Recent Articles

The ‘porn-block’ plans are being pushed through: tell the govt you’re opposed

Liberal Conspiracy has been tracking the “opt out” government porn filters campaign.

It started with Mary Whitehouse’s Safer Media, then Christian groups, Claire Perry and the Daily Mail; but now the policy has well and truly arrived at the heart of government.

A few months ago, the idea moved from Jeremy Hunt’s office at DCMS, which is responsible for Internet policy, to the Department for Education.
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How government snooping on web activity is coming back

Can the government tell who you are emailing? Do they know who you talk to on Facebook, or who you instant-message?

Today, the answer is no, at least not without a warrant and the co-operation of the service provider.

Soon, the answer could be ‘yes’, as the coalition has set aside £2bn in the middle of a recession for what they call “Intercept Modernisation“.
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Consumer protection is being cut, but we need it more than ever

This week, we are likely to hear that Consumer Focus – the successor to the National Consumer Council – will be abolished.

Consumer Focus are the body that campaigned alongside the Open Rights Group, which I work with, against the Digital Economy Act, so I know them very well.

They have a statutory right to talk to government, they are well-funded and have a duty to protect the most vulnerable. They are thorough, knowledgeable and have experienced staff.
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Make yourself heard on the Digital Economy bill

The government are refusing to back down. They are pressing ahead with plans which even they admit could punish innocent people: by disconnecting whole families and companies where one individual may have infringed copyright.

The music and film lobbies have portrayed copyright infringers as thieves endangering their entire industries.

They have pressed for harsh and indiscriminate punishments and persuaded Peter Mandelson that any appeals should be narrow, and focus purely on legal technicalities.

‘I didn’t do it’ will be no defence: if somebody else seems to have shared copyright content on your account, that will be your problem. You will be punished.
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Statebook: because knowledge is power

How much data is held about you by government? Who can get hold of it? What else do they want to know about? And what do we need to do to stop it?

There are a growing number of large government databases. You’re on them. You probably don’t know who might look at that information, how safe the data is or if the databases themselves might contravene your rights.

That’s why Open Rights Group has launched a new spoof Statebook tries to show, based on the JRRT / FIPR Database State report.

Above all though, we want you to act: the next big project, Intercept Modernisation (IMP), will be on the cards in the next few months, will further threaten your rights. IMP is about amassing even more of your communications data, and making it easier to access and analyse– possibly by placing the data in one enormous state database of your email traffic, phone calls, VIP and Facebook messages.

The tide is turning on civil liberties: across the political spectrum, people have had enough. Clause 152 showed enormous public concern, and the government backed down. Visit the site, and take a first step to stop more snooping on the internet by emailing your MP.

Stop storage of your web data!

You may have read that email and internet phone information now has to be stored by your internet provider. The new law – promoted and pushed in the EU by the UK government – is a first step before they try to change how they can ‘intercept’ your communications.

You can help build the campaign to stop this, firstly by inviting all your friends to our Facebook campaigning group. Secondly, sign the No 10 petition if you haven’t done so already. We need to stop this!

Why Digital Britain could be bad for you

Digital Britain is one of those government initiatives that might provoke a degree of cynicism, since it comes at a point when many people are not expecting the authors to hold power for much longer.

Both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have criticised it as being unambitious in its headline conclusions about broadband roll out.

But that’s not the only thing about this report that should be worrying you.
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