Richard's Kingdom

Jacquie Smith is to step down as Secretary of State for the Home Department in the cabinet reshuffle that Gordon Brown is planning to make after the European elections on Thursday.
While the door to the Home Secretary’s office has revolved ever more rapidly since 2001 the authoritarian brief of its occupants has hardly wavered.
Somewhere in [...]

Last week reports surfaced that GCHQ – the UK signals intelligence agency – is developing the type of Internet spying capability Jacquie Smith had previously announced would not be built by the Home Office. It would be easy to infer a cynical deception by the government, however GCHQ issued a denial, stating that – unlike [...]

Yesterday I travelled to London to hear Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross talk about resisting the all-seeing eye of the state, private business, and nosy individuals. The event promised to discuss practical measures to protect privacy:
With the rise of the database state and firms profiting from user-profiling, it’s vital to resist surveillance and ensure the [...]

The main purpose of the CCTV panopticon this country has become is not to prevent crime, nor to detect it, nor to prosecute it after the fact, but simply to keep an eye on people. This Guardian report on an underground spy centre in London must surely dispel the doubts of any remaining believers to [...]

I was saddened to read this letter, dated 20 August 2007, on the problems being caused by the intrusive, interventionist and illiberal social care policies this government has introduced.
Wouldn’t it be better if social workers, teachers, the police, healthcare professionals and others in public service were empowered to build respectful, constructive relationships with their clients, [...]