UK Prison Island Redux

We have had this conversation before and here is more of the same.
From where I sit it seems to progress in a linear fashion ending in God knows what.

http://gizmodo.com/5038933/uk-govt-creatin...-surf-histories

Like the article says "it makes the USA look like a shining beacon of freedom"

Which is total BS...but hey think about it.

they've been collecting this shit for years the only difference is the centralisation of it... hopefully it will be as successful as other bastions of British spending... The millenium dome, the CSA, top secret data bases left on trains, an ineffectual national health service... But you just know it wont......BASTARDS

We'll have to wait and see.... but personally I doubt that it will ever come.

Assuming this "article" is 100% accurate (which I doubt) this will never come to pass unless the Labour party stays in power in perpetuity. The next Conservative government will bring all this surveillance down (with the possible exception of CCTV - which just has to run its course).

As much as the Labour party seem to have developed a morbid fear that people are doing stuff that they don't know about, or are going about their business without being identified, monitored, tracked and profiled, the Conservatives hate the surveillance culture.

This isn't some noble streak at work, it's simple self preservation.... the overwhelming majority of Conservative politicians (from the shadow cabinet right through to the lowliest Tory councilors) are one or more of the following:

• Involved in shady business deals
• Involved in some sort of backroom "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" political corruption
• Involved with a prostitute
• Involved with a rent boy
• Involved with a dominatrix
• Involved in tax evasion

etc etc etc

Quite simply, the growing surveillance culture is not conducive to their usual way of life. Tories don't like to know what everybody else is doing... because then, people may start asking what they are up to.

I predict within 15 years all of these cameras and other methods will be under the control of an AI.

24/7/365 watching you.

See this is what is wrong with the world, they are prepared to spend untold money to create a database full of crap that will only ever be accessed for malevolent reasons and containg vast swathes of non information which will never be accessed by anyone but where are our aircars and robot/monkey butlers? Where are they?

lol @ Foghorn.

You harp on about CCTV in the UK f33dback as if a camera exists on every street corner, unfortunately for you and your predictions that isn't the case. I await your next over the top reaction to something happening in the UK with great anticipation.

there are in most of the big cities

It isn't just Tories mate. You paint the picture that they're somehow different to any of the other scumbag Politicians in this country. It's a simple rule of thumb, if you're the sort of person that craves the power of being a Politician, you aren't mentally or socially right to have it.

No no no no, you've got me all wrong, mate... They're ALL scumbags, that's a given, and you'll get no argument from me on that issue. The point I'm trying to make is, that the Tories tend to have different scummy "qualities" than the Nu Labour f*cktards that a currently in power... qualities that are not best suited to everybody's business being so easily surveiled.

Oh how I hanker after the days of a proper social democracy under great and honourable politicians such as Nye Bevan or Clement Attlee.

YMG I seriously doubt that the Tories will do anything different. You seem to forget that while they may do all the things you suggest, they also have a mindset that is based on arrogance and denial ... so half of them simply think they are above the law and the other half are incapable of comprehending the reality of their actions, and that's not even mentioning the religious nut jobs ... one may despise the Labour party for doing all the things that they shouldn't and failing to do the things that they should, the Tories are far worse ... always have been and always will.

We need another Benjamin Disraeli!

Tony Benn... Love or hate his politics, you absolutely had to admire his integrity, ethics and unwavering dedication to putting democracy and "the people" before the establishment.

"As a minister, I experienced the power of industrialists and bankers to get their way by use of the crudest form of economic pressure, even blackmail, against a Labour Government. Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes is minuscule. This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the IMF secured cuts in our public expenditure. These lessons led me to the conclusion that the UK is only superficially governed by MPs and the voters who elect them. Parliamentary democracy is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact. If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little." source

We'll be lucky to see his like again (on either side)... easily one of the best Prime Ministers we've never had.

The civil service runs the UK the biggest self serving money hungry, overmanaged, overpaid, self governing, organisation In the UK. MP's are figureheads to give the impression that the general public have a say in government for their compliance they are granted the ministerial perks, hookers, redecorating allowance, 2nd home allowance, blah blah blah .... I mentioned it before in another post but I like saying it......

Agreed. I don't think we're likely to be graced with someone that has genuine empathy for the British people, they're all corrupt, perverted odd-balls nowadays.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6108496.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6110866.stm

This post has been edited by f33dback: Aug 21 2008, 08:06 PM