The Coalition is Watching You

On April 1^st the Home Office thought it was the perfect time to announce plans to pass legislation that will force internet firms to give real time information on the communications of its customers to the GCHQ (UK Government Communication Headquarters). This means that the GCHQ would know who you have called, text, emailed and what websites you have visited. Although they would not know the contents of the compunctions, being able to know who is talking to who is a powerful tool. This Orwellian scheme at first seemed like some stupid and elaborate April fools, but as time went on it became clear the coalition is serious about creating a piece of legislation that will destroy a significant proportion of a UK citizens civil liberties.

At the moment if you want to know who someone has been texting/emailing/calling or what websites they have been visiting you need a warrant. This ensures that the public’s basic rights are not infringed in the name of security and also stops law enforcement from arresting people based just on the fact that ‘they called someone who’s a bit dodgy’. To obtain a warrant you need clear evidence that the person is probably guilty of a crime and that the evidence gathered with the warrant will help convict the person for this particular crime. This system works. This system ensures safety of the public from threats and also protects them from a ‘Big Brother’ society. Why destroy a system that works? The system has been this way for over 100 years and although longevity is not an argument to never change, in those 100+ years the system has become a benchmark of freedom and liberty in western civilization.

The Home Office has said that the proposed system would ensure the safety of the public and society. How? Knowing that Man X, known terrorist, has been emailing Man Y does not mean Man Y. This new system would just lengthen the list of people suspected of being terrorists without actually stopping terrorists. The proposal also seems to overestimate the terrorist threat in the UK. This is a Cold War response to a 21^st Century problem; creating a climate of fear without solving the issue. It does not take an anti-terrorism expert to work out that if you heighten surveillance of one area of communications, terrorists and criminals will just find another way of communication. An ineffective fear mongering system is what is being proposed.

The issue of surveillance is one that transcends political views; left or right, we can all agree that if the Home Office gets it way, our civil liberties will have started to have been destroyed. It’s a slippery slope from surveillance for security to ‘Big Brother is Watching You’, that is why we must draw the line here. We must stand up and say ‘No’. We must untie across party lines and say ‘Some things are not up for debate, and one of them is our Civil Liberties’.