The Investigatory Powers Bill (nicknamed The Snooper's Charter) just passed in the UK; in which government and local authorities can spy on UK citizens (and quite possibly Americans) in unprecedented ways. It goes like this: Web companies can store records of websites of EVERY visitor for 12 months that will allow police, security services and other public databases upon issue of a warrant on "suspected criminals", meaning citizen journalists, peace activists, anti-war protestors, the works. This is a tyrannical piece of legislature on SO many levels; makes the SOPA bill that Congress tried to pass look like a pushover compared to the limitless draconian bill that was just passed in the UK. However, there's a limit to the legislature; they won't be able to track sites accessed over various VPNs. See: The best VPNs list. Whoever that might be. Possibly celebrities. You know what happened to Jennifer Lawrence regarding her nude pictures hacked from cloud storage, right?
webfoundation.org
Oh, but it gets even more nastier. Security services legally will be empowered to bug computers, landline phones, cell phones, satellite phones, ATM's, video game consoles, MP3 players, etc, upon approval of warrant. And not only that, they are also allowed to bypass encryption!!
This is beyond tyrannical. This is beyond draconian; Hell, this is beyond INSANE!!
Hasn't history taught us that mass surveillance of the populace cannot and will not STOP terrorism?
Apparently, those in Parliament didn't get the fuckin' message!!
Government security services can collect and analyze bulk communications data. For a MORE horrific example, this could mean a bulk data set such as NHS health records.
NHS health records of whom, exactly?
However, oversight of these illegal operations will come with a feature called "double lock" where any and all intercept warrants will need authorization from ministerial bodies before a panel of senior judges, or a bunch of geriatrics if you will, who wouldn't know freedom of speech if it was written in bold, red letters on a piece of paper being shoved into their wrinkled, prune-faced faces.
nbcnews.com
I know they are not Parliament, but you get my point.
This surveillance bill has nothing to do with protecting British citizens. It has nothing to do with catching dangerous criminals and money laundering schemes; no, it's more than that. It's about actually increasing Parliament's iron-fisted grip over it's citizens; the ones they "supposedly" care about. But that's far from the truth.
It remains to be seen if other European nations; namely France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, would adopt similar systems in place in order to "combat terrorism". From their perspective, that includes all the aforementioned in this article. A new dark age has arisen in Britain; where this unprecedented piece of legislature has allowed it's minions to put in place a totalitarian regime that is in essence, the first step among many to stifle dissent, restrict the free press, and above all, abuse it's power.
yearof1989.wordpress.com
So there comes a point where the battle of freedom VS oppression will come to a head. Will you step up and fight, or will you be a mindless sheeple going along with what the government says instead of thinking OUTSIDE the box and being a ignorant pacifist?
I know for damn sure which one I am.
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