“the notion of total security is a paranoid fantasy which would destroy everything that makes living worthwhile”
Sir Ken McDonald, former director of public prosecutions quoted in today’s Guardian talking about the Home Secretary’s plans to introduce measures designed to seriously reduce personal liberty in Britain:
“‘Authorisations for access might be written into statute. The most senior ministers and officials might be designated as scrutineers. But none of this means anything,’ said Macdonald. ‘All history tells us that reassurances like these are worthless in the long run. In the first security crisis the locks would loosen.’”
…
“‘The tendency of the state to seek ever more powers of surveillance over its citizens may be driven by protective zeal. But the notion of total security is a paranoid fantasy which would destroy everything that makes living worthwhile. We must avoid surrendering our freedom as autonomous human beings to such an ugly future. We should make judgments that are compatible with our status as free people.’”
Short of explicitly calling for mass protests on the streets, I’m not sure what else Ken McDonald can do to stir the politically lazy, apathetic population of the UK. We’ve been warned by enough senior figures, most of us studied history at school, and we have our common sense. The rest is up to us.
Tags: authoritarianism, databaseCulture, liberty, politics