Here are my top five ideas so far:

• Repeal the Digital Economy Act (see also Coadec’s duplicate idea)
• Abolish the party whips
• Controls on mass surveillance (e.g. ANPR systems)
• Abolish CRB checks
• Repeal the Third Law of Thermodynamics(!) (also, this)

If you’ve spotted any other good ones, please link them in the comments.

I thought it would be interesting to compare the contents of the Liberal Democrat Freedom Bill with the new Government’s version:

What do I conclude from this comparison? That the Government’s outline proposals are a massive step in the right direction however there is still more work to do.

1. Scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity register, the next generation of biometric passports and the ContactPoint Database.
2. Outlaw the finger-printing of children at school without parental permission.
3. Extend the scope of the Freedom of Information Act to provide greater transparency.
4. Adopt the Scottish approach to stopping retention of innocent people’s DNA on the DNA database.
5. Defend trial by jury.
6. Restore rights to non-violent protest.
7. A review of libel laws to protect freedom of speech.
8. Safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.
9. Further regulation of CCTV.
10. Ending of storage of internet and email records without good reason.
11. A new mechanism to prevent the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences.
12. End the detention of children for immigration purposes.

Oh my!

As a digital- and civil-rights campaigner this list fills my heart with joy. The successful passage of this Bill through Parliament would not end the need to champion human rights in the digital era* however it would be a famous victory for that cause: we could say with certainty that this election, that the ousting of Labour from Government, was the point at which the high-water mark of authoritarian social policy in Britain was reached.

Some fellow campaigners have today urged caution and are reserving judgement until the details of the Bill are published. I cannot fault them for their cynicism however I am filled with hope that today we have seen not only the dawn of a new politics in Britain, but a new era of liberty, freedom, privacy and respect for human rights in the UK.

I shall be raising my glass to the death of ID cards and the Database State tonight!

* Three omissions stand out: repeal clauses 11-18 of the Digital Economy Act; make the NHS Summary Care Record opt-in rather than opt-out; end the Vetting and Barring scheme, abolish the Independent Safeguarding Authority and reform CRB checks to make them fair. It’s possible that these will be included in the detail of the Bill.

British civil liberties have been dismantled systematically since 2001. The National Identity Register, biometric passports, the NHS spine, Contactpoint and the Vetting and Barring Scheme are just a few of the most egregious privacy invasions we have suffered.

Our every move is watched with suspicion by the authorities. ANPR systems record every journey we make. Video and audio Surveillance Systems (SS) watch us in every public space and many private ones too. Thousands of public bodies abuse their RIP Act powers to spy on us for trivial reasons. The police can stop us and search us arbitrarily, and they keep “pre-crime” databases on the innocent. Our private communications are monitored, analysed and recorded both by the Government and private companies.

Yet often MPs want one rule for us and another for them. The children of MPs can be “shielded” on ContactPoint to protect their privacy – but ours can’t. Very few MPs have an ID card even though ministers have been doing everything in their power to coerce the public into “volunteering” for them. Many MPs voted to exempt themselves from the Freedom of Information Act, to protect their “privacy”, whilst passing laws that erode ours.

When it comes to liberty in Britain today, all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. This hypocrisy has to end and the systematic assault on our civil liberties must be reversed.

The Power2010 campaign is conducting a letter writing campaign asking Prospective Parliamentary Candidates to:

…commit that, if you are elected, you will vote to repeal the Identity Cards Act 2006 and will defend our privacy as fiercely as you would defend your own and that of your family.

The above reproduces what I sent to Sheffield Central PPCs. You can take part in the campaign here.

In a masterful display of political and media manoeuvring the Guardian led a charge of the blog-brigade against an injunction preventing the newspaper from reporting Parliamentary proceedings relating to the case. In a classic example of the Streisand effect at work, Web 2.0 denizens incensed by the affront to democracy that the injunction represented spread the story far-and-wide, through social-networking sites and blog posts. Parliamentarians picked up on the story and grumblings were heard in the corridors of power. The Liberal Democrats asked the Speaker to call the Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, to the commons to answer MPs’ questions in an emergency debate. Meanwhile the Guardian petitioned the High Court for an immediate hearing to challenge the injunction. In the face of this onslaught, Carter-Ruck caved, allowing the Guardian to publish full details of the controversy.

There is now a petition on the 10 Downing Street website calling for the freedom of the press to report Parliamentary business to be enshrined unequivocally in law. At the time of writing it had attracted over 500 signatures. Documents relating to the case are also available on Wikileaks.

The BBC is reporting on how the Twitterverse toppled the court injunction. While gag orders are effective on mainstream media outlets it seems many blog owners don’t feel bound by the rules. Perhaps this is because individual bloggers don’t consider themselves to be part of the media, or perhaps it’s because there is safety in numbers: surely the high court can’t act against so many disparate individuals and against such weight of public opinion?

There is a legitimate public interest in the details of such cases, and it is regrettable that powerful private interests are able to manipulate the justice system to protect themselves from scrutiny, criticism and the potential consequences of their actions. That’s why press freedom should be protected by legislation rather than having to rely on a scatter-gun public Internet defence. This is especially true of the freedom to report Parliamentary business, without which expenses abuse by MPs went unchecked for years, and Trafigura nearly got away with covering up its despicable behaviour.

I have written to my MP about this issue. Here’s an extract from my letter:

It is particularly worrying that the injunction was served at the behest of commercial litigants in order to hide their activities from appropriate public scrutiny. Such gagging orders are an abuse of legal process and run counter to hard-won democratic principles that date back centuries.

The public has the right to know the activities of its representatives within Parliament. The absolute right of the media to report the proceedings of both Houses, at all times and without restriction, should be enshrined in law.

I urge you to introduce an Early-Day Motion calling for legislation to put beyond doubt, and beyond the influence of the judiciary, the freedom of the press to report on Parliament.

Take action: Sign the petition now and let your MP know what you think too.