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Key quote: "This British Government surveillance project represents a fundamental erosion of our freedoms and liberty." - Christine Grahame MSP
The introduction of ID cards by the British Government is little more than a “smokescreen” for a far bigger surveillance project involving every single person in the UK and that is already well under way an SNP MSP has said. Christine Grahame MSP warned the £12 billion project, called the Interception Modernisation Programme will result in a “fundamental erosion of our freedoms and liberty” and called on the money to be used instead to eradicate child and pensioner poverty. Ms Grahame today (Thursday) lodged a parliamentary motion that seeks the backing of MSPs and calls on the British Government to halt the programme. Speaking in Parliament Ms Grahame said:
“The current heated debate over the introduction of ID cards, a British Government scheme that will cost taxpayers £5 billion, is a smokescreen for a far bigger snooping project already underway by British Ministers. That project will intercept every single telephone conversation, every email and every website visited by every single person in Britain.
“Already the UK has more CCTV cameras in use than all the other European countries combined. The British Government has more surveillance of its citizens in public places than any other Western or democratic country in the world and now it looks set to extend that surveillance into our homes.
“Sir David Pepper, the head of the Government’s Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, is the mastermind behind this latest proposal and already £1billion has been allocated to undertake the initial research and preparation for this project.
“The British Government claim it is necessary to help fight crime and terrorism but what this programme effectively does is make a presumption that potentially every single person is either a terrorist or criminal. It is a completely unnecessary drag net that will impinge on our liberties and freedoms and represents a direct attack on our already eroded democracy.
“The UK Government has proved it cannot keep secure the personal information of children whose data was lost by the Department of Work and Pensions, or armed forces service personnel whose data was lost by the Ministry of Defence, or prisoners whose personal information was lost by the Home Office. This new snooping programme aimed at everyone will potentially put at risk the private communications of every individual and British Ministers should bring it to a halt immediately.
“There are far greater priorities such as eradicating child and pensioner poverty, or improving housing or investing in greater levels of public services. Instead British Ministers seem committed to invading the privacy of millions of innocent people in a totally disproportionate and expensive over-reaction. This move will seriously undermine our democracy and perhaps unintentionally hand the terrorists the victory they seek; the defeat of our democratic freedoms and privacy.”
The final aim of the project, Ms Grahame added, was to have thousands of black box probes, called Deep Packet Inspection (DPIs) equipment installed throughout the entire UK internet and telephone system that will collect, analyse and decode information before routing it to the secure underground bunker at GCHQ and a new super-computer. According to industry experts it will allow Government officials to “live-tap” every home in the country and possibly even allow for telephone equipment to be remotely switched on, using the hands free facility present on most domestic phones, to record conversations in people’s own homes without them knowing. Ms Grahame added:
“This level of surveillance goes well beyond counter terrorism and the fight against crime. This is a major assault on our privacy and way of life and is not the action of a democratic country, but one more at home with far rightwing totalitarian regimes who have no trust in their own people and have become utterly paranoid.”
Currently telephone and Internet companies can only pass on details to the authorities if a senior officer certifies the requested information is needed to investigate crime or terrorist related activity. Last year 520,000 such requests were made. For live and recorded interceptions the authorities are at present meant to have the permission of a Government Minister or a Chief Constable. None of these safeguards will be required under the new system being installed by GCHQ.
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Parliamentary motion:
For £12 billion Big Brother Will Bug You
That this Parliament condemns the UK Government’s £12 billion Interception Modernisation Programme currently being developed at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham that will intercept every telephone call, every email and retain a log of every website visited of every person in the UK; believes that this unnecessary project seriously undermines our democracy and represents a complete affront to our rights to privacy and freedom and hands the terrorists the victory they seek by substantially changing our way of life by imposing a system that will spy and snoop on a population who clearly the British Government no longer trusts; further urges the British Government to halt the programme and instead invest those resources to vital public services and the fight against fuel, pensioner and child poverty.
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