[Anonymouse]

Originally Posted by Fawkes

They are not interested in anything we type here but that’s not the point.

I wouldn't be too sure of that. Hi, Echelon!

Originally Posted by Fawkes

We should not be prepared to accept this level of intrusion into our personal lives from afar.

I agree entirely; it throws the most fundamental principle of justice - presumed innocent until proven guilty - in the bin. But my question is this:

Since they're the ones in power, making the rules and the laws, how the bloody hell can we stop them?!

And please don't naively say 'We can vote them out' - two problems with that: 1) Until the General Election comes up we can't, so what happens in the meantime? 2) Who's to say the next lot will be any better? I'm not holding my breath.

What's the use of using VPN for everything? They'll just take that as an excuse to say 'Ooh, what's he got to hide, then?' - failing to understand, as the last several UK governments have failed to understand, that there is a qualitative difference between a desire for privacy and having something to hide! Next thing you know, using any secure communication method will be outlawed to all but the powers that be. Oh, they'd love that, wouldn't they? I wouldn't put anything past them. In the US, for example, the NSA's atttitude seems to be that no-one except the US Government, i.e. they themselves, should be allowed to use encryption. Criminal suspects are required by law to surrender encryption keys...yet there's no mention of the good old Fifth Amendment.
Newsflash, peeps: this has NOTHING, NOTHING WHATSOEVER, to do with terrorism, and it never did! They have read 1984 and seen it not as a warning, but as an instruction manual!

Mertle asked 'what are they scared of' - the answer's very simple: their own citizens.

I only wish we had the power to give them a reason to be scared,

Once again I note in passing as a precautionary measure that I do not intend to disappear at any time in the near future.