Oppressive laws are being made under the guise of protecting us all from the Jihadists and the frightening thing is, there are far too many compliant citizens who believe this is for the greater good. Ben Franklin once said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

These laws aren’t about Jihadists, they are about mining information on each and every individual in the UK...Remember, knowledge is power.

But lets not kid ourselves that snooping isn't happening in the here and now. Back in 2013 Snowden leaked multiple documents revealing GCHQ had been spying on millions of people, which included monitoring phone conversations and internet communications. The consequences of that was, companies around the world tried suing the government. The government quickly and quietly rewrote and amended hacking laws which of course made them exempt from prosecution. The government didn’t inform the news outlets or public that they were slipping in this new bill, it just appeared on the 11th hour of the first trial.

This act now means that we can no longer sue GCHQ or the police for mining our personal information. Problems with encryption are the only reason we, the public are suddenly more aware of these snooping laws. If companies like Apple hadn't kicked up a stink, its just another new bill that would of quietly slipped through.

Its Orwellian corporate espionage. What next... the secret police?

100% agree with that. all our information has either been sold off or stolen, the repercussions will be horrific. enemies of the state or corporations will be arrested and locked up without trial based on what cops and intelligence allegedly find in their emails and computers

and of course, if we allow the law to become a political weapon, then everyone will have no choice but to tow the party line because people, including activists will be picked up on vague suspicions.

When our government departments route out a criminal we all say “well done” but when a whistle-blower routes out illegal government activity, half the nation call that whistle-blower an ‘enemy of the state’ :conf:. Governments regularly classify things because they know its either illegal or embarrassing….We need to protect our whistle-blowers.

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