How to Stop Bureaucratic Prejudice and Official Intrusion

Katesgrove Councillor Warren Swaine (LibDem) has written on his personal blog to express his outrage at a piece of legislation currently being pushed through parliament which would dramatically increase powers of intrusion into personal information by commercial operations.

The No2ID campaign has forcefully stated that it represents "a direct threat".

The offensive amendment to the Data Protection Act is hidden deep within (clause 152) the inoffensively named 'Coroners and Justice Bill'.

Cllr Swaine says that power introduced to "combat serious crime and terrorism, [was] then allowed... to be used by local councils to snoop on schools admission applications" - and not least this alone.

We should at this point remember the famous remark made by Thomas Jefferson: "They who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary security, will receive neither liberty nor security."

If you have any feelings on the matter whatsoever it is worth contacting your MP to urge them to clarify their position on the matter as they are paid from the taxes collected from the public to speak on your behalf - it it their job to represent you.

It is clearly a slippery slope we are standing on and we should be concerned that well-intentioned holders of public office will push us all the way down the slope and over the cliff at the end of it - if they do the consequences will be far-reaching and hard to reverse.

Whatever position your MP holds on this issue (or any other matter) Cllr Swaine is however mistaken that anybody need waste the price of a stamp in contacting your Representative in Parliament - due to the wonder of interconnectivity enabled by the internet.

WriteToThem is an excellent public resource which enables you keep in contact - it is both simple and easy to use (I provide a standing link on my sidebar) and I urge everybody to take advantage of it.