Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Do we really have nothing to fear?
A great deal has already been said and written concerning the undercover police operation against the Lawrence family. I tend to agree with this report on the BBC that a judge-led inquiry is needed, if only because these revelations appear to be just the thin end of the wedge.
It has also been alleged that the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad, which was set up in 1968 and employed about 100 officers during its lifetime before being disbanded in 2008, examined anti-war and anti-nuclear movements, groups linked to paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, animal rights campaigns and the environmental protest movement.
There are claims that officers infiltrated political groups protesting about police corruption in the 1990s, including the Colin Roach Centre, which was named after a 21-year-old black Briton who died in the foyer of Stoke Newington police station.
When the row blew-up about the US Prism programme, I believe that at least one Minister made the point that if we have nothing to hide then we have nothing to fear from a surveillance state. These latest revelations blow that rather complacent view out of the water. The state is not benign and we should not think for one moment that it is.
It has also been alleged that the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad, which was set up in 1968 and employed about 100 officers during its lifetime before being disbanded in 2008, examined anti-war and anti-nuclear movements, groups linked to paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, animal rights campaigns and the environmental protest movement.
There are claims that officers infiltrated political groups protesting about police corruption in the 1990s, including the Colin Roach Centre, which was named after a 21-year-old black Briton who died in the foyer of Stoke Newington police station.
When the row blew-up about the US Prism programme, I believe that at least one Minister made the point that if we have nothing to hide then we have nothing to fear from a surveillance state. These latest revelations blow that rather complacent view out of the water. The state is not benign and we should not think for one moment that it is.
Comments:
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We have everything to fear because the security services seem to have absolute power and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
# posted by 
: 3:26 PM
: 3:26 PM
"Nothing to fear than fear itself"?
Plenty to fear - for Brits at least - you must know that the NSA is vacuuming up your emails, phone content, faxes, you name it, including MPs - and British ministers. You do 'all realize that?
You are all fair game, that is, from the NSA's brief/perspective.
It's officially recognized in the USA that the NSA is free to spy and vacuum up foreign emails/phone calls/FB content/Yahoo content/ etc etc.
Y? Because "BIG EARS" is fully authorized to do this - just not on American citizens. British citizens who don't hold US passports or US naturalization certificates are non-US citizens.
At least one Welsh MP appears to agree with the view "... that if we have nothing to hide then we have nothing to fear from a surveillance state".
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Plenty to fear - for Brits at least - you must know that the NSA is vacuuming up your emails, phone content, faxes, you name it, including MPs - and British ministers. You do 'all realize that?
You are all fair game, that is, from the NSA's brief/perspective.
It's officially recognized in the USA that the NSA is free to spy and vacuum up foreign emails/phone calls/FB content/Yahoo content/ etc etc.
Y? Because "BIG EARS" is fully authorized to do this - just not on American citizens. British citizens who don't hold US passports or US naturalization certificates are non-US citizens.
At least one Welsh MP appears to agree with the view "... that if we have nothing to hide then we have nothing to fear from a surveillance state".
# posted by : 9:48 PM
: 9:48 PM<< Home
