The Westminster bubble that is.
I posted the below paragraph translated into Afrikaans (My son’s partner is fluent in the language. Hi Rialette), into a post at the beginning of the month, in reaction to this article in the Mail.
All conversations over the Internet and e-mails can be recorded if the government is planning a massive expansion in surveillance.
The coalition is reviving Labour's ill-fated scheme to snoop on all UK citizens online - despite the fact that it was opposed by liberal and conservative while in opposition.
Internet service providers will be required to keep records of all e-mail messages on social networking sites and talks about Skype.
The content of the calls or messages will be recorded, but the authorities will have a court order to obtain if they want to hear or read the contents.
However, the police and security will be able to access details of the communication between and what time they occur without a court order demanding.
In the mail when I returned home today I found that I had received a reply to a letter that I had penned to my MP, about the above.
Dear Mr Filthy Engineer,
many thanks for your letter of April 3 letting me know of your concerns about the Government’s policy on surveillance.
My understanding is that the Government may be back tracking on the proposals put forward. I am nonetheless going to put your concerns directly to the Home Secretary whom I have asked for the latest position as far as the Government is concerned on it’s proposals in this important area.
I shall be writing to you again when I receive this reply.
I wonder what the further letter will hold.
I’m glad I’m now able to post from a computer rather than a smart phone.
Afrikaans is an odd language, I only know this because my satnav, if left a couple of days in a freezing car, reverts to the first language in its alpabetical list - afrikaans. The first time it happened it gave me a bit of a surprise!
ReplyDeleteSurveillance powers the Apartheid governments dreamed of. Remember the protests against their 90 day detention laws......
ReplyDelete