I’m in Bejing at present – ironic when I read of the British Government’s latest plans.
The Government has announced plans to monitor people’s communications on social-networking sites. The new proposals will see sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo compelled to retain information about people’s contacts and surfing habits.
It’s the latest in a set of draconian measures designed to tackle terrorism. The Government has already announced plans to store details of every phone call, email and internet visit made in the UK as part of its intercept modernisation programme.
Government minister Vernon Coaker says the Government needs to widen the net on internet surveillance. “Social networking sites, such as MySpace or Bebo, are not covered by the directive,” he said, according to a report in The Independent.
Are we moving towards a two-stream web, where legitimate citizens are obliged to conduct all their internetting through proxies and encrypted channels merely to avoid layers of filters and monitoring, and only the naive or less-technologically savvy are condemned to a second-class internet and having their virtual identities carefully stockpiled in super-mega-ultra-could-not-be-compromised-by-a-five-year-old-safe government databases?
Why the sudden government passion, here and everywhere else it seems, to make like China?
Jacques: talk to the Icelanders, they have a habit of using “Gordon Brown” and “abuse” in the same sentence. If it was likely to catch real criminals, the criminals would demand it be removed.
Because it is all part and parcel of central control, and China is the next world authority figure.