@ Various
@ AC 15:57
"The BBC reports this as "UK surveillance plan to go ahead". Who's agenda are they serving?"
Well now, let's see. Whose agenda would the state-run national broadcasting agency be serving? Hmmm...
@ AC 16:07
"A recent book on the NSA's record is that it isn't that good at picking up obvious warning signs (e.g. 911, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Vietnam war, etc). Scrapping might not be such a bad thing."
Chaff. As has been said a zillion times before, automated flagging systems can be made useless if enough people are willing to pepper their communications with enough trigger words and phrases.
@ AC 16:42
"Um... CLITORISA?!?"
What a lovely name. Is it Italian?
@ AC 17:10
"Why exactly is there a need to extend these existing powers?"
There isn't. There hasn't been a need to extend any of the powers that have been extended since 2001. They're doing it because they have an excuse to stir up hysteria and frighten the population shitless about terrorists and paedophiles and all that other bunk... But the legislation for dealing with these things has been more than adequate for decades. Everything a terrorist could do has been covered by existing law: every new 'anti-terror' law introduced since 9/11 has been surplus to requirements, and intended more for the control than the safety of the population.
@ bluest.one
"So the cops won't have two years worth of previous comms data to trawl through ready and waiting for them at their convenience. Tough!"
I imagine that quite a lot of 'cops' ('coppers' in Britain, no matter what GMP and the Met might prefer to call themselves) are breathing a sigh of relief that they won't have to trawl through two years' worth of inane babbling bullshit every time someone's accused of something. Many people seem to imagine that what ACPO wants the average street bobby also wants. I can only assume that these people have never experienced a management structure.
@ AC 18:09
"Crime is out of control despite how they fudge the numbers."
It's not 'out of control' by any measure. That's The Sun talking. Crime is of concern, yes, and it can have a serious effect on those who experience it. And yes, some areas are worse than others. But there are plenty of places in the world you could go if you want to see what crime looks like when it's *really* 'out of control'.