Huh? WTF?
I don't know if the guy is a crook or not. Frankly I don't care much one way or the other, because this case has highlighted a far bigger concern. What has "exempt from the disclosure" ... "on the grounds of national security." got to do with whatever happened in a police prison cell? ... How the hell has that got anything to do with national security?!?
So what this case is showing us is that Human Rights don't protect us from national security spying in any way. That's a wonderful way to totally throw out Human Rights and all liberty by using that blanket joker card, "its for national security".
Great so now our ever growing Police State can spy for any reason and simply claim its for national security? ... that's like the way RIPA was used to spy on rubbish dumpers and the way RIPA was used to spy on school catchment area allocation.
WTF is happening to our country. The UK once upon a time not only had a spine but was also proud to have a spine, yet now fear of Terrorists (tm) and the perpetual war against Terrorism is used like a blank cheque way to totally erode all civil liberties, in the name of safety from fear. Its the perfect cover story within which to continually creep in ever more outright totalitarian attitudes.
@"The Government explained that is has a policy of "neither confirm nor deny" which it said was important to ensure the overall effectiveness of surveillance operations."
Wonderful so now we can't be allowed to know if they are spying on us. So yes I remember that kind of thinking from the 1984 book as well. People didn't know when Big Brother was watching them, (it was never confirmed or denied when Big Brother was watching) but it didn't need to, it was simply the fear of Big Brother *maybe* watching that kept everyone in line. Fear was the tool to keep people in line. That's a common theme of totalitarian attitudes.
Example RIPA powers:
Interception of a communication, i.e. Wire taps and reading post.
Directed surveillance, i.e. Following people.
Covert human intelligence sources, i.e. Informers.
Intrusive surveillance i.e. Bugging houses/vehicles.
Yes sadly that sounds exactly like the powers of a totalitarian state. I have no problem at all with law enforcement, but when that enforcement can be twisted, subverted and abused into a way of spying on anyone at will, then its an utter abuse of power, yet that is exactly what we are increasingly getting. So on the one hand the politicians tell us its all going to be fixed, yet on the other hand we have news example after news example of how its not fixed, its actually getting ever worse and its getting worse because dozens of groups are each making their own power grabs to remorselessly exploit and abuse technology.
There has always been very good reasons why throughout history, people all around the world have tried very hard to protect their privacy, liberty and freedom from state interference. Fail to learn from history and we walk right back into the same problems again, only this time, with the power of ever better (yet ever more abused) technology, the state is becoming more powerful than at any time in history and yet the people in power have shown countless times how their kind cannot just be trusted with ever increasing power. Their actions have to be policed or they become part of the problem. Yet just about every day we have example after example news showing how its slowly getting ever worse. The pain of reading the news feels like being dragged inextricably into an utter nightmare totalitarian world. What the hell is happening to our world. :(