UK Surveillance And The Cover Story For A Targeted Killing Programme - TruePublica
UK Surveillance And The Cover Story For A Targeted Killing Programme
By Graham Vanbergen
– According to Joanna Cherry, a Scottish National Party Member of
Parliament, Britain has gone “further than any other Western democracy”
in its expansion of surveillance powers and its ability to collect bulk
data without justifiable reason. As it turns out, it may be much worse
than even that.
The comments were made in reference to the Investigatory Powers (IP)
Bill, which is being extended to allow UK intelligence agencies to
collect, store and access information about internet users. Really, it
should be of some surprise to learn that Britain seems to be the de
facto global champion of government surveillance of its own citizens.
Not even the Chinese, Russian’s or Korean’s have the
astonishing spectrum of snooping tools that Britain now has over its own
people.
In part, this is because where American law has forbidden the NSA and
its agencies to undertake certain surveillance activities in its own
backyard, they have simply paid Britain to develop the tools needed
to do so on their behalf and circumvent their own laws. By contrast, as
it becomes more clear, Britain’s surveillance agencies have not let
annoyances like the law to hinder its own activities in its home
territory.
Cherry was right when she addressed parliament and said “America
has rolled back from bulk collection at the very time that Britain is
trying to roll out greater surveillance powers on a statutory basis.”
