Surveillance State: Why do politicians mistrust UK citizens so much?

There are currently proposals to legislate for the state to access information via our personal phone usage, e-mails, etc. The argument for it suggests that if you've committed no crime you have nothing to fear.

I would suggest there are other reasons behind this proposed legislation:

These controls will be used to keep an eye on any voices that show dissent towards the government/establishment. It will be used to suppress, and control, protest. It will restrict freedom of speech.

There will be plenty dissent, discontent, and anger amongst people in this country in the future, as living standards continue to slip for the majority. This surveillance is being brought in to monitor people's behaviours as things inevitably get worse.

I'm sure many of you are aware of much of the following:

BRITAIN already has more CCTV cameras than anywhere else in the world, and a four million strong DNA database that contains details of thousands of UK residents who have committed no crime.

The UK has more CCTV cameras per capita than any European country, yet figures released in July 2009 by the European Commission and United Nations showed Britain's recorded rate of violent crime surpassed any other country in Europe.

A House of Lords report published in January this year estimated that during the 1990s the Home Office spent 78 per cent of its crime prevention funds -- estimated to be in excess of £500 million -- on CCTV.

According to the BBC, some of the UK's smallest local authorities, such as the Shetland Islands Council (101 cameras) and Corby Borough Council (90 cameras), have more surveillance equipment than the San Francisco Police Department (71 cameras).

At the end of 2006, the UK was described by the Surveillance Studies Network as being 'the most surveilled country' among the industrialized Western states. Yet....UK local authorities spent a further total of £515m installing, operating and maintaining CCTV between 2007-11, according to the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch.

Despite millions of cameras, Britain's crime rate is not significantly lower than comparable countries that do not have such a vast surveillance state.

There is no credible evidence that more cameras will reduce crime, yet councils have poured enough money into CCTV in just four years that would have put more than 4,000 extra police officers on the streets.

I'm sure there are plenty other sources I could quote too.

....and now they want to survey your phone usage, snoop on your e-mails, etc.

Isn't it nice to know that british governments/establishment are so paranoid and mistrusting of it's own people. When this is the case, is it any wonder UK citizens are becoming so paranoid and mistrusting of our governments/establishment.

When we are governed by people who see it as being a case of them and us....is it surprising that we might begin to see it as us and them?

Couldn't agree more sickie. Goes back to the days when every area had a beat bobby, because of this crime dropped and the police were looked up to (arguably feared by the dodgepots) because crime dropped the police/government got rid of the bobby and started to replace him with technology. Nobody is surprised that crime is on the rise and nobody wonders where the police (who seem to have to work in handcuffs rather than use them) are disappearing to in this politically correct environment we now live in.

tlttf wrote:Couldn't agree more sickie. Goes back to the days when every area had a beat bobby, because of this crime dropped and the police were looked up to (arguably feared by the dodgepots) because crime dropped the police/government got rid of the bobby and started to replace him with technology. Nobody is surprised that crime is on the rise and nobody wonders where the police (who seem to have to work in handcuffs rather than use them) are disappearing to in this politically correct environment we now live in.

No more country beat bobbies please. My ears are still ringing after 65 years. Agree with the above. While acknowledging that the Service is not perfect, we are asking them to do more and more, with fewer and fewer real officers. Talking of technology, how long before a Judge Joseph Dredd appears

trevorw2539 wrote:

tlttf wrote:Couldn't agree more sickie. Goes back to the days when every area had a beat bobby, because of this crime dropped and the police were looked up to (arguably feared by the dodgepots) because crime dropped the police/government got rid of the bobby and started to replace him with technology. Nobody is surprised that crime is on the rise and nobody wonders where the police (who seem to have to work in handcuffs rather than use them) are disappearing to in this politically correct environment we now live in.

No more country beat bobbies please. My ears are still ringing after 65 years. Agree with the above. While acknowledging that the Service is not perfect, we are asking them to do more and more, with fewer and fewer real officers. Talking of technology, how long before a Judge Joseph Dredd appears

Yes Trevor a clip round the ear for any minor misbehavior from the local bobbie, i was riding my bike home after visiting my grandmother, left it a bit late and was riding home in the dark, unfortunately i had no rear light just the front. One of our local bobbies spotted me and shouted for me stop, i was thirteen years old at the time and thought i was a bit of a boy racer, so i set of like a bat out of hell. The bobbie gave chase, not in a pander car but on his bike, he caught up with me after half a mile, infact i was 300 yards from home, i was expecting the usual clout round the ear and a warning. Not this time, i was fined 10 shillings, ten shillings was lot in 1945, so i had to work it off at home doing more chores than usual, no clip round the ear from my mother this time either.
Nowadays, no bobbies on bikes, very seldom see one in a police car either, more chance of seeing a yeti than a policeman around here, no wonder the crime rates are up. And it will be worse if they carry out there cuts on the police force.

When you have a very good job with good wages, but which only lasts four years at a time, it's useful to know as much as possible about the shower who can bring your career to an abrupt end.