UK Gov Planning email / phone / text database

I've been reading through the news today and im a little disturbed about something.

These articles explain it all.

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Article


Basically they want to capture all email, text messages and phone calls saying that it will help with criminal / terrorist investigations.

Some may say ... "Well they have been doing that for years anyway, there are just making it know to the public"

While this may or may not be true, this is just another invastion of our privacy, yet another thing that they can use to track us, know our every move ......

here in the UK we have more CCTV cameras than most other countries and i wouldnt be suprised that they keep all those images as well.

What next, are they going to keep all the S**t that goes down our toilet so they and tell what we are eating !

It would extend the powers of RIPA (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) which currently allows hundreds of government agencies access to communications data.

Some believe such legislation, which requires government authorities to request information from communication providers, is more than adequate for law enforcement purposes.

"The fight against terrorism doesn't require a centralised database," said Chris Mayers, chief security architect at Citrix Systems, an applications delivery firm.

"Such a database would face threats from both outside and inside. The more people who have access to it the more risks there would be," he said

The above emphasis is my point entirely. If they can already access such information on suspects, why would it be necessary to keep tabs on everyone? Definitely a step too far.

Also (as pointed out as a p.o.v. in the above sources), if you were a plotting to cause harm wouldn't you move on to writing letters? How long would it be before all of our letters are screened?