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Frankly the Israeli situation sounds more proportionate and reasonable than many - plus groups are challenging it in court which is always a Good Thing(tm).

If you want to see the REAL masters, look no further than the UK Regulation Of Investigative Powers Act.

That gives (for example) local garbage collectors the legal powers to obtain, say, your medical records - all they need to do is establish they are 'investigating' some garbage related offence and they have access to anything they want so by saying you have disposed of some 'unauthorized' medical waste they are allowed to obtain your medical records to see if you have a genuine medical condition justifying it. It is an offence for the medical staff to refuse or to inform you that they have been handed over.

Want to send your children to your local school ? Expect 24x7 surveillance of you and your children for 3 weeks: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2248295/Second-counci... [edit: this is a different example of abuse, reply below has the correct link.]

The list is endless with over 500 different 'official' organizations entitled to mount total surveillance and the abuses of the legislation are so egregious that they read like a wild fantasy.

This is the "legal framework" which the UK PM David Cameron is assuring everyone keeps them safe from PRISM and the like.

Absolute power corrupts and this power has long ago corrupted absolutely in the UK.

[edit: originally said months and it is merely weeks, reply below has the link to the correct article. Thanks to Jabbles for pointing out the link was the wrong one.]



Pedantically they UK also had a terrorist organisation that was setting bombs and almost killed the Prime Minister ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing )

Though they tried to crack down very hard on them, and it just made things worse. You'd think they'd learn from that.


Your outrage is justified, but let's not just make up facts.

Your link says the surveillance lasted for 10 minutes. Not 3 months.


You're totally right, that was the wrong link, and the example I found is actually 3 weeks which is so much more reasonable for a serious crime like sending your child to the local school.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8343865.stm

There are others and Wikipedia even has a special section on oppressive use : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_Investigatory_Pow...

[edit: to correct the time frame]


That is certainly a disturbing abuse of power. Here is the IPT's ruling on the case: http://www.ipt-uk.com/docs/Paton_v_Poole_Borough_Council.pdf




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