatically escalate the surveillance and give powers to council officials to investigate everything we do, including monitoring which websites we visit without sufficient judicial review or warrants. What right has Charnwood Borough Council got to watch which websites we visit? I hasten to add that these powers are being granted for almost whatever purpose the authorities might require them for.
The oft cited argument argument that if you have done nothing wrong then there is nothing to fear does not stand up to scrutiny. People in control of the data can make mistakes (e.g. council tax payers bank details ending up on a hard disk on Ebay) or they could deliberately obtain personal information for the purposes of organised crime. If we cant trust MI5 officials not to accidentally leave laptops containing highly top secret information on the train, what chance is there of Joe Council Worker maintaining confidentiality?
And its not as if we can trust the Police force to uphold the law. Lets face it, every Police Force in the UK, Leicestershire Constabulary included, break the law, knowingly, every single day. The UK has been told by the European Court that the deliberate retention of DNA and fingerprint records on people who were never charged of any offence is wrong. However records continue to be stored on the Police National Computer, 24 hours a day, with more being collected minute by minute, sometimes forcefully. Its not as if we can trust the police to always act with integrity and to correctly ascertain the situation before arresting someone. Whilst the majority of police officers undoubtedly handle themselves correctly there are always going to be a few whose actions are questionable. If you make a complaint, there is an effort made by officers to refuse to accept it (one way of keeping the number of complaints to a minimum). If you cant specifically name a police officer responsible then nothing is done. If they do accept it the Police try to get it resolved by local resolution (where you waive your rights to any compensation). And there is no guarantee that you will ever find the outcome of the complaint and any possible investigation that occurred. I speak from experience.
One thing is for sure, if you give the Police extra powers they will use them. Hundreds of thousands of people have been stopped using recent anti terror legislation. However the number of people prosecuted for terrorism is a fraction of 1 % of these. The use of these powers is not proportionate. In the last two years no one has died from terrorism in the UK. However we have more security and surveillance than countries such as Israel where terrorism is a daily occurrence. So why do we need more oppressive powers here continuing the erosion of our basic human rights? So the police can be even more oppressive? Its not as if the police direct there resources where they will be effective. For example if the police really wanted to protect us from harm, then they would divert resources to hospitals to make sure people wash their hands rather than disaffecting the youth of today by stopping them to see if they are carrying knives (10,000s of people die from hospital acquired infections compared to a dozen or so people who get stabbed and die in the street). Maybe the tabloid papers and the knee jerk reaction of politicians have something to do with this).
Granting powers that get over used is not just limited to the police. Look at the dismay that has been reported in the paper since the introduction of Street Wardens. No doubt the issuing of parking tickets has reduced illegal parking. However having witnessed a Loughborough Street Warden giving a citizen a hard time for dropping litter in the Market Place on Market Day. Considering the amount of debris produced by the market traders which requires a specialist clean up of the whole area the actions of that over zealous warden could explain to some extent why the wardens now wander round with CCTV cameras strapped to their chests. One also wonders if the Street Wardens have a lever arch file of amusing pictures of angry citizens and taxpayers in their control centre. The pictures gleaned from their personal CCTV. In the Loughborough Control Centre for the CCTV system there certainly is a lever arch file of CCTV pictures (Strictly for break times you understand).
Have we lost sight of who our police, councils, government actually work for? Im pretty sure it should be us, however there seams to be a drift of power to the controlling class at the expense of our basic human rights. Where it will end one cant say. Oppressive regimes never last and sometimes their downfall is violent. Lets stop this chipping away at our liberty before then.
As for me, Im out of here. Maybe off to some country where the regime is less oppressive. Russia perhaps.
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