Using Europe to erode our privacy

Antaletriangle · 04-07-2009, 08:27 PM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...houseofcommons

Using Europe to erode our privacy
Guardian - comment / 06-04-2009

As the row over MPs' living expenses has developed, several have expressed the fear that the reputation for parliament and the public's respect for politicians would be irreversibly affected.

They are right to be worried but it is the spectacle of common abuse of housing allowances combined with the failure to defend Britain's liberties from our civil servants and European bureaucrats that is so damaging. MPs' ideas of a sovereign parliament appear to be limited to the retention of their own personal information and the abuse of taxpayers' trust. Forget any notion of MPs standing up to Europe or reigning in an increasingly autonomous civil service.

Today, an EU directive comes into force which will compel all internet service providers to retain information from all emails and website visits. Data from phone calls and text messages will also be stored and made available to the government, its agencies and local authorities. Having seen how local officials have abused anti-terrorist laws, it's not hard to imagine the damage to privacy that will ensure.

These powers were brought in by a statutory instrument and so were not debated by either house. The accepted view is that the Home Office now bypasses parliament by lobbying Europe directly in the knowledge that the measures they desire will go undebated and unscrutinised, then be smuggled into British law as a European directive.

It is difficult to think of anything that makes the House of Commons look more feckless or more redundant.
The Conservatives believe that the law may enable the creation of a massive communications data silo that will store the content of every email and phone call. This has been long desired by the Home Office and GCHQ but the government has failed to bring the interception modernisation programme before parliament, perhaps because the penny is beginning to drop about privacy. And the costs are estimated to be as much as £12bn.

Baroness Neville-Jones said last week in the House of Lords "The government has not been able to satisfy these benches that last week's statutory instrument did not create a vehicle through which the interception modernisation programme could be carried into practice without further primary legislation."

It seems amazing that parliament, now on another long break,* is not able to establish whether this statutory instrument allows the home secretary, one of the ministers accused of fiddling their housing allowances, to create the data silo without primary legislation and the full debate that the British public must surely require from its elected representatives on such a vital issue.

As of this morning, essential information about your internet activity and phone calls has passed into the hands of government and its agencies and every local government gauleiter who suspects you of challenging his or her authority.

Monday 6 April may be seen as milestone on the way to a police state and the "the hell house" of personal information about which the former DPP Sir Ken Macdonald warned last year. It is certainly a date to remember in the long slide of the standing of MPs, who I very much doubt were even aware of this directive.

Egg · 04-07-2009, 09:24 PM

well, 1984 wasa bit off, maybe 2014 is more their liking anyhow.

The future is the jack boot of facism stamping down on your face from cradle to grave.

04-07-2009, 08:27 PM	#1
Antaletriangle Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: U.K. Posts: 3,380	Using Europe to erode our privacy http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...houseofcommons Using Europe to erode our privacy Guardian - comment / 06-04-2009 As the row over MPs' living expenses has developed, several have expressed the fear that the reputation for parliament and the public's respect for politicians would be irreversibly affected. They are right to be worried but it is the spectacle of common abuse of housing allowances combined with the failure to defend Britain's liberties from our civil servants and European bureaucrats that is so damaging. MPs' ideas of a sovereign parliament appear to be limited to the retention of their own personal information and the abuse of taxpayers' trust. Forget any notion of MPs standing up to Europe or reigning in an increasingly autonomous civil service. Today, an EU directive comes into force which will compel all internet service providers to retain information from all emails and website visits. Data from phone calls and text messages will also be stored and made available to the government, its agencies and local authorities. Having seen how local officials have abused anti-terrorist laws, it's not hard to imagine the damage to privacy that will ensure. These powers were brought in by a statutory instrument and so were not debated by either house. The accepted view is that the Home Office now bypasses parliament by lobbying Europe directly in the knowledge that the measures they desire will go undebated and unscrutinised, then be smuggled into British law as a European directive. It is difficult to think of anything that makes the House of Commons look more feckless or more redundant. The Conservatives believe that the law may enable the creation of a massive communications data silo that will store the content of every email and phone call. This has been long desired by the Home Office and GCHQ but the government has failed to bring the interception modernisation programme before parliament, perhaps because the penny is beginning to drop about privacy. And the costs are estimated to be as much as £12bn. Baroness Neville-Jones said last week in the House of Lords "The government has not been able to satisfy these benches that last week's statutory instrument did not create a vehicle through which the interception modernisation programme could be carried into practice without further primary legislation." It seems amazing that parliament, now on another long break,* is not able to establish whether this statutory instrument allows the home secretary, one of the ministers accused of fiddling their housing allowances, to create the data silo without primary legislation and the full debate that the British public must surely require from its elected representatives on such a vital issue. As of this morning, essential information about your internet activity and phone calls has passed into the hands of government and its agencies and every local government gauleiter who suspects you of challenging his or her authority. Monday 6 April may be seen as milestone on the way to a police state and the "the hell house" of personal information about which the former DPP Sir Ken Macdonald warned last year. It is certainly a date to remember in the long slide of the standing of MPs, who I very much doubt were even aware of this directive.

04-07-2009, 09:24 PM	#2
Egg Banned Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 727	Re: Using Europe to erode our privacy well, 1984 wasa bit off, maybe 2014 is more their liking anyhow. The future is the jack boot of facism stamping down on your face from cradle to grave.