The Snooper's Charter

But civil liberties groups have long criticized the bill, with some arguing that the law will let the UK government "document everything we do online".

It's no wonder, because it basically does.

The law will force internet providers to record every internet customer's top-level web history in real-time for up to a year, which can be accessed by numerous government departments; force companies to decrypt data on demand -- though the government has never been that clear on exactly how it forces foreign firms to do that that; and even disclose any new security features in products before they launch.

Well that sounds ... terrible.

8 thoughts on “The Snooper's Charter

  1. Rob Caldecott

    Few UK news sites even reported this. But do you know what’s worse? People don’t care. Everyone assumes GCHQ are logging this anyway. Depressing.

    1. cleek Post author

      Everyone assumes GCHQ are logging this anyway

      same thing happened here with the cell-phone logging stuff a few years back. everybody is like “don’t they already do that?”

      too much CSI.

  2. Countme-In

    The U.K.’ s internet regimen will be adopted by the Trump Administration for the lot of us and we may think they have higher racist, religiously bigoted and nationalist priorities in the incipient and invasive domestic national security state they are going to establish unlike anything this country has ever experienced, but the bottom line predictor for those who are targeted will be who we voted for in 2016 and going forward.

    This UK law will not be used by the ascendant, nationalist, fascist right wing in that once civilized society to protect those to the left of center, like the pre-Brexit assassinated Jo Cox, but rather to go after good decent human beings like our dear friend Girl of the North Country at OBWI and to protect the right wing political and business elite.

    Speaking of OBWI, I will be returning there for one day the week after Thanksgiving with a blizzard of posts I’ve been saving up and then I go dark for good in the blogging world, because I don’t feel safe any longer expressing my First Amendment rights in this country.

    I noticed Nombrilisme Vide (translation from the French, I think: consult and gaze at thy navel ….. which is probably an ironic handle) went after you in recent days. I’ve avoided getting into the spitting matches (I aim at bigger spittoons in my rants, usually) between sapient and NV, but when the latter accused you of pedantry, I nearly fell of my chair, because from the first time that individual showed up at OBWI, that is exactly how I pegged him/her, despite her/his obvious intelligence. Particularly its lame, prolix, pedantic pontification of its vote swapping strategy during the election.

    So you might enjoy that particular comment when it is posted.

    I’ve become kind of personal friends with McKinneyTexas over the past couple of years (I am well-trained in the art of not taking the political personally, given that in my upbringing I was surrounded by conservatives, not quite of the cast of Sebastian’s, but I was alone pretty much. Anyway, MCTX will not take this seriously, but he and other conservatives like him had better know that are in a list as well:

    http://ijr.com/2016/11/732006-omarosa-republicans-who-vote-against-donald-trump-will-be-put-on-a-list/
    McTX will scoff and ask what does a reality game-show contestant have to do with him. Well, the host of the reality game show she won is now MCTX’s f*cking political-BDSM dominator.

    By the way, do you know who your commenter JenBob is? Do you? How do you know that troll isn’t the individual, or one his operatives, profiled in the New Yorker article I linked to.

    Trust no one, cleek. Not even me. It is now a dystopian world.

    We are now ruled … not governed …. by cold-blooded murderers.

  3. cleek Post author

    I will be returning there for one day the week after Thanksgiving
    i’ll be sure to check-in ! i’m taking the week off from work so i won’t be able to spend as much time goofing off on the internet. :)

    but when the latter accused you of pedantry, I nearly fell of my chair
    you and me both. and such a classic NV response. though, i admit i only made it to the first period. that was all i needed.

    i’ll own my own pedantry: i enjoy it sometimes! lots of interesting critters down there under the microscope! but come. on.

    he and other conservatives like him had better know that are in a list as well:
    oh, i’m sure they all think the list will only be used for good: Conservative-brand Good™. they’d better keep up to date on what ‘conservatism’ means, tho. wouldn’t want to wake up one day and find themselves on the wrong side of things.

    How do you know that troll isn’t the individual, or one his operatives, profiled in the New Yorker article I linked to
    i was thinking the same thing while reading it. “which of the pro-trolls i’ve encountered sound like this guy? JenBob?” maybe. but JenBob (and his multiple aliases) never really got into the men’s rights stuff. so i decided it probably wasn’t him. plus, that guy sounds like he’s on a mission. and someone like that wouldn’t waste time in a little backwater blog like this.

    stay sharp, Count.

  4. Girl from the North Country

    Count, I have been wondering whether to contradict your pessimistic prognostications, but I don’t have the heart to do it. The future is indeed looking bleak, and will be bleaker without you on ObWi. Keep tabs, and if anything ever changes for the better, come back….

  5. Girl from the North Country

    cleek, I’d be very grateful indeed if you could email me, I need to ask you something and can’t find any other way to get in touch. Thanks.

Comments are closed.