My old friend Colin sent me a link the other day to a website called 38 degrees, it is an excellent site that makes it easy to register your signature against intrusive or corrupt legislation. The most recent link informs us of the latest attempt by the government (Labour tried it a few years back) to implement a law that assumes that we are all guilty of being sex offenders or potential terrorists until being proven not guilty.

This is a law that will allow the Government to view the text messages, emails, phone calls and web pages viewed by every person in this country. If they wished, they could even watch me as I typed this blog and I am not too keen on that. The right wing press will claim that if you are not guilty of an offence you shouldn’t be worried about being spied on, but that is absolute nonsense, what right has any government got to spy on the private lives of law abiding citizens in what is supposed a free country, we are not a police state like China or America are we?

This is not just about spying on people who visit Facebook, Twitter, gambling or soft porn sites (if that isn’t bad enough) but being able to view your private or business emails and texts. I have had email correspondence with banks, solicitors, clients, my ex wife and many other people that is my business and no one else’s. In the wrong hands the potential damage to a person or a company this could cause is limitless, what if you are an estimator for a company that sends out quotations by email? If there is open access to that sort of information, corruption is not a possibility, but a certainty. We all know how many current and former MP’s hold Chair at big businesses. This is basically a law that makes hacking of information legal!

We have all seen what has happened recently when the police, the press and politicians have happily gone along with illegal hacking of personal information, if it is made legal any civil liberties we have left will be gone forever, Big Brother will be here to stay. Sex offenders and terrorists are not stupid, they wont broadcast their activities on the internet and will always find ways of staying illusive and in any case, the police and government already have the right to monitor the activities of suspected criminals.

This is not me being a “lefty” or anti- Cameron, this is something that should be a huge concern to anyone who is a law abiding citizen who wishes to have their own privacy. Why should we be subjected to the paranoia of the authorities who are hardly innocent when it comes to illegal activities. This is what former shadow Home Secretary David Davies (a Tory) had to say:

“These plans would give the state huge new powers to snoop on ordinary people. They’d be expensive, unnecessary, and a huge invasion of everybody’s privacy. If they are to be stopped, public pressure will be critical – including from 38 Degrees members”.

You can view or register to 38 Degrees by clicking on the link below, it is enlightening but often depressing reading, but it means you can do your bit and lend your signature to an organisation that is at least trying to prevent apathy winning without a fight.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/