It hasn’t even been a full day since the Conservatives ran ahead with the General Election and already there are plans being made to launch a huge citizen surveillance program, branded the Snoopers’ Charter.
The Snoopers’ Charter would effectively grant a massive amount of surveillance powers to the government, forcing internet service providers to store a large amount of their customers data which can then be accessible by the government at any time. During the Conservatives’ last run in power the Liberal Democrats blocked the law from being put into place, but now that the coalition is no more there would no longer be any way of preventing the law from being passed.
Officially known as the Draft Communications Data Bill, the revival of the law was mentioned by Theresa May moments after it was announced that Cameron was to be re-elected. May led the legislation in her role as home secretary, and it’s likely that when she inevitably re-introduces it to the rest of the party in the near future, it will receive the full backing of the Tories.
David Cameron believes that the government should have direct access to our online communications.
David Cameron previously used the Charlie Hedbo mass-shooting in order to convince people that mass government surveillance was a good thing, saying: “In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which [the government] cannot read?” Apparently David Cameron hasn’t heard of talking, because as far as I know I can directly communicate with someone else in my living room without having the government spy on me for “my own safety.”
But as is increasingly becoming the case in modern politics, privacy is a luxury and it’s one that we’re apparently not entitled to. It’s telling that the very first plans announced by the Tory government following their election is an increase in governmental monitoring of UK citizens, and should serve as a depressing indicator of what’s in store for us over the course of the next five years.
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