Britain rapidly turning into a Orwellian Police State

[jesqueal]

Godfather, thanks for topping-up this thread so often, it's a very helpful reference thread

[Godfather77]

Thanks for the encouragement people.  Sadly here is another article about the sad state of affairs in Britain today 

LABOUR'S BIG BROTHER BULLIES
Sunday September 14,2008
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/61350/Labour-s-Big-Brother-bullies

Labour is creating an army of tinpot town hall dictators with Big Brother-style powers to impose “petty” laws on the public, it was claimed last night. The Government is handing authority to local councils to create rules on everything from where wheelie bins are left to where food is eaten in public places.

It could mean a ban on feeding the ducks to fines for those who cycle through a park or walk on the grass.

Parents of youngsters who ignore a by-law forbidding football in a residential road could face a cash penalty, while dog lovers who let their pooches play off the lead could also pay a high price.

Residents were warned to expect fines of up to £80 if they breach the regulations as cash-strapped councils turn the simplest of pastimes into a cash-cow for their dwindling coffers.

Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said the move threatened to turn town hall workers into bullies picking on taxpayers for the most minor of offences.

In a consultation document, the Department for Communities and Local Government argues that fixed penalties are a “practical alternative” to enforcing by-laws through magistrates courts.

It adds: “Local communities should be confident that any nuisance behaviour which spoils their enjoyment of public spaces can be tackled quickly and efficiently – fixed penalty notices are seen as instrumental in achieving this.”

The document explains how councils can outsource the policing of fines to private contractors. Even parish councils will be handed powers currently held by magistrates to set by-laws and punish those who flout them.

Town halls can already fine those flouting existing Home Office laws but Labour’s latest proposal would increase their freedom to set their own rules.

The revelation comes amid mounting anger after a series of high-profile cases in which citizens have been fined for throwing away apple cores and putting their bins out too early.

Mr Pickles said: “Labour is systematically handing power to unelected bureaucrats. We now run the risk of a ludicrous situation where misguided officials may clobber people who commit minor bin infringements with larger fines than shoplifters.”

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said “Giving councils greater powers to create by-laws may sound good in theory but they will probably abuse the power.”

[EvadingGrid]

In a consultation document, the Department for Communities and Local Government argues that fixed penalties are a “practical alternative” to enforcing by-laws through magistrates courts.

Reminds me of that great european habbit of voting with milk bottles.

[Godfather77]

Terror law is attack on all our freedoms, says spy writer Le Carré in furious tirade against ministers
23rd September 2008
Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1060034/Terror-laws-attack-freedoms-says-spy-writer-Le-Carr-furious-tirade-ministers.html

Spy novelist John Le Carré has criticised the Government for 'stripping' away British civil liberties due to the threat of terrorism.

The 76-year-old author and former MI6 agent, who rarely speaks publicly, slammed ministers for voting to extend the 42-day limit that terror suspects can be held without charge. Le Carré, who admitted he had been labelled an 'angry old man', said: 'Partly I'm so angry that there is so little anger around me at what is being done to our society, supposedly to protect it.

'We have been taken to war under false pretences, and stripped of our civil liberties in an atmosphere of panic.

'Our lawyers don't take to the streets as they have in Pakistan. Our MPs allow themselves to be deluded by their own spin doctors, and end up believing their own propaganda'

Le Carré, whose 21 books include The Constant Gardener and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, added: 'We haul our Foreign Secretary back from a mission to the Middle East so he can vote for 42 days' detention.

'People call me an angry old man. Screw them. You don't have to be old to be angry about that.

'We've sacrificed our sovereignty to a so-called "special relationship" which has nothing special about it except to ourselves.'

He was speaking yesterday in an interview with Waterstone's magazine, just weeks ahead of a key vote in the House of Lords that could see peers throw out the controversial 42-day proposals.

The writer was one of several figures from the arts and academia who wrote to Gordon Brown in March to protest at the 42-day detention limit.

The open letter, which was also signed by author Iain Banks and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, warned that 'relations could suffer if the Muslim community appears to be... targeted for prolonged pre-charge detention'.

Campaigners and opposition MPs have suggested that the terror vote in the House of Lords on October 13 will be very close.

[Godfather77]

It begins...

Foreign national ID card unveiled
Thursday, 25 September 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7634111.stm

The first identity cards from the government's controversial national scheme have been unveiled. The biometric card will be issued from November, initially to non-EU students and marriage visa holders.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the cards would allow people to "easily and securely prove their identity".

Critics say the roll-out to some immigrants is a "softening up" exercise for the introduction of identity cards for everyone.

The card will also include information on holders' immigration status.

"We want to be able to prevent those here illegally from benefiting from the privileges of Britain," she said.

Employers and colleges want to be confident people are who they say they are, she said, and immigration and police officers want to verify identity and detect abuse.

"We all want to see our borders more secure, and human trafficking, organised immigration crime, illegal working and benefit fraud tackled. ID cards for foreign nationals, in locking people to one identity, will deliver in all these areas," she added.

The UK Border Agency will begin issuing the biometric cards to the two categories of foreign nationals who officials say are most at risk of abusing immigration rules - students and those on a marriage or civil partnership visa.

Both types of migrants will be told they must have the new card when they ask to extend their stay in the country.  The cards partly replace a paper-based system of immigration stamps - but will now include the individual's name and picture, their nationality, immigration status and two fingerprints.

Immigration officials will store the details centrally and, in time, they are expected to be merged into the proposed national identity register.

The card cannot be issued to people from most parts of Europe because they have the right to move freely in and out of the UK.

The Conservatives oppose the UK's identity card scheme but say they support the use of biometric information in immigration documents.

Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary Chris Huhne said identity cards "remained a grotesque intrusion on the liberty of the British people" and the scheme "will prove to be a laminated Poll Tax".

"The government is using vulnerable members of our society, like foreign nationals who do not have the vote, as guinea pigs for a deeply unpopular and unworkable policy," he said.

SNP Home Affairs spokesman Pete Wishart MP said his party had opposed ID cards from the outset but the government's "abysmal record on data protection" was reason enough to cancel them.

He said the government looked "absurd" for pushing ahead with such a costly project.

"These cards will not make out communities more secure, they will not reduce the terrorist threat and they will not make public services more efficient," said Mr Wishart.

Phil Booth, head of the national No2ID campaign group, attacked the roll-out of the cards as a "softening-up exercise". "The Home Office is trying to salami slice the population to get this scheme going in any way they can," Mr Booth told the BBC.

"Once they get some people to take the card it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"The volume of foreign nationals involved is minuscule so it won't do anything to tackle illegal immigration."

But Sir Andrew Green of Migrationwatch UK said the cards should be supported.

"We welcome the introduction of ID cards for foreign nationals as part of wider measures to tackle illegal immigration," he said. "These reforms are essential if we are to restore order to our immigration system as the public certainly wish to see."

[Godfather77]

New mental health powers threaten rights, claim lawyers
Sunday, 28 September 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/new-mental-health-powers-threaten-rights-claim-lawyers-944770.html

Lawyers are lining up to challenge the legality of the new Mental Health Act as fears about the imminent new powers grow among patients.  The legislation was passed in July amid controversy after seven years of opposition from a coalition of 75 organisations.

The new law introduces a much wider definition of mental disorder which could see people with an "untreatable" personality disorder sectioned and brought into hospital.

Nurses, occupational therapists and social workers will be given new powers previously reserved for doctors. Patients detained in care homes could be forced to pay for treatment they do not want.

A campaign by this newspaper helped to ensure that a number of safeguards was written into the new Act. But at least five key aspects of the controversial Act could breach human rights law, meaning the Government would be forced to revisit the legislation as early as 2013, according to the Law Society.

It said there had been widespread calls to follow the example of the 2003 Scottish Act, which complies with the European Convention on Human Rights, but these had been dismissed.

Tim Spencer Lane, of the Law Society, said: "The old 1983 Act is the most challenged English law in the European Court of Human Rights. The new Act is like a band aid measure which may survive five years of challenges at the most.

"Sooner or later the Government is going to have to bite the bullet and bring in something like the Scottish Act, which is what Northern Ireland is planning to do. People in England and Wales deserve a mental health law based on civil liberties rather than one based on 1950s principles of locking people up."

A Department of Health spokesperson said the Act was "part of our strategy to reform and improve mental health care. We do not believe it contravenes human rights legislation."

[EvadingGrid]

This thread still reminds me of that great european habbit of voting with milk bottles with rags stuffed in the top.

[Godfather77]

This thread still reminds me of that great european habbit of voting with milk bottles with rags stuffed in the top.

Old practices die hard I guess.  It is probably why the BS postal voting introduced in the UK a while back is so much similar to the habit you describe. 

[jesqueal]

Plus postal voting was easier for them to cheat, then blame on Indians

[Godfather77]

So, its' okay for rates of pay to be capped and kept below inflation but its' fine for taxes to go up with inflation. As always it's one rule for them and one for the people. 

Workers face £180-a-year tax for driving to work under plans to charge businesses for parking spaces
30th September 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1065050/Workers-face-180-year-tax-driving-work-plans-charge-businesses-parking-spaces.html

Workers could be hit with a £180 a year 'pay-as-you-park' tax for the privilege of driving to work under controversial plans designed to reduce congestion. Council chiefs want to impose the so-called 'work-place parking levy' within two years to raise millions of pounds for public transport improvements.

Critics say the scheme is yet another stealth tax. But Nottingham City Council says it will boost the city's economy by helping to pay for new tram routes, the refurbishment of its train station and new bus routes.

Around 500 companies with 10 or more workplace parking spaces would be liable for the charge. The work-place parking tax would be imposed initially on firms. But companies say they will have to pass it on to employees - or move location.

Business leaders have also warned the tax could be introduced in other cities if the proposals get the go-ahead from the Government in the next few weeks.

George Cowcher, chief executive of the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, said: 'It's clear that a precedent might be set and if it is, businesses across the country will have to dig deep in their pockets to pay the levy.'

The city council wants to start the charge - equivalent to 75p a day - in 2010 and estimates it would raise £5.6million in the first year alone. The tax would rise to £350 a year by 2014, before continuing to increase in line with inflation.

Councillor Jane Urquhart, who is in charge of transport at the authority, said:  'If we don't provide the finance that the work-place parking levy will generate, employers will not have the incentive to minimise their parking provision and encourage more sustainable commuter travel by their staff.'

Outgoing Transport Secretary Miss Kelly appeared in March to have gone cold on plans for a controversial UK wide pay-as-you drive congestion-charging scheme - with drivers paying up to £1.50 a mile at peak times - dismissing it as a 'sterile debate'. But the plan sprang back to life later that month when Chancellor Alistair Darling announced Government funding for national pilot schemes to test the technology.

More than 1.8million motorists signed a petition opposing the Government's controversial 'pay as you drive' road-pricing scheme on the Downing Street website. Motorists also face road-tolls by the back-door under controversial plans to create pay-as-you-drive car-share lanes.

Drivers will be able to buy their way out of gridlock by paying a fee to use up to 500 miles of specially reserved car-share lanes, policed by a new generation of high-tech digital cameras.

[Godfather77]

We ignore history at our peril.  In 1922, the Nazi Party created a similar youth section for young men between the ages of 14 and 18 years. Its successor became known as the Hitler Youth and membership was compulsory after 1936 with only about 10 to 20% able to avoid joining.  By 1943 the Nazi leaders eventually turned the Hitler Youth into a military reserve to draw manpower.

The National Union of Teachers have already pointed to evidence from the Rowntree Trust that suggested the MoD has been focusing disproportionately on schools in the most disadvantaged areas and targeting vulnerable pupils without clearly outlining the risks of an army career. Others argue that it is merely a tactical effort to boost recruitment amid a projected shortfall in troop numbers.

The title of the BBC article below makes it quite clear that state pupils not those from private schools are the chosen ones for recruitment which seems sinisterly like class segregation.  The poor make better cannon fodder I guess 

State pupils urged to join cadets
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7644800.stm

More school pupils are being encouraged to join the cadets and experience the discipline of a military life.

Schools ministers Lord Adonis believes being a cadet can foster confidence, self-reliance and resourcefulness.

Teaching union Voice believes widening cadet membership could help improve pupil behaviour and self-discipline.

Opponents see it as a soft way of introducing pupils to the idea of an army career, but ministers deny this.

The Ministry of Defence, which has overall responsibility for the Combined Cadet Force, said this increased access to cadet force places was was in no way an underhand recruitment policy.

'Valuable attributes'

Derek Twigg, Under Secretary of State for Defence, said thanks to a new scheme more school children will now have the opportunity to feel the benefits of the cadet system, building discipline, respect and professionalism.

It was part of a cross-government strategy to improve support to the Armed Forces, their families and Veterans, he added.

This calls for more cadet places to made available to secondary pupils in deprived areas and Academies.

There are 132,000 young people in cadet forces and 200 community based cadet forces in secondary schools in the UK.

The first stage of this new initiative will see six partnerships between state schools and nearby independent schools which already have a Combined Cadet Force.

A further six partnerships are in the process of being drawn up.

Cadets take part in military themed activities such as training and assault courses, first aid and learning how to handle rifles and dismantle weapons.

Lord Adonis said cadets could be a real force for good in our schools.

"The experience provides not only fun, healthy activities for young people but they also encourage valuable personal attributes, help to build skills and, using military themes based upon the culture and ethos of the single Services, foster confidence, self reliance, initiative, resourcefulness, loyalty and a sense of service to others."

[matrixcutter]

UK ID Cards – More Than Identification
From a Reader – September 29, 2008

You may have heard that legislation creating compulsory ID Cards passed a crucial stage in the House of Commons. You may feel that ID cards are not something to worry about, since we already have Photo ID for our Passport and Driving License and an ID Card will be no different to that.

What you have not been told is the full scope of this proposed ID Card, and what it will mean to you personally.

The proposed ID Card will be different from any card you now hold. It will be connected to a database called the NIR, (National Identity Register) where all of your personal details will be stored. This will include the unique number that will be issued to you, your fingerprints, a scan of the back of your eye, and your photograph. Your name, address and date of birth will also obviously be stored there.

There will be spaces on this database for your religion, residence, sexual tastes, number of partners, medical records status and many other private and personal facts about you. There is unlimited space for every other details of your life on the NIR database, which can be expanded by the Government with or without further Acts of Parliament.

By itself, you might think that this register is harmless, but you would be wrong to come to this conclusion. This new card will be used to check your identity against your entry in the register in real time, whenever you present it to 'prove who you are'.

Every place that sells alcohol or cigarettes, every post office, every chemist, and every Bank will have an NIR Card Terminal, (very much like the Chip and Pin Readers that are everywhere now) into which your card can be 'swiped' to check your identity. Each time this happens, a record is made at the NIR of the time and place that the Card was presented. This means for example, that there will be a government record of every time you withdraw more than £99 at your branch of Nat West, who now demand ID for these transactions. Every time you have to prove that you are over 18, your card will be swiped, and a record made at the NIR. Restaurants and off licences will demand that your card is swiped so that each receipt shows that they sold alcohol to someone over 18, and that this was proved by the access to the NIR, indemnifying them from prosecution.

Private businesses are going to be given access to the NIR Database. If you want to apply for a job, you will have to present your card for a swipe.

If you want to apply for a London Underground Oyster Card,or a supermarket loyalty card, or a driving licence you will have to present your ID Card for a swipe. The same goes for getting a telephone line or a mobile phone or an internet account.

Oyster, DVLA, BT and Nectar (for example) all run very detailed databases of their own. They will be allowed access to the NIR, just as every other business will be. This means that each of these entities will be able to store your unique number in their database, and place all your travel, phone records, driving activities and detailed shopping habits under your unique NIR number. These databases, which can easily fit on a storage device the size of your hand, will be sold to third parties either legally or illegally. It will then be possible for a non governmental entity to create a detailed dossier of all your activities.

Certainly, the government will have clandestine access to all of them, meaning that they will have a complete record of all your movements, from how much and when you withdraw from your bank account to what medications you are taking, down to the level of what sort of bread you eat – all accessible via a single unique number in a central database.

This is quite a significant leap from a simple ID Card that shows your name and face.

Most people do not know that this is the true character and scope of the proposed ID Card. Whenever the details of how it will work are explained to them, they quickly change from being ambivalent towards it. The Government is going to COMPEL you to enter your details into the NIR and to carry this card. If you and your children want to obtain or renew your passports, you will be forced to have your fingerprints taken and your eyes scanned for the NIR, and an ID Card will be issued to you whether you want one or not. If you refuse to be fingerprinted and eye scanned, you will not be able to get a passport.

Your ID Card will, just like your passport, not be your property. The Home Secretary will have the right to revoke or suspend your ID at any time, meaning that you will not be able to withdraw money from your Bank Account, for example, or do anything that requires you to present your government issued ID Card.

The arguments that have been put forwarded in favour of ID Cards can be easily disproved. ID Cards WILL NOT stop terrorists; every Spaniard has a compulsory ID Card as did the C.I.A Madrid Bombers. ID Cards will not 'eliminate benefit fraud', most of which is done by government by withholding due payments, which in comparison, is small compared to the astronomical cost of this proposal, which will be measured in billions according to the LSE (London School of Economics).

This scheme exists solely to exert total surveillance and control over the ordinary free British Citizen, and it will line the pockets of the companies that will create the computer systems at the expense of your freedom, privacy and money.

If you did not know the full scope of the proposed ID Card Scheme before and you are as unsettled as I am at what it really means to you, to this country and its way of life, I urge you to email or photocopy this and give it to your friends and colleagues and everyone else you think should know and who cares. The Bill has proceeded to this stage due to the lack of accurate and complete information on this proposal being made public.

We can inform the entire nation if everyone who receives this passes it on.

-------------------------

Mass chipping [ID cards, not implants] in U.K has begun (1min 31s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY24bdKzocM
The British government on Thursday took the first step towards introducing bio-metric identity cards for immigrants from India and other non-European Union countries with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith unveiling the design of the supposedly forgery-proof card.

We can expect several problems with these cards, and the solution will be the implants.

Say no to microchip implants.

Same thing in America:
"Enhanced driver's license" is now in NY (2mins 17s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWQmNmQd9rg

Sept. 17, 2008
Alan Watt "Cutting Through The Matrix" on RBN (ads removed):
"In the Sovietized World, I'll Always be Me,
Tracked to the Grave, It's on my ID,
Data Retrieval Made Easy for Authority,
For People Who Care Not For Privacy,
So Listen Not to the Wise, nor to the Bard,
The Sheeple will Run for their New ID Card" - mp3

(Articles: "A New License, for More Than Just Driving" by Jennifer Lee (nytimes.com) - Sept. 17, 2008.)
"The Resurgent Idea of World Government" (Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 22.2, Summer 2008) by Campbell Craig (Carnegie Council at cceia.org) - July 7, 2008.)

[Godfather77]

From the tone of this article it seems like the Government considers everyone a potential terrorist!  When this dangerous ideology becomes the mindset of the mainstream political parties, tyranny and fascism will be the end result.

Security officials plan to combat threat of the lone terrorist
Friday October 3 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/03/uksecurity.terrorism

The "lone terrorist" individual, self-radicalised and not connected to any group, forms a new potential threat, according to senior Whitehall security sources who are drawing up a new strategy to counter what they say is the continuing serious threat of attacks.

Officials are pursuing a twin-track approach: countering terrorists' bomb-making skills and internet activity, and addressing the grievances of young Muslims, including concerns about British foreign policy.

The terrorist threat level is officially set at "severe", meaning that an attack is highly likely. Officials describe the threat as "the severe end of severe". It comes from the "al-Qaida core" based on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where, say these sources, "people are looking at the UK in particular".

The danger also comes from al-Qaida "affiliates" and potentially well-organised al-Qaida groups in north and east Africa that have links with western Europe. Some groups in Britain sympathise with, or are inspired by, the extreme ideology and calls to jihad broadcast by prominent al-Qaida figures abroad, security officials say.

The measures of the Whitehall security officials relate to countering terrorist threats with new technologies, with the help of private industry, including identifying the presence of explosives from a distance and making fertilisers that will not combust. The plan covers disruption and countering of the use of the internet by al-Qaida and the setting up of more regional counter-terrorism centres. Four "counter-terrorist hubs" have been established in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and London. Another is being set up in southern England.

The strategy is also aimed at urging police, local authorities and communities to work together to identify and support those risking being drawn into violent extremism.

Officials say local councils could play an important role in developing strategies. There is particular concern over the security of the Olympics, with evidence, officials say, of an Islamist "east London footprint". The plan is also to encourage ministers and officials to talk to Muslim groups and discuss "grievance areas".

The last point covers such issues as stop and search, racism, and British foreign policy. Ministers have been persuaded that foreign policy and the country's close ties to the US are a real issue for many Muslims. "You can't just say, 'British foreign policy is no excuse for radicalisation'," a Whitehall security source said.

Officials say the initiative is based on the government's existing strategy, represented by the "four Ps" - prevent, pursue, protect and prepare. They add that the emphasis of the new strategy is on "prevent".

The strategy aims to "present a more sophisticated picture" of the nature of the terrorist threat, they say

[matrixcutter]

From the tone of this article it seems like the Government considers everyone a potential terrorist!

Exactly.
Thatcher talked about "the enemy within" after the IRA failed to blow her to smitherines (probably because MI6 didn't want her dead).
And Bush famously said "you're either with us, or you're with the terrorists".  That was a very important declaration from the president of the United States, no matter how much of an idiot people think he is.

According to Alan Watt, after she was booted out Thatcher talked about being a member of the parallel government, which operates above party politics, is made up of various former political leaders and other high profile people of influence and isn't hindered by being accountable to the general public.  She also (again, according to Watt) went over to Canada and gave a lecture (or a tour of lectures) entitled The New World Order, in which she discussed the coming threat from Islamic fundamentalists, which was an interesting prediction.

When this dangerous ideology becomes the mindset of the mainstream political parties, tyranny and fascism will be the end result.

Exactly as planned by this parallel government, which Carroll Quigley also discusses in Tragedy and Hope.
Quigley basically said that this parallel government was the Royal Institute of International Affairs and its American branch the Council on Foreign Relations.  Dr John Coleman would argue that these (and other organisations e.g. the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, the Club of Rome) are merely fronts for the highest group, the Olympians, aka the Committee of 300.

[Godfather77]

SPIES WILL TAP INTO ALL EMAILS AND CALLS
Monday October 6,2008
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/64725/Spies-will-tap-into-all-emails-and-calls

All telephone calls, emails and text messages in Britain will be monitored under new Government snooping plans. A £12billion identity database at the GCHQ spy centre could even log every website visited by computer users nationwide.

Hundreds of bugging probes will be installed in the telephone system and computer networks to monitor communications traffic.
GCHQ has already been handed £1billion of taxpayers’ cash to begin developing the database.

After the top-secret plans were leaked yesterday critics accused the Government of stalking the public. Michael Parker of anti-identity card group No2ID said: “It is a shocking intrusion into privacy. This is stalking. If an individual carried out this sort of snooping, it would be a crime.”

[Godfather77]

Britons 'could be microchipped like dogs in a decade'
30th October 2006
Full article ~ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23372564-details/Britons+'could+be+microchipped+like+dogs+in+a+decade'/article.do

Human beings may be forced to be 'microchipped' like pet dogs, a shocking official report into the rise of the Big Brother state has warned. The microchips - which are implanted under the skin - allow the wearer's movements to be tracked and store personal information about them.

They could be used by companies who want to keep tabs on an employee's movements or by Governments who want a foolproof way of identifying their citizens - and storing information about them.

The prospect of 'chip-citizens' - with its terrifying echoes of George Orwell's 'Big Brother' police state in the book 1984 - was raised in an official report for Britain's Information Commissioner Richard Thomas into the spread of surveillance technology.

The report, drawn up by a team of respected academics, claims that Britain is a world-leader in the use of surveillance technology and its citizens the most spied-upon in the free world.

It paints a frightening picture of what Britain might be like in ten years time unless steps are taken to regulate the use of CCTV and other spy technologies.

The reports editors Dr David Murakami Wood, managing editor of the journal Surveillance and Society and Dr Kirstie Ball, an Open University lecturer in Organisation Studies, claim that by 2016 our almost every movement, purchase and communication could be monitored by a complex network of interlinking surveillance technologies.

The most contentious prediction is the spread in the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The RFID chips - which can be detected and read by radio waves - are already used in new UK passports and are also used the Oyster card system to access the London Transport network.

For the past six years European countries have been using RFID chips to identify pet animals.

Already used in America

However, its use in humans has already been trialled in America, where the chips were implanted in 70 mentally-ill elderly people in order to track their movements. And earlier this year a security company in Ohio chipped two of its employees to allow them to enter a secure area. The glass-encased chips were planted in the recipients' upper right arms and 'read' by a device similar to a credit card reader.

In their Report on the Surveillance Society, the authors now warn: "The call for everyone to be implanted is now being seriously debated."

The authors also highlight the Government's huge enthusiasm for CCTV, pointing out that during the 1990s the Home Office spent 78 per cent of its crime prevention budget - a total of £500 million - on installing the cameras.

There are now 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain and the average Briton is caught on camera an astonishing 300 times every day. This huge enthusiasm comes despite official Home Office statistics showing that CCTV cameras have 'little effect on crime levels'.

They write: "The surveillance society has come about us without us realising", adding: "Some of it is essential for providing the services we need: health, benefits, education. Some of it is more questionable. Some of it may be unjustified, intrusive and oppressive."

[Godfather77]

Oh, how quick the police turn up when Virgin trains call them that a begger is on a train.   

If you get your house broken into, attacked or even your car stolen in the UK the police often don't even bother turning up.  Liberty and freedom is worthless to the fascist criminals running the UK and this is why someone gets more jail time for not paying their council tax than someone who commits assault.    

Good Samaritan threatened with arrest after organising train whip-round for pensioner's £115 penalty fare
10th October 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1076183/Good-Samaritan-threatened-arrest-organising-train-whip-round-pensioners-115-penalty-fare.html

A train manager threatened to have a commuter arrested after he came to the rescue of a vulnerable fellow passenger. Stand-up comedian Tom Wrigglesworth intervened when the Virgin Trains manager demanded an elderly passenger buy a new ticket because she had got on the wrong train.

Lena Ainscow, 75, sobbed as she was forced to hand over £115 for a new ticket, despite having been told to board that service by Virgin staff.

Wrigglesworth, 32, stepped in and organised a whip-round among passengers for her. But the train manager saw him, said the collection was akin to begging and called police before warning him to hand back the cash or face being arrested.

Mrs Ainscow was travelling to see daughter Carol Battersby, her two sons, and husband Ian, a Regimental Sergeant Major with the Royal Artillery who has recently returned from Iraq. Her £11.50 pre-booked ticket for the trip to see the family in Bromley was for yesterday's 10.45am Manchester to Euston service but her Virgin travel itinerary said she had been booked on the 10.15am service and she was advised to board the train by Virgin staff in Manchester.

Her explanation and pleas for discretionary sympathy failed to sway the manager who forced her to pay for a new ticket.

Wrigglesworth, from Shadwell, east London, who is a regular at the Comedy Store in Piccadilly Circus, pleaded with him but was told not to interfere. He said: 'I couldn't sit there and let this helpless woman deal with it on her own. I had to do something so I got a paper bag from the buffet car. I told the other passengers that if we all gave 50p or £1 we would get the money in no time.

'Everyone was happy to help and someone even put in £30. When I gave her the money she got upset again.'

Mrs Ainscow, a grandmother of 11 from Bolton in Greater Manchester, said she was "overwhelmed" by the generosity of her fellow passengers.  She said: 'When the guard said I had to buy a new ticket I was devastated. The only money I had was the savings I'd scraped together to get my grandchildren a present.

'Tom really spoke up for me, he was marvellous.The train was only half-full, I don't know why the manager had to make me buy another ticket.  'It was a simple mistake  -  and not mine either. My itinerary was wrong.'

Mr Wrigglesworth was met at Euston by transport police. He said: 'The manager accused me of begging and asked me to give everyone's money back. I told him I wouldn't and that people didn't want it back.

'When I got off at Euston there were a few police officers waiting. Thankfully, a couple of the other passengers waited and helped to explain. Once the police had been put in the picture they walked away.'

A spokesman for London Travelwatch said: 'We expect discretion in some circumstances and we would certainly expect Virgin to have a look at this. 'It sounds as though there was an obvious case for common sense to be used. As for telling the man who organised a whip-round he was going to be arrested, that seems excessive.'

Mrs Ainscow's daughter Carol said: 'Tom has restored my faith in mankind. He was an angel. I dread to think what would have happened to my mother if he hadn't been there.'

A spokesman for Virgin Trains said the company's head of customer relations would investigate.
He added: 'All I can do is apologise for the distress that has been caused to both these people. We will contact them to get full details.'

British Transport Police said officers were asked to speak to a man but took no action.

[Godfather77]

The answer to the question posed in the headline is obvious - NO!!! 

SHOULD THE STATE SNOOP ON US AT EVERY TURN?
Sunday October 12,2008
Full article: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/65786/Should-the-state-snoop-on-us-at-every-turn-

The Government’s bail-out of beleaguered banks may ease our fears on that score but we may need to worry instead about the deceptively innocent-sounding Communications Bill, which will be announced next month.

Using the excuse of fighting terrorism and crime, the Government has for many years been seeking ways to increase its power of surveillance over us. The growth in the number of CCTV cameras alone has been phenomenal.

Two years ago, a study commissioned by Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, warned that the combination of CCTV, biometrics, databases and tracking technologies is actually the use of interconnected “smart” systems to track the movements and behaviour of millions of people.

At the same time, an international privacy conference declared that Britain is the most snooped upon country in the democratic world.

Things have moved along apace since then. Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), 700 bodies are licensed to watch us by making a certified request to telephone or internet firms for individual records: 500,000 such requests were made last year.

How long those records will be kept is not known. For the past year telecoms companies have been required to keep records of telephone calls and text messages, which can be accessed by the security services, police or the Government if required. Again, how long those records will be kept is not clear.

About 57 billion text messages were sent in Britain last year and about three billion e-mails are sent every day, so there are doubts about the Government’s ability to cope with that huge volume of information.

The Government’s embarrassing talent for losing important data could create a nightmare situation. This year, the child benefit information of every family in Britain with a child under 16 was lost.

The Communications Bill is a further step in the Government’s attempt to increase the range of its surveillance. Its aim is to create a database equipped to track every telephone call we make, every website we visit and every text and e-mail we send.

There will be those who will say that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. However, Liberty’s Shami Chakrabarti says the proposals would “transform the relationship between the individual and the State”.

Mr Thomas insists that the proposed changes must be debated because such excessive surveillance poses dangers to our way of life. That is the very least that must happen.

Predictably, a Government spokesman insists the changes are meant to protect the public. That is a statement of which Big Brother would be really proud.

[Godfather77]

Defeated for now...

Ministers shelve 42-day detention
Monday, 13 October 2008 21:19 UK
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7668477.stm

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said that plans to extend terror detention to 42 days will be dropped from the Counter-Terrorism Bill. It follows a heavy defeat for the government in the House of Lords, which threw out the plan by 309 votes to 118.

Ms Smith said instead the measure would be in a separate piece of legislation to be brought to Parliament if needed.

The Tories said she should just say she was abandoning 42 days. The Lib Dems said it was a "humiliating retreat".

The government's plan to extend the period for which police can hold terrorist suspects before charging them squeezed through the Commons in June by just nine votes.

'Biggest defeat'

Earlier on Monday it was defeated by a majority of 191 votes in the Lords, described by the Conservative former shadow home secretary David Davis as "the biggest defeat in the Lords in living memory".

In a forceful statement to MPs less than two hours after the vote, Ms Smith said: "I deeply regret that some have been prepared to ignore the terrorist threat, for fear of taking a tough but necessary decision."

She said she had prepared a new bill which would allow the director of public prosecutions to apply to the courts to question a terrorist suspect for up to 42 days "should the worst happen".

She said Britain still needed to "be prepared to deal with the worst", adding: "My priority remains the protection of the British people. "I don't believe as some honourable members clearly do that it's enough to simply cross our fingers and hope for the best. That is not good enough."

[Godfather77]

It doesn't take a genious to see that Jacqui Smith is not telling the whole truth and that the EU is behind this plan.  As usual this MP like so many others is using 'selective language' and 'spin' to hide the true motives behind this plan and using fear to hoodwink the public into going along with this. 

Giant database plan 'Orwellian'
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 17:19 GMT
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7671046.stm

Proposals for a central database of all mobile phone and internet traffic have been condemned as "Orwellian".

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the police and security services needed new powers to keep up with technology. And she promised that the content of conversations would not be stored, just times and dates of messages and calls.   

Details of the times, dates, duration and locations of mobile phone calls, numbers called, website visited and addresses e-mailed are already stored by telecoms companies for 12 months under a voluntary agreement. The data can be accessed by the police and security services on request - but the government plans to take control of the process in order to comply with an EU directive and make it easier for investigators to do their job.

Information will be kept for two years by law and may be held centrally on a searchable database.

Without increasing their capacity to store data, the police and security services would have to consider a "massive expansion of surveillance," Ms Smith said in a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research earlier. 

'Vital capability'

She said: "Our ability to intercept communications and obtain communications data is vital to fighting terrorism and combating serious crime, including child sex abuse, murder and drugs trafficking.

"Communications data - that is, data about calls, such as the location and identity of the caller, not the content of the calls themselves is used as important evidence in 95% of serious crime cases and in almost all security service operations since 2004.

"But the communications revolution has been rapid in this country and the way in which we intercept communications and collect communications data needs to change too. "If it does not we will lose this vital capability that we currently have and that, to a certain extent, we all take for granted.

"The capability that enabled us to convict Ian Huntley for the Soham murders and that enabled us to achieve the convictions of those responsible for the 21/7 terrorist plots against London."

She said the "changes we need to make may require legislation" and there may even have to be legislation "to test what a solution to this problem will look like". There will also be new laws to protect civil liberties, Ms Smith added, and she announced a public consultation starting in the New Year on the plans.

"I want this to be combined with a well-informed debate characterised by openness, rather than mere opinion, by reason and reasonableness," she told the IPPR.

'Necessity'

Ms Smith attempted to reassure people that the content of their e-mails and phone conversations would not be stored.

"There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your emails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online."Nor are we going to give local authorities the power to trawl through such a database in the interest of investigating lower level criminality under the spurious cover of counter terrorist legislation. 

"Local authorities do not have the power to listen to your calls now and they never will in future . You would rightly object to proposals of this kind and I would not consider them.

"What we will be proposing will be options which follow the key principles which govern all our work in this area - the principles of proportionality and necessity."

But the idea of storing phone and e-mail records has provoked concern among experts.

The government's own reviewer of anti-terror laws, Lord Carlile, said: "The raw idea of simply handing over all this information to any government, however benign, and sticking it in an electronic warehouse is an awful idea if there are not very strict controls about it."

[jesqueal]

The database has been around for many decades, now they are retro-actively decriminalising it

[Godfather77]

I'm glad this appeared on the mainstream news because I couldn't believe my ears when Geoff Hoon openly said what he did on BBC Question Time last night.  It gives a good insight into the constant unchanging agenda to control and spy on society.

Hoon defends giant database plans
Friday, 17 October 2008 03:36 UK
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7674775.stm

On BBC One's Question Time, Mr Hoon said the plans would only extend powers that already exist (NOT QUITE) for ordinary telephone calls, to cover data and information "going across the internet". He said the police and security services needed the powers to deal with "terrorists or criminals" using telephones connected to the internet, for "perfectly proper reasons, to protect our society". 

But the Lib Dems' communities spokeswoman Julia Goldsworthy said it sounded like "something I would expect to read in George Orwell's book 1984" and questioned whether the government and councils could be trusted not to misuse the powers.

She asked: "How much more control can they have? How far is he prepared to go to undermine civil liberties?"

Mr Hoon interjected: "To stop terrorists killing people in our society, quite a long way actually.

"If they are going to use the internet to communicate with each other and we don't have the power to deal with that, then you are giving a licence to terrorists to kill people."

'Orwellian'

He added: "The biggest civil liberty of all is not to be killed by a terrorist."   

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said pulling all the information together in a central server, to be managed by government, "represents a very profound change in the relationship between the state and the citizen".

[Godfather77]

This proves that the government public consultation exercise on the giant database is a total sham. 

Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones
October 19, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4969312.ece

Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance.

Phone buyers would have to present a passport or other official form of identification at the point of purchase. Privacy campaigners fear it marks the latest government move to create a surveillance society.

A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime. Whitehall officials have raised the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who buys a phone in recent talks with Vodafone and other telephone companies, insiders say.

The move is targeted at monitoring the owners of Britain’s estimated 40m prepaid mobile phones. They can be purchased with cash by customers who do not wish to give their names, addresses or credit card details.

The pay-as-you-go phones are popular with criminals and terrorists because their anonymity shields their activities from the authorities. But they are also used by thousands of law-abiding citizens who wish to communicate in private.

The move aims to close a loophole in plans being drawn up by GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham, to create a huge database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.

The “Big Brother” database would have limited value to police and MI5 if it did not store details of the ownership of more than half the mobile phones in the country.

Contingency planning for such a move is already thought to be under way at Vodafone, where 72% of its 18.5m UK customers use pay-as-you-go.

The office of Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, said it anticipated that a compulsory mobile phone register would be unveiled as part of a law which ministers would announce next year.

“With regards to the database that would contain details of all mobile users, including pay-as-you-go, we would expect that this information would be included in the database proposed in the draft Communications Data Bill,” a spokeswoman said.

Simon Davies, of Privacy International, said he understood that several mobile phone firms had discussed the proposed database in talks with government officials.

As The Sunday Times revealed earlier this month, GCHQ has already been provided with up to £1 billion to work on the pilot stage of the Big Brother database, which will see thousands of “black boxes” installed on communications lines provided by Vodafone and BT as part of a pilot interception programme.

The proposals have sparked a fierce backlash inside Whitehall. Senior officials in the Home Office have privately warned that the database scheme is impractical, disproportionate and potentially unlawful. The revolt last week forced Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, to delay announcing plans for the database until next year.

[Godfather77]

When someone says "It’s not a case of Big Brother snooping in people’s homes" that means IT IS exactly that. 

Tradesmen trained as council child abuse ‘spies’
18th October 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1078762/Tradesmen-trained-council-child-abuse--8216-spies-8217.html

Tradesmen working for local authorities are to be asked to report signs of child abuse and neglect as they visit the homes of council tenants.  The plumbers, electricians and carpenters will be issued with a checklist of signs to look out for, including ‘unexplained bruising’ and ‘scalds’. Training will last just half a day.

But critics believe the use of workers untrained in such a highly complex field could backfire. They say that children who are at real risk could be overlooked because social workers with already bulging caseloads could be bombarded with baseless complaints.

One of the first councils to pilot the scheme will be Lincoln, which later this month is expected to approve the policy under which about 200 ‘front-line’ staff will be given four hours’ training on child abuse, with 600 backroom or office workers attending even shorter ‘awareness briefings’.

The front-liners include any employee who visits homes as part of his or her job, including rent officers. Council-employed sports coaches and leisure-centre staff, who come into daily contact with children, will also be trained.

Signs of physical abuse they are asked to look out for include ‘aggressive behaviour/severe temper outbursts, flinching when approached or touched and reluctance to get changed, eg, wearing long sleeves in hot weather’.  Signs of sexual abuse include ‘discomfort when walking or sitting down’ and ‘pregnancy’. 

Lincoln Council insists that any spurious complaints will be weeded out by closer investigation but critics are not convinced.

Child welfare charity AIMS condemned the idea as ‘ludicrous’. Its spokeswoman Jean Robinson said: ‘This  will just lead to a huge increase in the number of false cases being reported and you won’t be able to find the needle because the haystack will be so vast.

‘This is a highly complex area and not one for amateurs. Of course, if anyone, council employee or not, saw a child who was clearly being beaten or starved, their basic humanity would hopefully lead them to report it but the idea of council plumbers and carpenters being semi-trained and seen as some sort of child-abuse spies by the people they are supposed to be serving is rather sinister.’

Simon Walters, Lincoln’s head of corporate review and development, said: ‘This is a common-sense measure. We need to ensure our staff are trained to recognise child neglect and abuse. All public bodies have a duty under the Children Act to take responsibility to spot signs of child abuse. It creates a duty for key agencies, including district councils, to put in place arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people when discharging their functions through their daily work or that of sub-contractors.

‘Even when cases are referred to Lincoln County Council as the responsible authority, they will no doubt have checks and balances in place before determining if there is a need to take further action.’

The Local Government Association said: ‘The Children Act did place a responsibility on local authorities to train staff to notice tell-tale signs and this will become quite common practice.

‘It’s not a case of Big Brother snooping in people’s homes , it’s more a reaction to high-profile cases of abuse where people asked afterwards, “How could so many people have visited the home and not noticed anything?”’

NSPCC head of policy and public affairs Natalie Cronin said: ‘We welcome this initiative. This training should help council workers who have a lot of contact with families to know more about how to respond if they are worried about a child’s welfare.’

[Godfather77]

Britain's freedoms under threat from 'security state,' warns Director of Public Prosecutions
20th October 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1079155/Britains-freedoms-threat-security-state-warns-Director-Public-Prosecutions.html

The country's top prosecutor today delivered an unprecedented warning that crucial British freedoms are under threat from government plans for a 'security state'.

Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald said there was a serious danger that 'freedom's back' would be broken by decisions taken in coming months that could change irreversibly the way society is run.

He said the 'relentless pressure of a security state' was to blame and gave warning of a risk that the public could 'end up living with something we can't bear' unless action was taken to halt the drive towards increasing government powers.

Sir Ken's warning, delivered at a lecture in London, will be seized upon by critics who accuse ministers of trying to set up a 'Big Brother' society with increasing state surveillance and powers. It comes days after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she wanted greater powers to ensure that details of the emails, phone calls and web-browsing of all citizens were stored.

There are similar concerns about the impact of the Government's ID cards scheme and plans for a child database and a vastly expanded criminal records vetting system, plus greater use of CCTV and other surveillance techniques.

Ministers have sought to play down these concerns but, in a ferocious assault today, Sir Ken gave warning that the increasing use of technology could destroy British freedoms unless deployed with 'great care' and restraint.

'We need to take very great care not to fall into a way of life in which freedom's back is broken by the relentless pressure of a security state,' he said.'

Technology gives the state enormous powers of access to knowledge and information about each of us, and the ability to collect and store it at will. 'Of course, modern technology is of critical importance to the struggle against serious crime. Used wisely, it can protect us.

'But we need to understand that it is in the nature of state power that decisions taken in the next few months and years about how the state may use these powers, and to what extent, are likely to be irreversible. 'They will be with us forever. And they, in turn, will be built upon.

'So we should take very great care to imagine the world we are creating before we build it. We might end up living with something we can't bear.'

Sir Ken's comments, in the inaugural Crown Prosecution Service annual lecture, come shortly before he stands down this month after five years as Director of Public Prosecutions. He said that while his time in office had been market by a relentless struggle against terrorism  -  which he regards as a genuine and serious threat  -  the best way to tackle the danger was to strengthen institutions rather than to degrade them.

'Our struggle has been absolutely grounded in due process,' Sir Ken added.

'We all know that this has worked. Our conviction rate for terrorism cases is in excess of 90 per cent  -  unmatched in the fair trial world. 'So we have been absolutely right to resist ... special courts, vetted judges and all the other paraphernalia of paranoia.

'On the streets of our country, violent lawbreaking is dealt with as crime. It is taken through the courts as crime.

It is dealt with in accordance with our constitution. We would do well not to insult ourselves and all of our institutions and our processes of law in the face of medieval delusions.'

[Dok]

UK: Parents to be Fingerprinted by Nursery Schools
Telegraph

Up to 50 nurseries and playgroups have already signed up for the new security measures, thought to be the first time parents have been targetted in this way.

Civil libertarians have branded the decision a "huge overeaction".

The new entry system requires people who collect their children to place their finger on a scanner, to make sure that only nominated individuals can get through secure entrances.

Kidsunlimited, the nursery chain, will be rolling out the new technology to its 50 playgroups.

Honeycomb Solutions, the security firm behind the technology, say it is an effective way to monitor who is on their premises.

The scanners work by converting parents' finger prints into a code number. This number enables the system to recognise the finger, without storing any biometric data.

The company claims that the database cannot be accessed by any human, similar to the way banks protect credit card pin numbers.

Peter Churchley of Caring Daycare, a group of eight nursery schools in Surrey that cater for children aged 3 months to 5 years, said: "We've had the Honeycombe Solutions fingerprinting technology installed in two of our nurseries.

"Parents have reacted very positively to the moves and the security is a reassurace that the premises are secure for recognised people. I do think a greater number of nurseries will be thinking about finger printing. We also have CCTV camera."

Mr Churchley said that a package of five CCTV cameras and the fingerprinting systems costs £10,000.

The Government has issued guidance telling head teachers they have the right to collect pupils' biometric data for security reasons.

The information could be used to monitor attendance, control entry to the school building and allow pupils to take books out of libraries.

But the move continues to be criticised by civil liberty groups and opposition MPs, who fear that data may be stolen by identity thieves. Official guidance says that personal data, including fingerprints and eyeball scans, can be collected from pupils, although schools must consult parents before installing the technology.

Any information gathered will be subject to data protection laws and should not be shared with outside bodies, says the guidance.

However, the Government insists that using biometric data is an efficient way of tracking children during the school day. It is estimated that at least 200 schools used fingerprint scans, before any official guidance was published. But this is thought to be the first time that parents have been targeted.

However there have been concerns about parents' privacy and campaigners have said the decision is a "huge overreaction".

Dan Norris, Labour MP for Wansdyke and a prominent child welfare campaigner, said: "My instinct is that is some what of an overreaction. It strikes me quite a strong reaction to a problem that could be managed in a less confrontational way. Fingerprinting is quite a big deal."

George Bathurst, Managing Director of Honeycomb Solutions said: "This cutting edge system will revolutionise the way we keep our children safe by ensuring that only authorised people can get into the classroom. Even when you have authorisation staff will know who you are, and when arrived. This can be monitored centrally, providing an additional layer of security. We predict that within the next five years this system will become common place across the country."

[Godfather77]

March of the dustbin Stasi: Half of councils use anti-terror laws to watch people putting rubbish out on the wrong day
01st November 2008
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082225/March-dustbin-Stasi-Half-councils-use-anti-terror-laws-watch-people-putting-rubbish-wrong-day.html

More than half of town halls admit using anti-terror laws to spy on families suspected of putting their rubbish out on the wrong day. Their tactics include putting secret cameras in tin cans, on lamp posts and even in the homes of 'friendly' residents.
 
The local authorities admitted that one of their main aims was to catch householders who put their bins out early.

The shocking way in which the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act - an anti-terror law is being used was revealed through freedom of information requests made by the Daily Mail. MPs and civil liberties groups last night accused councils of using the draconian powers for trivial reasons

Tory communities spokesman Eric Pickles said: 'Under Labour, the rights and liberties of law-abiding citizens are being eroded through plans for ID cards, sinister microchip spies in bins and abuse of anti-terror laws by councils.

Although it is ostensibly an anti-terror law, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, or RIPA, is worded so loosely that it can be used to justify surveillance operations for a variety of reasons.

These include spying to 'protect public health' or the 'economic well-being of the UK'. This means that councils can use the powers granted by the Act to monitor families' treatment of household waste.
 
In Lincolnshire, West Lindsey District Council uses the new powers to place motion-activated cameras on lamp posts to catch homeowners putting their bins out at the wrong time. One officer told an undercover reporter:

'The cameras are hidden in tin cans or put on lamp posts and allow us to monitor who is coming out of which property and leaving their rubbish. Sometimes we are able to put these cameras inside peoples' homes that overlook the alleyways.

Officers at Southwark District Council also admitted that they had mounted cameras on lamp posts to spy on residents suspected of leaving rubbish out at the wrong time.

The revelations have raised fresh concerns about the Home Office's plans to create a 'Big Brother' database of every citizen's e-mail and internet records.

Ministers say that councils will not have access to the information. But critics point out that RIPA, which was passed as anti-terror legislation, is now being routinely used by town halls  -  and the same could happen with the database.

Phil Booth, of the NO2ID campaign, said that public bodies were 'assembling the tools of a totalitarian state'.

[Dok]

Scotland Yard wants to hire Gurkhas as crime fighters

2 Nov 2008, 1020 hrs IST, PTI
LONDON: British police plans to urge the government to grant Gurkhas right to remain in the country as they can help the metropolitan police in its efforts to tackle the increasing cases of crime.

Chief superintendent Kevin Hurley will tell Home Office officials and MPs on the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Tuesday that agreeing to offer thousands of Gurkhas settlement in the UK will provide invaluable resources to them, the Observer said.

"Gurkhas would make exceptional members of the police service. Many are multilingual in languages from the Indian subcontinent, highly motivated, loyal and an excellent way of diversifying our workforce," he said.

Senior commanders believe that Nepalese Gurkhas, who have served with distinction in the British army, would make ideal police officers and their discipline, strength and fearlessness would prove crucial to combat the burgeoning threat of violent crime.

The high court last month had ordered the British government to recognise a "debt of honour" to the men by reconsidering its refusal to allow more than 2,000 of them permission to live in Britain because they retired before July 1997.

The Gurkhas had appealed against the British government's ruling that denied Gurkhas who retired from the army before 1997 an automatic right to live in the UK.
 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Scotland_Yard_wants_to_hire_Gurkhas_as_crime_fighters/articleshow/3664589.cms

[jesqueal]

British police now wear baseball cap and black combat gear in some counties
http://news.google.co.uk/news?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&tab=wn&nolr=1&hl=en&q=berkshire+police+trial+uniform+baseball+cap&btnG=Search+News

[Godfather77]

What does this proves other than Jacqui Smith does not live in the real world and does her masters bidding. 

People 'can't wait for ID cards'
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7712275.stm

Jacqui Smith says public demand means people will be able to pre-register for an ID card within the next few months. The cards will be available for all from 2012 but she said: "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long." 

The home secretary made the claim as she unveiled revised ID scheme plans.

The first biometric cards are being issued to students from outside the EU and marriage visa holders this month, and it had been planned to make them compulsory for all 200,000 airside workers from 2009.

The government announced there would be an 18-month trial, for airside workers at Manchester and London City airports only, from late next year. Campaigners No2ID said it was a "transparent attempt to save ministerial face" amid opposition from unions and airline bosses, who say it is unjustified and would not improve security.

He added ID cards would definitely be issued to the remaining airside workers in due course, before being rolled out to the wider population.

Supermarket enrolment

In a speech to the Social Market Foundation Ms Smith said cards would be issued on a voluntary basis to young people from 2010 and for everyone else from 2012. She added: "But I believe there is a demand, now, for cards - and as I go round the country I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long.

"I now want to put that to the test and find a way to allow those people who want a card sooner to be able to pre-register their interest as early as the first few months of next year." She told the BBC: "We'll see where that interest is, and then we'll see if we can issue some cards to those who've expressed an interest by the end of next year."

People applying for cards and passports from 2012 will have to provide fingerprints, photographs and a signature, which Ms Smith believes will create a market worth about £200m a year.

And in changes to earlier plans the Home Office is talking to retailers and the Post Office about setting up booths to gather biometric data.

'Trusted environment'

The government believes it would be "more convenient" for people and cheaper than setting up its previously planned enrolment centres in large population centres. In her speech Ms Smith rejected claims handing enrolment over to private firms would compromise security.

"Provided that it is conducted in a secure and trusted environment, by service providers accredited and verified by the IPS and to high and rigorously enforced standards, enrolment should be able to happen at the convenience of the customer - on the high street, at the nearest post office, or at the local shopping centre."

The overall cost of the ID card scheme over the next 10 years has risen by £50m to £5.1bn in the past six months, according to the government's latest cost report.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Ministers are choosing a limited number of guinea pigs at two smaller airports because they are aware of how unpopular ID cards are.

"The government is too scared to force ID cards on voters before an election because they know it would be a laminated poll tax.
"The problem is not the ease with which we can give up sensitive personal data, but the ease with which the Home Office loses it. The Government cannot be trusted to keep personal information safe."

[Dok]

MPs seek to censor the media

EXCLUSIVE by Kim Sengupta
Monday, 10 November 2008

Britain's security agencies and police would be given unprecedented and legally binding powers to ban the media from reporting matters of national security, under proposals being discussed in Whitehall.


The Intelligence and Security Committee, the parliamentary watchdog of the intelligence and security agencies which has a cross-party membership from both Houses, wants to press ministers to introduce legislation that would prevent news outlets from reporting stories deemed by the Government to be against the interests of national security.

The committee also wants to censor reporting of police operations that are deemed to have implications for national security. The ISC is to recommend in its next report, out at the end of the year, that a commission be set up to look into its plans, according to senior Whitehall sources.

The ISC holds huge clout within Whitehall. It receives secret briefings from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and is highly influential in forming government policy. Kim Howells, a respected former Foreign Office minister, was recently appointed its chairman. Under the existing voluntary code of conduct, known as the DA-Notice system, the Government can request that the media does not report a story. However, the committee's members are particularly worried about leaks, which, they believe, could derail investigations and the reporting of which needs to be banned by legislation.

Civil liberties groups say these restrictions would be "very dangerous" and "damaging for public accountability". They also point out that censoring journalists when the leaks come from officials is unjustified.

But the committee, in its last annual report, has already signalled its intention to press for changes. It states: "The current system for handling national security information through DA-Notices and the [intelligence and security] Agencies' relationship with the media more generally, is not working as effectively as it might and this is putting lives at risk." According to senior Whitehall sources the ISC is likely to advocate tighter controls on the DA-Notice system – formerly known as D-Notice – which operates in co-operation and consultation between the Government and the media.

The committee has focused on one particular case to highlight its concern: an Islamist plot to kidnap and murder a British serviceman in 2007, during which reporters were tipped off about the imminent arrest of suspects in Birmingham, a security operation known as "Gamble". The staff in the office of the then home secretary, John Reid, and the local police were among those accused of being responsible – charges they denied. An investigation by Scotland Yard failed to find the source of the leak.

The then director general of MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, was among those who complained to the ISC. "We were very angry, but it is not clear who we should be angry with, that most of the story of the arrests in Op Gamble were in the media very, very fast ... So the case was potentially jeopardised by the exposure of what the story was. My officers and the police were jeopardised by them being on operations when the story broke. The strategy of the police for interrogating those arrested was blown out of the water, and my staff felt pretty depressed ... that this has happened."

The ISC report said the DA-Notice system "provides advice and guidance to the media about defence and counter-terrorism information, whilst the system is voluntary, has no legal authority, and the final responsibility for deciding whether or not to publish rests solely with the editor or publisher concerned. The system has been effective in the past. However, the Cabinet Secretary told us ... this is no longer the case: 'I think we have problems now.'"

The human rights lawyer Louise Christian said: "This would be a very dangerous development. We need media scrutiny for public accountability. We can see this from the example, for instance, of the PhD student in Nottingham who was banged up for six days without charge because he downloaded something from the internet for his thesis. The only reason this came to light was because of the media attention to the case."

A spokesman for the human rights group Liberty said: "There is a difficult balance between protecting integrity and keeping the public properly informed. Any extension of the DA-Notice scheme requires a more open parliamentary debate."

DA-Notice: a gagging by consent

The D-Notice system was set up in 1912 when the War Office (the Ministry of Defence in its previous incarnation) began issuing censorship orders to newspapers on stories involving national security.

In 1993 it became known as a DA-Notice with four senior civil servants, with an eminent military figure as secretary, and 13 members nominated by the media to form the Defence Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee.

Contrary to popular conception DA-Notices are a request and not legally enforceable. Civil servants fear making the agreement legally binding would lead to hostility from the media. There would be apprehension among journalists about new restrictions, as the committee has in recent times been robust in resisting pressure from the Government to send DA-Notices if it thinks the motives are political. At present most DA-Notices are issued regarding military missions, anti-terrorist operations at home and espionage.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-seek-to-censor-the-media-1006607.html

[clint]

The committee also wants to censor reporting of police operations that are deemed to have implications for national security. The ISC is to recommend in its next report, out at the end of the year, that a commission be set up to look into its plans, according to senior Whitehall sources.

Gulp. that be i highlighted in red is very dangerous. That whole post by doktorschnabelvonrom seems horribly disturbing.

[ConcordeWarrior]

I would say it like this: Britain is rapidly turning into a fundamentalist islamic state. 

[Godfather77]

Merseyside seven-year-old’s DNA on UK database
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/11/18/merseyside-seven-year-old-s-dna-on-uk-database-64375-22279598/
Nov 18 2008 by Liam Murphy

The DNA of a seven-year-old child has been put on the National DNA database by Merseyside Police, according to information released to the Daily Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

National organisations which campaign for civil liberties condemned the revelation as “shocking”, and accused the Government of “picking on kids who can’t fight back”. But Merseyside Police said the use of DNA had “revolutionised” policing and added that “samples are taken and stored on the database in line with legislation”.

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) provided the information – but refused to reveal the age of the youngest person from Cheshire whose DNA was added to the controversial database. The NPIA said that, in respect of the information relating to Cheshire Constabulary, it “would undermine criminal proceedings”, and added: “In all the circumstances of the Cheshire case, the public interest in maintaining the exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

“However, the public interest maintaining the exemption in the Merseyside case is much less strong and, on balance, falls in favour of disclosure.”

But civil liberties campaign groups attacked the decision to keep the DNA of such a young child on the National DNA Database (NDNAD).  Last night, a spokesperson for Liberty said: “Targeting innocent children to expand the DNA database is the Government playing the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“If the Government wants a National DNA Database, they should say so and hold a public debate, not pick on our kids who can’t fight back.”

According to the NPIA: “The youngest person/persons whose DNA profile is held on the National DNA Database whose DNA sample was submitted by Merseyside Police, whose Date of Birth is known, was seven when the profile was loaded to the database.”

In disclosing the information, the NPIA said: “The date of birth (DOB) held on NDNAD for a subject is the DOB provided by the individual to the police officer at the time of arrest or the time of providing the volunteer sample.

“On occasions, this may not be their true DOB. Checks are carried out by the NDNAD Custodian team on those samples loaded to the NDNAD taken from subjects aged under 10 to ensure that, where possible, the DOB is correct and that the sample has been taken with the consent of a parent or legal guardian.

“There are no powers for police to take samples from under-10s without this consent and for those samples which are volunteer samples there also has to be a second consent given to load the sample to the NDNAD.”

Terri Dowty, director of Action on Rights for Children, said she couldn’t understand why children aged under 10 would have their details retained on the database. But she said: “Sadly, though, I’m not surprised. It’s entirely wrong – but then it’s wrong that so many innocent children are on the database.”

Earlier this year, the Daily Post revealed that almost one in 10 people on Merseyside have their genetic profile stored on the national DNA database, following another Freedom of Information Act disclosure.  The figures showed that there are more than 200,000 profiles of people in Merseyside and Cheshire – many of whom have never been convicted of any crime – on the controversial database.

It has also been disclosed that the DNA profiles of more than 6,000 youngsters from across Merseyside and Cheshire are on the Home Office’s database.

Dr Helen Wallace, of Genewatch, said it was “shocking” that samples from a child so young should be kept on the DNA database. She said: “Obviously, they may take the DNA of a child during an investigation, but it does beg the question why the DNA should be kept on the database for life.”

[Godfather77]

£1,000 fine for wrong ID details
Friday, 21 November 2008
Full article:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7742619.stm

Anyone with a biometric passport or ID card will be required to notify the National Identity Register of changes to the personal data it holds.

The £30 fixed fee for an ID card is likely to rise after 2010, draft laws published earlier also reveal.

Identity cards for foreign nationals will be issued from next week, with the first cards being issued to British citizens at the end of next year in a pilot project for airside workers at Manchester and London City airports. The government is holding a 12 week consultation on the draft legislation, which is likely to come before Parliament in the new year in time for its implementation.

The document reveals that most people will have to pay more for ID cards than the £30 fixed fee previously discussed when large scale issuing of cards begins in 2011 or 2012. Fines will also apply if cardholders fail to report their cards lost or stolen, and will be enforceable by the civil courts.

The consultation document states fines are "not intended to be punitive or revenue raising".

Cardholders will usually have the fines waived if they agree to have their data updated when the errors emerge, officials stressed. And they said the penalties are necessary to ensure the information on the database remains current.

Fines starting at £125 for the first infringement will normally only be imposed on people actively refusing to have their data updated, the Home Office said. 

But providing false information, tampering with the register, giving out people's data without authorisation and holding false ID documents will be a criminal offence. Anyone found guilty of unauthorised disclosure of information on the national identity register or an ID card application, would face up to two years in prison, while anyone found guilty of hacking into the ID database could be jailed for up to 10 years.

There will be no penalties, civil or criminal, for not applying for an ID card. 

Special provisions have been made for people undergoing sex changes. Transgendered people will have two cards at the same time, one for their old identity and a new one for when they have completed their sex change.

Fines will also apply if cardholders fail to report their cards lost or stolen, and will be enforceable by the civil courts.

Officials have also tried to tackle the issue of how to record the addresses of homeless people and gypsies without a fixed address. Homeless people wanting ID cards may be able to give their home address as a bench, bus stop or park where they are often found. 

Addresses will be recorded on the register but will not appear on the face of the card.

'Nasty stuff'

A spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service said: "The National Identity Scheme will bring real and recognisable benefits for British citizens by offering a more convenient way of proving identity and helping protect people from identity fraud.

"Civil penalties are not intended to be punitive or revenue raising as it will be in an individual's best interests for their information to be accurate. "We would always encourage people to update their information voluntarily but in some cases would apply a basic penalty of £125. "This would only increase if someone deliberately or repeatedly failed to update their details over a prolonged period of time. The penalty would normally be cancelled as soon as the person has updated their information."

But Phil Booth, national coordinator of NO2ID, said the proposals outlined in the document were worse than campaigners had feared. He said: "This is a wake-up call for people who thought it was just about the card.

"There is some very nasty stuff buried in the fine print of this consultation document. Basically, you have to tell them everything they want to know about you under threat - and pay for the privilege."

'Draconian punishments'

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve, for the Conservatives, said the consultation document showed the ID scheme is "truly the worst of all worlds - expensive, intrusive and unworkable".

"At a time of economic hardship, the public will be dismayed that the government plans to fine innocent people for inaccuracies on the government's own database, using summary powers vested in the home secretary.

"The home secretary has confirmed the worst element of the scheme - a single, mammoth and highly vulnerable database exposing masses of our personal details to criminal hackers. "Worse still, she has magnified the scope for fraud by allowing spot fines to be issued by email."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "It is becoming clear how draconian the punishments will be for those that want no part in the government's illiberal and unnecessary identity database.

"Ministers are already admitting that people will be forced to pay more for the dubious privilege of an ID card than they originally promised. "The government should do us all a favour and scrap this laminated poll tax, instead of making us all pay through the nose for it."

[Godfather77]

Police to get 10,000 Taser guns
November 23, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5204516.ece

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, is to arm police with 10,000 Taser stun guns in an escalation of the government's fight against violent crime. Smith will unveil plans tomorrow that will enable all 30,000 front-line response officers to be trained in firing the electric guns at knife-wielding thugs and other violent suspects.

Smith said yesterday that £8m will be made available to all 43 police forces in England and Wales to buy the new 50,000-volt weapons. She said their use will be extended from small units of dedicated firearms officers to up to 30,000 police response officers across the country.

Officials say the gun could be be used against anyone who put the lives or safety of officers and the public at risk. That includes aggressive drunken yobs, knife-wielding criminals and those who go "berserk" in public. A Taser was successfully used against a fugitive suicide bomber who was captured in Birmingham after the failed July 2005 suicide attacks.

The move to widen the use of Tasers will be criticised by human rights groups and medical experts concerned about the dangers of the powerful guns. Amnesty International says the guns should be restricted to just a "small number" of highly trained officers. It points to cases of fatalities such as that of Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, who died after being Tasered when he began throwing things after waiting for 10 hours at Vancouver airport last year. Smith, however, is a keen Taser fan. She believes they are essential to protect the safety of frontline officers and will reduce deaths caused by police shooting suspects with real guns.

"I am proud that we have one of the few police services around the world that do not regularly carry firearms and I want to keep it that way," Smith said yesterday. 

"But everyday the police put themselves in danger to protect us, the public. They deserve our support, so I want to give the police the tools they tell me they need to confront dangerous people." "That is why I am giving the police 10,000 Tasers to ensure that officers across the country benefit from this form of defence."

The move is backed by the 140,000 rank and file police officers and chief constables. Derek Talbot, of Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said trials showed that in 80 per cent of incidents where Tasers were used, the situation as resolved without police needing to use a weapon.

"This reinforces the value of Taser as a useful tool to make the public and officers safer and to resolve potentially violent situations effectively and rapidly.

"The conclusions of this trial provide further evidence that Taser is a proportionate, low risk means of resolving incidents where the public or officers face severe violence or the threat of such violence which cannot safely be dealt with by other means," he said.

The Taser fires two copper bharbs that send out an electrical shock. It is designed to incapacitate temporarily rather than injure. The latest version is the X26 which can be effective from 26 feet. It fires a pair of barbs on copper wires that embed themselves in the suspect's clothing and send out an electrical current of 50,00 volts.

The shock can cause temporary loss of muscle control, making the target fall to the ground or freeze on the spot.

Over a recent trial period in ten force areas Tasers were used 661 times. In over 75 per cent of cases an officer simply drew the weapons or pointed the gun's red-dot at the target. Officials say the guns have a "significant deterrent value and on many occasion just producing it has stopped people behaving violently.

"Where they have been fired the potential for serious and lasting injury to the subject can be less than if a gun or [plastic bullet] is used," the Home Office said.

[Godfather77]

Terror of Tory MP's daughter as NINE anti-terror police raid his home over 'immigration leaks to media'
28th November 2008
Full article ~ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090062/Terror-Tory-MPs-daughter-NINE-anti-terror-police-raid-home-immigration-leaks-media.html

Extraordinary details of the heavy-handed police operation against Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green were revealed this afternoon. Nine counter-terrorism officers raided the MP's London home, frightening his 15-year-old daughter Verity and wife Alicia who were there.

Mr Green was seized at his constituency home in Ashford, Kent, and held at Belgravia police station for nine hours, only one of which was used to question him about his alleged crime - leaking information embarrassing to the Home Office.

As fury grew over the way an elected MP had been treated after helping to expose Government blunders, the Evening Standard revealed that when his Commons and constituency offices were searched his mobile phone, Black-Berry and computers were all removed for examination, complete with confidential files stored on them. His e-mail account had been disabled.

The affair was turning into the biggest row over Whitehall leaks since the prosecution of civil servant Clive Ponting in 1985, over leaks about the Belgrano sinking, and the jailing of Sarah Tisdall in 1983 for leaking secrets about US cruise missiles in the UK. 

By contrast, however, the molehunt at the Home Office was for the source of a stream of stories that embarrassed the Government rather than threatened national security. They included that 5,000 illegal migrants had been cleared to work in security.

Last week a junior Home Office official, aged 26, was arrested.

Tory leader David Cameron said police and ministers had 'serious questions' to answer, particularly about the use of counter-terrorism officers. He added the operation was 'extraordinary and frankly rather worrying.'

David Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary, said Mr Green's job was exposing failures in the Government and that the arrest was 'reminiscent of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe'. He added that Winston Churchill relied on a Whitehall whistleblower to expose lack of preparedness before World War II.

'If the police had applied these rules in the Thirties, Churchill would not have been Prime Minister  -  he would have been a prisoner,' he said.

Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said:

'The fundamental duty of the Metropolitan Police is to protect Londoners from harm, not the Government from political embarrassment.'

Mr Green, 52, was finally released on unconditional bail shortly before midnight without charge but must return to face further questioning in February. The MP described his arrest as 'astonishing'. Speaking outside Parliament this morning he said: 'I emphatically deny I have done anything wrong.'

Some Tories suspected that the action was an attempt to intimidate other civil servants tempted to leak documents, especially from the Treasury where ministers think there is a high-placed Tory mole.

Furious party officials said the move was of such a sensitive nature that Downing Street and the Home Office must have been notified.

Extraordinarily, it emerged that Mr Cameron, Boris Johnson and Commons Speaker Michael Martin were all informed about the raids. Yet Gordon Brown insisted he had no advance knowledge of Mr Green's arrest. He said: 'I had no prior knowledge, the Home Secretary had no prior knowledge, I know of no other minister who had any prior knowledge. 

[Godfather77]

Following the arrest of an opposition MP on a trumped up charge a leading news paper has the headline on its' front page - Police State Britain.   

Police state Britain: MPs want protection after arrest of Tory for telling truths Labour didn't want you to know
29th November 2008
Full article ~ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090386/Police-state-Britain-MPs-want-protection-arrest-Tory-telling-truths-Labour-didnt-want-know.html

MPs demanded protection from a 'police state' last night after the heavy-handed arrest of a Tory frontbencher shocked Westminster.

Extraordinary details of four simultaneous raids on immigration spokesman Damian Green's homes and offices raised urgent questions about the independence of Parliament. The Oxford-educated father of two girls, who denies any wrongdoing, was fingerprinted and required to give a DNA sample before being released on bail after nine hours.

Police seized his mobile phone, his BlackBerry, bank statements, computers containing confidential details of constituents, and were only prevented from carrying off legal documents by his wife, a barrister. Officers even leafed through the couple's love letters.

Last night, the row between police and Parliament was turning into a political crisis for Gordon Brown, who faced accusations of standing by while the rights of MPs were being trampled. Ministers struggled to dispel suspicions that they knew in advance about the plan to arrest Mr Green, amid MPs' fears that the case marked another step towards the politicisation of the police.

The Tories issued a series of questions about the role of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said there were huge question marks over the claim that Mr Brown and Miss Smith had not been informed the arrest was about to take place.

He said: 'It would be an astounding breakdown in the system of governance, and the linchpin doctrine of Ministerial responsibility, if Ministers were not, at the bare minimum, kept informed.'

MPs also demanded assurances from Speaker Michael Martin that he would defend their interests after it emerged that he authorised an unprecedented police search of Mr Green's office on Commons property. One called on Mr Martin to quit.

Publicly, the Prime Minister said only that his chief objective was to uphold the independence of the police. But his supporters accused the Tories of 'playing politics' with a routine police matter, and even suggested the Yard had undisclosed reasons to seize Mr Green.

The MP was detained in Kent on suspicion of 'conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office' and taken to London by Yard detectives ten days after a Home Office official was arrested on suspicion of leaking sensitive documents.

By last night, Mr Green's ordeal had provoked outrage across the political spectrum, with all parties rallying to his defence. Tory MPs threatened to disrupt Wednesday's Queen's Speech debate.

Veteran former Labour MP Tony Benn said the arrest of an MP amounted to a contempt of Parliament. 'Once the police can interfere with Parliament, we are into the police state,' he said.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: 'This is something you might expect from a tin-pot dictatorship, not in a modern democracy.'

Tory MPs contrasted the case with that of leaks of sensitive information to BBC business editor Robert Peston. They raised suspicions that a 'mole' inside Downing Street or the Treasury had passed Mr Peston a string of market-moving banking 'scoops'.

Former Tory leader Michael Howard pointed to Mr Brown's reputation for obtaining Government leaks when he was an Opposition MP.

'If this approach had been in place when Gordon Brown was in opposition, he'd have spent half his time under arrest,' he said.

[Godfather77]

Europe strikes blow against DNA register
Friday, 5 December 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/europe-strikes-blow-against-dna-register-1052528.html

Retention of innocent people's DNA and fingerprint records by police is ILLEGAL, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled, but British ministers have failed to say they will observe the landmark decision.

The unanimous judgment by the Strasbourg court condemned the "blanket and indiscriminate nature" of powers given to police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in collecting and storing DNA and fingerprint evidence of suspects. The Government has not immediately said it will comply with the ruling by bringing in laws that would destroy nearly a million DNA samples taken from suspects who have been exonerated by the police and courts. Instead, the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said she was "disappointed" by the judgment and confirmed the law would remain unchanged while ministers consider what, if any, action, to take.

In the Strasbourg court, two Sheffield men asked that their DNA records be destroyed. Michael Marper, 45, was arrested in 2001 and charged with harassing his partner, but the case was dropped three months later after the two were reconciled. He had no previous convictions. And a 19-year-old named in court only as "S" was arrested and charged with attempted robbery in 2001 when he was 12, but was cleared five months later.

It is a well established convention that United Kingdom governments comply with ECHR rulings. If the Government does not accept the new judgment it could provoke a constitutional crisis between ministers and judges in Strasbourg who act as the final court of appeal for human rights laws across Europe.

Yesterday human rights groups welcomed the judgment and called for the Government to follow Scotland where police routinely destroy profiles of those either acquitted or not charged.

The ruling could have important implications for fingerprint databases; the judges said holding innocent people's details could infringe their rights.

[Godfather77]

New target for the anti-terror spies: Village paperboys - for not having the correct paperwork
05th December 2008
Full article:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1092264/New-target-anti-terror-spies-Village-paperboys--having-correct-paperwork.html

Cambridgeshire County Council used the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to spy on eight paperboys thought to be working without permits. It sent undercover council officers to lurk outside a Spar in the village of Melbourn and take notes on the movements of the boys. The evidence was used in a criminal prosecution of the shop's owners for employing five of the boys without the correct documentation.

Cambridgeshire's approach is just the latest example of local authorities using the RIPA for minor misdemeanours.

Such activities have been likened to those of the Stasi, the East German secret police.

A Cambridgeshire bylaw states that all paperboys must have a work permit issued by the council and signed by the child's employer, headteacher and parents. Working children must also be over 13 and cannot start work until after 7am.

This week Cambridge Magistrates' Court was told that Dips Solanki, 42, and his wife Rashmi, 38, had failed to get the correct work permits for five paperboys.

Prosecutor Simon Reeve told the court that the couple ignored letters and visits from a child employment officer. He said that although eight applications for work permits had been sent to the children's school, only three were signed. He produced the surveillance to prove the boys had been working.

The Solankis were found guilty of failing to comply with the bylaw and now have a criminal record. They were given a six-month conditional discharge.

All the boys concerned were between 13 and 16. Other than not having the correct paperwork, they were working legally.

Yesterday, the couple insisted that there had simply been a paperwork mix-up. They denied that they had been warned by council officials  -  and said the authority was using a 'hammer to crack a nut'.
Mrs Solanki said: 'They should only do such things for a serious crime. We're innocent people trying to make an honest living. It's ridiculous and was a complete waste of everyone's time.'

Andrew Lansley, Tory MP for South Cambridgeshire, agreed, saying: 'These powers should only be used for the scope they were intended, which is to tackle serious crime and terrorism.' But a Cambridgeshire Council spokesman said: 'Delivering heavy bags early in the morning is potentially very hazardous.

'We do not want to wait until someone has an accident before we start to uphold the law properly.'

The Act was introduced in 2000. As well as allowing spying in the interests of national security, it also allows state agencies such as councils, NHS trusts and the fire service to act secretly in the interests of 'protecting public health'.