Just like gun legislation, politicians never let an opportunity...

[The Heretic]

to grab more power go to waste:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/16/david-cameron-signals-inv_n_8573922.html

The Tories' data surveillance bill could be fast-tracked into law in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, David Cameron has signalled.

The Investigatory Powers Bill – which will give security agencies sweeping new powers to collect web and phone records – is currently not expected to become law until 2017 at the earliest.

It is all about moving towards totalitarianism - slowly but surely - in the name of "security".

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[etrain16]

That's a tough one. People demand their government do more to fight terrorism, but also fear overreach while doing so. I am still curious where we can draw the line between personal liberty and privacy and the search for terrorists. I don't think we can have complete autonomy in our private lives while expecting the government to spot these folks.

So where does that leave us? I think the big problem is that the government collects, processes and stores the information. They own it from beginning to end - and they don't exactly give us good reason to trust they won't abuse that power. What I'm curious about is if it would be feasible to create citizen oversight groups that would be present through the process. They would require special training, clearance and, with possibly a few exceptions, full access to the data as well as what is done with it. They would be managed by someone other than the government.

But even if such a group could exist, what options could there be for the sneaky buggers in the government to work around them?

It's all a big mess. I want my privacy, but I also expect my government to do its duty to protect me from those types of threats. What is the solution?

 

[mkwerx]

Stop the surveilance state. Give us back our uninfringed right to keep and bear arms - everyfruckinwhere - and warn the american people that their security is squarely their own responsibility and not the governments. We The People will get our collective crap together pdq.

 

[jluck]

European "Patriot Act".

 

[Stomper]

Phhpptt.... It'd be a grand start if they'd stop strip searching 80yr old white ladies in wheelchairs and 10yr old Girl Scouts at the airport, while they wave through burka clad individuals without so much as looking past the burka clad photo in their passports...