Channel 4 TV tonight 8pm - "Dispatches: Stealing Freedom"
Channel 4 TV tonight at 8pm has a documentary by Peter Hitchins, "Dispatches: Stealing Freedom" which will probably be of interest to readers of this blog:
"Political commentator Peter Hitchens takes a look at how the recent avalanche of security legislation has affected the civil liberties of ordinary people in Britain. The result, Hitchens explains, is that we are sleepwalking into a Big Brother state. Travelling across Britain, Hitchens meets ordinary people who have suffered needlessly because of new legislation and increased police powers. The programme also contains interviews with the Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer, Lord Carlisle, an independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, and Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty"
Comments
Interesting, and of no surprise to regular readers of this blog.
There is actually enough material on this topic for a whole series of documentaries.
Peter Hitchens made the "end justifies the means" argument over innocent people's DNA on the National DNA Database, but he failed to ask Lord Charlie Falconer if his Government intended to put everyone on this database.
He also did not point out that, given the current familial DNA analaysis not everyone has to have their own DNA samples on the the database, for every one of their relatives to be hauled in as "suspects".
Posted by: wtwu | February 27, 2006 9:14 PM
It was a good show that did a good job at making the point that it can happen to everyone. Something hard to get across.
The quote from the Magna Carta was something I didn't know.
However, he also missed that there has already been trials of camera use for automated crime detection. In particular what happened to the British software that was doing behaviour analysis in car park to detect crimes *before* they happened? (Remember the name of the company? Couldn't find it.) Hopefully no politician ever watched Wim Wenders' The End of Violence.
Posted by: David Mery | February 27, 2006 10:37 PM
I liked the question put to (the imbecile) Falconer about bar codes on the head. It's strangely reminiscent of the old testament where it is predicted that the end of the world will come when each person is given a number and they shall be enslaved.
At last, we're there- I thought it was all just aload of myths!
Posted by: Nick | February 28, 2006 9:44 AM
Some of the points which he did not explore:
1. If ID cards become necessary to obtain goods and services, a stolen ID card will have huge worth. We should, therefore, expect a rise in violent thefts and muggings, where the thief or assailant is attempting to get their hands on an ID card.
2. The ID card database will be accessible by more organisations than the police. This means that many people with social engineering or cracking ('hacking') skills will be able to obtain access to a huge amount of information on all card holding subjects. This information will doubtless be sold for a high price and used in support of crimes.
Posted by: Rik Hemsley | February 28, 2006 4:07 PM
Rik -> you make an incredible valid point , with regards to the black market "price" for access to a nationwide ID card database.
say if you were working on it , and you had top level access - what would be your "price"?
£1 million, £10 million? lets be honest - everyone has a certain tempatation level. everyone has a price.
why would criminals want access? to change their records of course - or to make themselves "anonymous" - or to change identities.
if this ID card database is centralised - and the police depend on it more and more and more - well, it doesnt take a genius to figure out that it will become a highly prized target for top level criminals.
centralisation of data is a double edged sword, which the government is blissfully completely unaware of.
lets think about this further - what would be Osama Bin Ladens bribe for gaining access so that he can change the details of his operatives on a whim?
Posted by: stormlord | March 1, 2006 7:34 PM
Everyone needs to watch this.
Murderers are free after minimum terms while the law abiding are arrested for opinions.
It makes me weep to see what Labour is doing to Britain
Posted by: Tony B.Liar | March 4, 2006 10:07 PM
I wanted him to ask Falconer to voluntarily add his and the DNA of his children, grandchildren etc to the police database. if he/they have nothing to hide why not.
Posted by: RichT | March 14, 2006 11:53 PM
I watched the dispatches doc last night on Iraq,s 'missing billions' and as it ended I was so sad for the proud Iraqi father taking his dead two day old daughter from the hospital in a cardboard box. The sadness changed to anger when I thought of the millions of dollars stolen or misused by the CPA. The programme showed mainly American faults but I have no doubt other nationalities were involved. The politicians on both sides of the Atlantic should be ashamed of themselves.The money was, I add, belonging to the Iraqi people anyway.23 billion dollars received at the 'end of hostilities' and 3 billion returned some weeks later.Simply amazing.
Posted by: barry darnell | March 21, 2006 11:22 AM
Check out the corruption of the old boy's network at Derbyshire County Council
Posted by: anon | October 4, 2006 6:17 PM