Insidious legislation redolent of Animal Farm

From: Ian Barnes, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York.

i READ with interest the article by Nick Pickles (Yorkshire Post, June 18) about the Government’s plans to monitor the communications of every British citizen. So David Cameron has decided to go back on his word (not really a surprise) when he said at a pre-election speech: “If we want to stop the state controlling us we must confront this surveillance society.”

The draft bill going before Parliament would allow rhe Home Office to collect information contained in all our e-mails, calls, mobile phone texts and also what we do online, without any redress to a judge or Parliament, giving the Home Secretary unprecedented power over us. We will no doubt have numerous tame MPs who are interviewed on the radio and TV with briefings to the press selling the idea to the population that if we have nothing to hide we have nothing to fear and it’s really for our own good and safety. Take heed of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

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How many of us have sent a text or email, passing on a joke, or something someone has written, which possibly could be construed as risqué at best, or having shared our innermost thoughts with a friend or partner we wouldn’t want anyone else to see?

Think about the messages you have sent or passed on.

If they were taken out of context, you need to ask yourself: could what I have sent quite innocently be taken and used against me at some time in the future?

To give this power to the police via the Home Secretary, the Government is taking away our civil liberties, and basic human rights. The Leveson Inquiry has exposed that privileged information on certain individuals held by the state has in the past been passed to third parties by unscrupulous members of the police for devious reasons, plus how many files have been lost by various Government agencies?

This personal information in the wrong hands could lead to people being blackmailed and their reputations being left in shreds. It is an insidious piece of legislation which should be thrown out by MPs.