Big Brother? ... Big Bother?

The Government seem to be quite open about the fact that can snoop on all their citizens' communications simply "because they can".

Although they claim that it is 'very unlikely' the powers would be used against non-payers of council tax or for parking fines 'as the sums involved are not sufficient to justify the use of this sort of information or the costs involved in applying it' it doesn't mean that they won't.

If they have the power then they will.

Just imagine being a parking campaigner exposing local authorities acting unlawfully ... will they use the powers to check telephone calls, bank accounts and other personal details then? What staggers me is the fact that hardly a whimper is heard from the public

Niemöller's poem tells the story of Europe's refusal to stand up to the Nazis while they still had time:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

What personal freedom are YOU prepared to sacrifice before YOU stand up to be counted? Who would ever have believed 20 years ago that an Englishman could have a conviction for selling bananas by the pound? ...and that council officers would be able to access your telephone records and bank account details?

When the day comes where your every move is monitored and recorded either from face recognition software on CCTV cameras linked to a central database or from your vehicle movements monitored by Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems on every road in the country or from GPS tracking via your mobile phone how free will you feel then?

Big Brother Britain: Government and councils to spy on ALL our phones
By JASON LEWIS
29th September 2007

Officials from the top of Government to lowly council officers will be given unprecedented powers to access details of every phone call in Britain under laws coming into force tomorrow. More ...