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Snoopers' charter: Clegg gets it right Snoopers' charter: Clegg gets it right
(5 months later)
After suffering fierce criticism for his support of secret courts in the justice and security bill, the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has done something to retrieve his party's liberal credentials with the decision to oppose the introduction of the communications data bill, which would have allowed government, its agencies and police unlimited access to data from everyone's phone calls, emails, texts and web use.After suffering fierce criticism for his support of secret courts in the justice and security bill, the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has done something to retrieve his party's liberal credentials with the decision to oppose the introduction of the communications data bill, which would have allowed government, its agencies and police unlimited access to data from everyone's phone calls, emails, texts and web use.
The bill, sent back to the Home Office for redrafting last year, will not now form part of the Queen's speech, because the Liberal Democrat leader says it gives disproportionate powers to the state. In truth, it was hard to see how he could have done anything else. The bill was meeting with much greater opposition in his own party than even the justice and security bill.The bill, sent back to the Home Office for redrafting last year, will not now form part of the Queen's speech, because the Liberal Democrat leader says it gives disproportionate powers to the state. In truth, it was hard to see how he could have done anything else. The bill was meeting with much greater opposition in his own party than even the justice and security bill.
The jailing of 11 men, who planned to create havoc in their home city of Birmingham with rucksack bombs, is a reminder of the threat we face – as well as the exemplary work of police and MI5 in disrupting the plot – but mass surveillance of the kind proposed is not the answer in a free society.The jailing of 11 men, who planned to create havoc in their home city of Birmingham with rucksack bombs, is a reminder of the threat we face – as well as the exemplary work of police and MI5 in disrupting the plot – but mass surveillance of the kind proposed is not the answer in a free society.
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