Came today across an information that freaked me out.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/25/british-councils-used-investigatory-powers-ripa-to-secretly-spy-on-public?CMP=share_btn_gp
The translation is "Big brother is watching you!"
Tapping conversations, reading your email, and following you on camera for "crimes" such as dog fouling and loud music! And on top of this Orwellian behavior using your tax money to do it.
It did not take place in North Korea, the culprits are Councils in England. A country that prides itself to have strict privacy rules and tight checks and balances on government surveillance.
In this case Ripa (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act ) "councils were given permission to carry out more than 55,000 days of covert surveillance over five years, including spying on people walking dogs, feeding pigeons and fly-tipping" via "secret listening devices, cameras and private detectives.
With the rise of the extreme right and national socialism in Europe and the US, the government power to enter into our lives and observe us on everyday basis is frightening, much more that terrorism.
Measures primarily intended for combating terrorism were used for issues as trivial as a dog barking or the sale of theater tickets.
Out of fear we are giving away our civil liberty, right to privacy and freedom of information not knowing what we are signing on when we accept to erode civil right and freedom on the altar of safety.
I wonder and shiver at the thought of how these powers, available through advancement in technologies are used in Iran and the Gulf States where governments are not democratically elected. Or in the Middle East and Africa where Parliaments are weak and powerless.
Or in Western countries where "strong men" such as Putin, Erdogan, and maybe Trump, or in a nightmare scenario Farage, or Marie le Pen, lead!
It is indeed a frightening world, and the culprit is not the acts of terrorists, rather it is that we are letting them win by giving up our citizens rights.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/25/british-councils-used-investigatory-powers-ripa-to-secretly-spy-on-public?CMP=share_btn_gp
The translation is "Big brother is watching you!"
Tapping conversations, reading your email, and following you on camera for "crimes" such as dog fouling and loud music! And on top of this Orwellian behavior using your tax money to do it.
It did not take place in North Korea, the culprits are Councils in England. A country that prides itself to have strict privacy rules and tight checks and balances on government surveillance.
In this case Ripa (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act ) "councils were given permission to carry out more than 55,000 days of covert surveillance over five years, including spying on people walking dogs, feeding pigeons and fly-tipping" via "secret listening devices, cameras and private detectives.
With the rise of the extreme right and national socialism in Europe and the US, the government power to enter into our lives and observe us on everyday basis is frightening, much more that terrorism.
Measures primarily intended for combating terrorism were used for issues as trivial as a dog barking or the sale of theater tickets.
Out of fear we are giving away our civil liberty, right to privacy and freedom of information not knowing what we are signing on when we accept to erode civil right and freedom on the altar of safety.
I wonder and shiver at the thought of how these powers, available through advancement in technologies are used in Iran and the Gulf States where governments are not democratically elected. Or in the Middle East and Africa where Parliaments are weak and powerless.
Or in Western countries where "strong men" such as Putin, Erdogan, and maybe Trump, or in a nightmare scenario Farage, or Marie le Pen, lead!
It is indeed a frightening world, and the culprit is not the acts of terrorists, rather it is that we are letting them win by giving up our citizens rights.
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