The UK government has been trying to impose new surveillance laws on the internet at large, but for the past four years privacy activists have thwarted attempts by Labour and the Conservatives.
In a recent push, the government secretly added 18-pages to the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill (CTSB), including a mirror image of the Communications Data Bill, rejected in 2012 for the potential of national surveillance on every person.
Currently, the government has to apply for a warrant to see a user’s basic information online, like time, date and IP address, but the new law could make warrantless demands on millions of internet users’ daily activities, including chat logs in games and messaging apps.
Former Metropolitan police chief Lord Blair pushed the new CTSB through the House of Lords, with support from Lord Carlisle, Lord King and Lord West.
The two sides, Labour and the Conservatives, seem to agree on the adoption of massive internet surveillance.
Thankfully various Liberal Democrats and 'Lords' have been against the idea in the past, forcing the Communications Data Bill to be scrapped in 2012.
The underhand tactic shows the amount of hatred for the bill by most people, but the UK government is using the banner of 'freedom of speech' and 'counter-terrorism' to try and impose new surveillance laws across the entire country.
Not only does this go against the whole idea of freedom of speech, it follows from startling reports on the British intelligence agency (GCHQ) hacking and tracking journalists and other media figures, claiming investigative journalists were on the same threat level as terrorists.
Several commentators, including NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, claim the GCHQ is a much larger threat than the NSA, due to the lack of a constitution in the UK to defend people’s rights online.
Essentially, this looks like the first step for the UK government to essentially legalize mass surveillance.
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