The Orwellian state may be about 25 years behind schedule in Britain, but it’s evolving rather nicely now. Very well indeed, in fact. Those kind fellows who ‘protect’ us are going out of their way to keep an eye on us and make suggestions as to how they can monitor our activities even further. Sir David Pepper, the former head of GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) being the latest. He said in a BBC interview that the details of all communications should be recorded. The quondam spy chief, who last year stepped down from running the agency that provides electronic intelligence on foreign and domestic threats, believes that lives could be at risk if the state could not track such information.
Under what is, at present at least, a voluntary scheme, telecom companies already store the details of telephone calls such as the numbers dialled, when and where they were made, and for how long any conversation lasted. Internet usage, including websites visited and addresses emailed are likewise held for future use. Yes, they know you’ve visited this blog.
According to the BBC, ‘Sir David said he was speaking out to help people understand that agencies were there to protect them’. Not that old chestnut. Civil rights campaigners have, justifiably, criticised the idea of such a gross intrusion of privacy, with the Liberal Democrats stating that such policies are ‘incompatible with a free country and a free people’.
A Lords constitution committee recently slammed the excessive use of electronic surveillance and collection of personal data in this country as posing a threat to democracy. But a complacent British public, whose ‘if you’ve nothing to hide’ mentality stems from never having read any history books, seems to see little wrong with what is effectively a government spying on its own people.
Now, repeat after me:
War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.
War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.
War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.
War is Peace; Freedom is. . . .
