Monday, British PM David Cameron passed yet another red line. Now, he wants the security services not only to collect all metadata about peoples telecommunications–but also the content.
The Guardian reports…
Speaking in Nottingham, he said the intelligence agencies need more access to both communications data – records of phonecalls and online exchanges between individuals – and the contents of communications. This is compatible with a “modern, liberal democracy”, he said.
No, Mr Cameron. In a liberal democracy you do not snoop on ordinary peoples communications. In a liberal democracy you trust the people.
In a liberal democracy the state is there to serve the citizens. Not the other way around.
The whole point of a liberal democracy is that you judge people based on their actions. Treating everybody as a suspect, as a potential wrongdoer is not the liberal way to go–it is the ultimate collectivism.
In a liberal democracy you respect the individual as a free citizen. You do not treat her as a serf.
/ HAX
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Update: UK government could ban encrypted communications with new surveillance powers »
In the UK surveillance is rife, I believe. But they do have a peculiar exception: the MPs may not be watched. The exception dates from when Harold Wilson was under MI5s watch as a suspected Soviet spy. Cameron goes free too, I believe. Who cares about the rest?