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sterbo

Each day we're dragged ever closer to the precipice where freedom falls into
yet another black hole.
No light, no joy. Just everlasting fear of what might or might not be anything at all.

Where's the outcry? Where is the old guard harboring painful memories. Where are our youth?
So you've a closet full of weapons? Is that the solution?
Just wait until it's too late, then blaze away.
If not, then what?
Or is it just fine by you and my concerns are just that of an old 60' activist, commie liberal?

The clock is ticking.
Whatcha gonna do or say?
.
.
.
BBC News -
Phonecalls and texts to be logged

Information about all land line and mobile phone calls made in the UK must be logged and stored for a year under new laws. Data about calls made and received will also be available to 652 public bodies, including the police and councils.
The Home Office said the content of calls and texts would not be read and insisted the move was vital to tackle serious crime and terrorism.
But critics said it was another example of Britain's "surveillance society".

"There are actually a very broad range of purposes for which this information about who we've been phoning and when can be revealed," Ms Chakrabarti said.
"It includes, for example, the Gaming Board, the Food Standards Authority and every district and county council in the country."

"We're talking about a profile that can be built of your personal relationships on the basis of who you've been speaking to and when."
Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "Once again this government has been caught red-handed creating new surveillance state powers with no meaningful public or parliamentary debate.

(Source URL: BBC NEWS | UK | Phonecalls and texts to be logged)

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Hashishi

I guess the trick is that such information cannot be passed beyond these bodies. The question, then, is how can that possibly be enforced? We`ve seen an entire economy arise whose primary commodity is personal information vis a vis the internet in the form of both social and commercial networking. It`s a long-term thing. It`s not going to be a our government leading us into an Orwellian reality but corporations many years from now. Their agents are the same people who hack our PCs with spy-ware and who ask and oftentimes these days even pay people to fill out surveys.

Further contemplating this on an IT level, a concept I`ve been pondering is the ability to indelibly 'tag' data - to track its route from virtual space to space. I`m not possessed with the knowledge IT-wise to extrapolate or clarify the notion, but I find it an interesting one all the same and I think it will be at the forefront of any proposed revolution.

Lastly, I wonder whether there are organisations out there specialising in legal efforts to have personal information destroyed and removed from records. I`d certainly like to see one.

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SWP



"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." -- "If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly." -- "Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning." -- "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the ones we don't know we don't know."

ITG

I'm sorry, I'm failing to understand something... even if this new policy is faithfully and honestly carried out... how exactly does it make you safer? If they don't read the content, then the information of who's calling who and when is nothing but circumstantial evidence allowing them to do nothing unless they jump to assumptions, in which case they could very easily be wrong and face serious public uproar.

If they DO read the content, they could use it effectively, although perhaps sometimes out of context with the same result, but no gov't should have that kind of power anyway...

(I find it curious though that you talk about the 60's hippie in this scenario, Sterbo... this is something that conservatives should be protesting even more [just like the damned Patriot Act] since conservatives [at least, REAL conservatives] believe in small government)

And does anyone else find it somewhat funny that England, the setting of 1984, is the place with this Surveillance Society?

...anyone?

...okay, maybe I have a twisted sense of humor...

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It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

sterbo

Governments (multi-national corporations) spin it as a important function to log and I.D. potential wrong doers (i.e. "Terrorists"). And of course it sells because there is a modicum of logic. The more important (and insidious) issue at hand is the increasing ability to know everything about a given individual.
And I do mean everything.
Think about it. Every conversation with every person you've ever had?
Governmental track records re: persecution (public or not) of those who have railed against them is abysmal.
It's all about keeping the masses in check.
Power and Money. Simple and not so sweet.
It's a matter of efficiency.

They do. And they can with increasing efficiency via technology.
And yes, that's my point.
Yep, they should.
REAL conservatives? Ha! A blip on the radar maybe. But that was a very long time ago.

Ironic yes. Tragic yes. Funny? Sure, as long as we don't laugh too long because like so many things, there's a point of no return, which of course is why I posted.
Twist away my brother,
into the night...