Britain’s parliament rubber stamps police state surveillance law
Robert Stevens ■ The vote to fast track into legislation the Data Retention and Investigative Powers Act (DRIP) by Britain’s Parliament provides stark warning of the extent to which the structures for police states are being prepared in Europe. ● The law gives the UK government new sweeping powers of surveillance, compelling Internet and phone companies to store all the communications data of British citizens, generated by phone calls, email, texts and Internet use, for 12 months, and make it freely accessible to police and intelligence agencies. To this end, any semblance of democratic norms was jettisoned to ensure that the legislation was railroaded through Parliament in just three days this week. In what amounts to a political conspiracy, the governing Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition stitched up a backroom deal with the Labour Party to rubber stamp legislation that has the gravest implications for civil liberties. In only a few hours, the overwhelming majority of MPs voted by 436 in favour of the new bill. Just a handful of MPs voted against and were given 47 minutes to submit amendments.
Robert Stevens ■ Edward Snowden condemns UK surveillance legislation