© Daniela Hartmann/Flickr/Creative Commons
The UK government is pushing to pass an emergency law that would allow for storing and tracking the public's phone calls, text messages, and internet use.
The bill, which is set for inter-party reforms later this week and is expected to pass, was created as a response to alleged domestic terrorism threats - although the validity of these threats and the likeliness of an attack are uncertain.
Recruitment propaganda and videos of alleged war crimes by British citizens in Syria that surfaced on social media this year have helped fuel speculation and reports of radicalization on the home front. However, former MI6 chief Richard Dearlove
said Tuesday that recent fears of extremism in the West have been overblown by governments and media, with most terrorist activity having been refocused into the Middle East.
The bill closely resembles a previous plan, proposed in 2012 by Home Secretary Theresa May, that would have required telecommunications companies to retain detailed information about their customers' phone calls and internet use for up to 12 months. The proposal, called the Communications Data Bill, was dropped in 2013 after its tactics were deemed invasive and disproportionate by opposing members, including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
Before being vetoed, the plan became known as the "Snooper's Charter."
Ministers from the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats have promised not to let the new bill become an updated version of the old one. A Liberal source
told the
Guardian, "There is no question of a snooper's charter, watered down or otherwise, being introduced by this government."
Comment: Considering all the police brutality incidents in the news lately, one can hardly blame the cow for being a little suspicious about the cop's intentions and high-tailing it out of there.