For some time now I've been suspicious of any politician who suggests new legislation is protecting the people of the UK from terrorism. It's such a provocative word and politicians use it to instill more fear into the people in order to keep them subdued.
The only terrorists evident from my tiny space is this country are the coalition. Upping the cost of fuel which in turn increases the cost of food, pleading faux sympathy with the high cost of utility bills and exposing our troops in an unwinnable war are a few of their tactics which could be labelled terrorism.
The latest shows the levels to which our representatives will go to curtail the freedoms of the people.
In 2006, Labour was forced to abandon similar plans in the face of fierce opposition from the Tories, Libdems and privacy groups yet only 6 years later the tide turns and the coalition is leading the country down precisely the same dictatorial route that I thought was solely NuLabour social engineering. How wrong I was.
Only a year ago Nick Clegg promised to restore liberties stolen by Labour yet he's now supporting a proposal to enable intelligence officers the ability to identify who an individual or group is in contact with, how often and for how long and they would also be able to see which websites someone had visited.
In a statement, the Home Office said action was needed to "maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes".
"It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public," a spokesman said.
"As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review we will legislate as soon as parliamentary time allows to ensure that the use of communications data is compatible with the government's approach to civil liberties."
Civil liberties? They're all being slowly withdrawn in the name of terrorism.Critics have suggested that the proposal would be 'expensive, intrusive and a nightmare to run legally'. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty says ' it is a pretty drastic step in a democracy'. Even John Redwood disapproves and has a theory that the idea started in the climate change department.
Maybe it's a job creation scheme. The government will require thousands more staff at GCHQ to undertake the snooping. Just a thought.
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