Civil Liberty

I have long been interested in the idea of Liberty and the way it is worked out in different ways and places. And while this country was one of the pioneers of liberty (my own references go back to John Milton's Areopagitica - published in 1644, but I am only an amateur scholar - a real scholar will do much better than that) the present age has seen hard won civil liberty steady eroded. Right now there is a proposal to record all everyone's internet activity which I regard with horror. It's equivalent to opening everyone's post in the hope that some misdemeanor might emerge. But it is far worse than that.

My friend Paul Vella informs me that, under a bill passed into law a few years ago, the police in the UK have the power to remotely install monitoring software on your computer without the need for a search warrant - all they need is the approval of an Inspector and the belief that you are involved in a crime that would attract a 3 year custodial sentence. That's "belief" and we all know how flakey beliefs can be. Worse, if they can't install this software remotely, the same legislation provides for them to secretly enter your home, workplace or hotel room and install it by hand - again, without the need for a search warrant. And you thought your home was your castle. Not any more.

Did you know that under the Lisbon Treaty, passed by our government, they are allowed to intern people who have a communicable disease (see the list here). "Intern" - that's lock them up. The same treaty only recognises our right to life if we don't resist arrest. The death penalty was abolished in 1969 wasn't it? Well it has been stealthily re-introduced for acts of terrorism that could lead to or prolong a war.

There's more. We live in a country where the council dog warden can put you and your family under surveillance and obtain details of your Internet browsing and mobile phone calls! Yes - the Dog Warden. 

Are you interested in the Olympics? If you're lucky enough to be in the stadium and make a video of an event on your mobile phone you are not allowed to upload it to YouTube. Nor may you wear a Pepsi Cola T-shirt to the Olympic stadium. It may be your own favourite T-shirt which you wear often, but Coca-Cola are official sponsors and they wouldn't like it. And you can't even buy chips at the Olympics unless it is from McDonalds, or is served with fish. Curry and chips? Forbidden.

Free country? Not in a way John Stuart Mill, the great 19th Century philosopher of liberty, would recognise. And who cares? People are too distracted with Britain's Got Talent and David Beckham to notice what is really important.