Big Brother Closing In Further - UK Watch

I do like to remind my fellow UKers on this site about our own Big Brother... Sometimes it's easy to forget whats going on at home when we spend all day discussing US policies and the Middle East issues unfolding.

I've always said, if the US are doing it, the UK are doing it.. The only issue we face, is that the UK are A LOT more slier in their activities, things over here seem to slip through our radar without the majority even catching on, as was proved in the Anon Birmingham protest I took part in. The protest was extremely successful in the simple fact, we had the public engaging with us saying "What? The police are being privatised?!?"

So anyway, here's me informing you:

National 'virtual ID card' scheme set for launch

The Government will announce details this month of a controversial national identity scheme which will allow people to use their mobile phones and social media profiles as official identification documents for accessing public services.

People wishing to apply for services ranging from tax credits to fishing licences and passports will be asked to choose from a list of familiar online log-ins, including those they already use on social media sites, banks, and large retailers such as supermarkets, to prove their identity.

Once they have logged in correctly by computer or mobile phone, the site will send a message to the government agency authenticating that user’s identity.

The Cabinet Office is understood to have held discussions with the Post Office, high street banks, mobile phone companies and technology giants ranging from Facebook and Microsoft to Google, PayPal and BT.

Cabinet Ministers are dubious of it being labeled "Big Brother National ID card".. In fact, they think this is a solution to AVOIDING the ID card.

The system will be trialled when the Department of Work & Pensions starts the early roll out of the Universal Credit scheme, a radical overhaul of the benefits system, in April.

The cabinet say: “prevent ‘login fatigue’ [from] having too many usernames and passwords”

Ohh purlease! I'm sure I'm old enough to manage my own login details, thank you very much - Nanny!

Linky

Linky 2

Add that to this: No Need For Anonymous Free Speech - According to Pigs

Further add that to the UK scrapping 1/5th of the Army "TO BALANCE THE DEFENSE BUDGET"

WHILST INVESTING 800 MILLION IN THE NEW UK DOMESTIC DRONES, AFTER A FAILED INVESTMENT OF 2 BILLION IN UNRELIABLE DRONES.



Add that to this:

Fears that the UK would "sleep-walk into a surveillance society" have become a reality, the government's information commissioner has said.

There are up to 4.2m CCTV cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people.

Link BBC

Add that to this: How The Pigs Collaborated With Companies To Blacklist People In the UK

Add that to this:

G4S chief predicts mass police privatisation

Private companies will be running large parts of the police service within five years, according to security firm head

Linky

On another note, my Blackberry crashed epically yesterday, so everything had to be re-installed.. DID YOU KNOW, in order to get my phone functioning again with basic internet and apps, I had to supply ALL RIGHTS to my location and personal details? I unchecked the ones I COULD, but most were MANDATORY.

Like 20 companies now have my name, age, address, and location.

Please review all links and contemplate what this MEANS for freedom.

None of it makes any sense. It all sounds like a recipe for disaster and fraud et alone the rivalry issues involved. I'd expect this madness from the former lot, but a coalition that prided themselves on being pro civil liberties once again seems to be obsessed with the same intrusive technologies.

A good site worth keeping an eye on s. www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk...

let's use security methods that already don't work as official identification!

i bet every member in all the phishing forums are drooling atm

I totally agree the UK do things in 'stealth mode'.
I know it sounds stoooopid, but I used to thoroughly enjoy watching Spooks...learnt quite a bit from that, maybe one of the reasons they stopped it?

Anyhoo...just wanted to say excellent OP, S&F....will be watching/contributing to this thread

Rainbows
Jane

Just wanted to say Thank You for being part of informing people and making them realize whats happening by actually doing something and taking part in an demonstration.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
None of it makes any sense. It all sounds like a recipe for disaster and fraud et alone the rivalry issues involved. I'd expect this madness from the former lot, but a coalition that prided themselves on being pro civil liberties once again seems to be obsessed with the same intrusive technologies.

A good site worth keeping an eye on s. www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk...

Brilliant site, thanks for the link.

From the site, The Class of 1984:

Based on data covering more than 2,000 secondary schools and academies, Big Brother Watch warns that there are more than 100,000 CCTV cameras in secondary schools and academies across England, Wales and Scotland.

With some schools seeing a ratio of one camera for every five pupils, more than two hundred schools using CCTV in bathrooms and changing rooms and more cameras inside school buildings as outside, the picture across the country will undoubtedly shock and surprise many.

Big Bro Watch Spills All

To relate to this, I left school 6 years ago, and we had to be terribly inventive to grab a ciggy on the school grounds (don't lecture me! aha), the only places not CCTVed were little dark corners between fences and bins.

One day we were all shoved into this little corner, and my mate had to take his trousers down to get to the pair underneath where the ciggies were stashed, another friend thought it would be funny to "de-bag" him, so he was momentarily stood in his boxers

Anyway, interrupting our laughing fit, was a bright flash of light, we all looked up to the building opposite to see the Vice head of the school taking pictures of us with his flash cam!! lol.

The same vice head that nearly attacked students on a number of occasions too, I might add! Of course his misdemeanors went unnoticed!

The school I attended was a public school that was very corrupt in altering stats for GCSE results, and the head, a vile woman, was VERY friendly with the local MP's.

My little cousin informed me the other day that MORE CCTV was being added.

Awesome post, thanks highlighting this & putting it altogether so concisely. Real interesting stuff! If you have a group of people demonstrating in the Midlands area I'd like to know how to join up and join in?

Thank the Olympic failure of G4 with out which the gov would be proposing these as the privatised arm of the police without a doubt. It will still happen but they will now have to find another way.

I notice these new systems do not include any check on the spending/earning of the rich so that the taxman can collect all those billions of pounds not paid every year by the rich.

We dont need taxes of the top earners raised, just need to ensure they pay what they should instead of ignoring and avoiding payment.

From the OP's links it looks like parliament is about to formalise its privatisation giving even more unelected power to corporations and banksters. That will be nice.

This nation has been locked down for many years now and our laziness just lets them get away with injustice without opposition.

Help make a change and join us at the 20thOctober March. Make a noise before you are not allowed to make a noise.

I'm going to go against the grain here and ask "would a virtual ID system really be that bad? Would it actually affect how we go about our day-to-day lives?"

Q. Will the Government be able to use it to follow our movements online?
A. Authentication is done by trusted third parties and data will not be held centrally by the Government.

Even if they were, surely people who aren't doing anything wrong won't have anything to worry about?

On the other hand, I would have thought that one of the biggest benefits to having online ID would be to get into clubs or go abroad just using your phone (essentially an online passport or driving license) but I couldn't find anything to suggest that this would be possible with the new scheme...

Another BIGGIE, I almost forgot to add, from the reliable source posted above.

When Do We Get our DNA back?

Our report on the DNA Database highlighted how the database has continued to grow in recent years, and that despite the passage of the Protection of Freedoms Act innocent people still have no timetable for when their DNA will be removed from the database.

Their still holding on to it with a vice grip!

Well, unfortunately having acquired my very first police caution a few month back, I'm exempt from this, as they can hold on to mine for as long as they want.. HOWEVER, they had my DNA long before I was cautioned anyway, for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I was promptly released, but YOU DONT GET YOUR DNA BACK.

Join the fight to reclaim your rights, please visit this link and right to your local MP.

I WANT MY DNA BACK

Originally posted by Fazza!
I'm going to go against the grain here and ask "is this really that bad? Is it actually going to affect how we go about our day-to-day lives?"

Q. Will the Government be able to use it to follow our movements online?
A. Authentication is done by trusted third parties and data will not be held centrally by the Government.

Even if they were, surely people who aren't doing anything wrong won't have anything to worry about?

I would have thought that one of the biggest benefits to having online ID would be to get into clubs or go abroad just using your phone (essentially an online passport or driving license) but I couldn't find anything to suggest that this would be possible with the new scheme...

edit on 13/10/2012 by Fazza! because: (no reason given)

Well, it would actually SPEED UP your daily tasks in your day to day life..

BUT it will come back and bite you in the butt

As long as your not planning on becoming a construction worker, a demonstrator, or as long as you never litter you'll be fine ... New terrorism laws have granted the council supreme rights to plant cameras in your garden pots to see if you throw a fag nub or a wrapper in the street aha.

Sounds silly to say your social media sites like Facebook or twitter can be used to prove who you are. I don't have those.


I'm trying to apply for my British passport right now. I'm in Canada, and was surprised I have to go through Washington, D.C. for this. All british citizens living in North America have to.
UK in the USA I used the British embassy in Vancouver before.

While setting this up, of course 911 has changed all the documents required. I have to get a long form birth certificate now. The one i currently have is good for nothing now. Had to get other ID with all the new tech. My really old blue passport means I must do new application, it's not a renewal. It's so they can do background checks it says, which ok fine I get it. I found it odd that I no longer need my document proving I'm a legal resident of Canada. That was an absolute must before. I once got held for hours by US. customs because I didn't bring it to cross their border. They said it has to be inside my passport, but now they say it doesn't. Either way, they will get you to renew all your ID to be high tech chipped. I didn't want the new BCID card, but somebody stole it so I have no choice. I would advise updating any ID you need before more rules come along. I had happily been hanging on to the old ID cards, even though it got mocked for being so old. I just hadn't updated my passport before 911. I guess I need a PR card next, maybe this replaces my proof of residency, landed immigrant document.

Originally posted by riffer841

Awesome post, thanks highlighting this & putting it altogether so concisely. Real interesting stuff! If you have a group of people demonstrating in the Midlands area I'd like to know how to join up and join in?

Sure, I'll U2U you additional info needed in a few hours time

reply to post by Fazza!

A. Authentication is done by trusted third parties and data will not be held centrally by the Government.

Trusted third parties ....... really

The same ones that sell your phone numbers to the cold callers that plague us that somehow cannot be filtered out.

I think you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Edit

Like Sinny says. What will you do later down the line when they decide you have done something wrong and they turn your cards off?

reply to post by Sinny


Thanks for raising this.

I.D cards is something the last administration were so intent on brining in prior to the financial collapse, but then the costs spiralled and we ran out of money and other things became a priority.

When the coalition came to power, this was something that was dismissed by them, but as you have pointed out it has stealthily wrangled its way in. I guess that way awareness is limited, therefore resistance limited.

Council And Police Collaborate for Covert Surveillance IN YOUR HOME

As reported on the front page of today’s Cambridge News, a report to Cambridge city council, to be discussed next week, highlights how the Council signed off on an operation to install hidden CCTV cameras in the home of a resident, despite not having the legal authority to do so

This is why the police do have the power to install hidden cameras – and in this case it should have been the police investigating, not the council. While the Protection of Freedoms Act will now require a council seeks a magistrate’s approval for Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act operation, other public authorities will not.

Big Bro

reply to post by Cobaltic1978
Agreed. We are supposed to be so afraid of identity theft that we bundle up all the info we can and give it to some unelected body to look after.

That sounds so sensible

Please don't forget to be POLITE online

The Communications Act 2003 makes it an offence to send a communication using a public electronic communications network if that communication is “grossly offensive”. In this case the Chief Crown Prosecutor for Wales, Jim Brisbane, concluded that on full analysis of the context and circumstances the message was not deemed to be so grossly offensive that criminal charges were sought.

www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk...

Now, now, now... I know things such as Cyber Bullying have become the new norm, and we should be able to protect kids and such.. but these terms such as “grossly offensive" can be interpreted in how many ways, and by how many people?

I read up on a guy who had to go to court for writing to his council saying "When are these Gypsies going to move on?" etc etc...

He got pulled for the word "Gypsie", not being funny, but thats what they are, and it's the name they have been known by for longer than I've been born.

STOP CYBER BULLYING, NOT COMMON SENSE.

reply to post by Sinny


Thats awesome, thankyou
Very much appreciated

reply to post by colin42


I doubt that they would turn the cards off for any petty misdemeanors. However, if there was a penalty for certain poor behaviour it might discourage people from bending the rules in the first place.

I appreciate that this way of looking at it is not too popular but I feel it adds to the discussion and hopefully gives people a chance to see things from a different point of view