The UK is heading toward a police state

British author and former journalist Henry Porter writes on privacy in the Observer.

He�s spot on about the incredibly rapid deterioration of civil liberties in the UK.

The argument for social control goes like this: if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear from a national data bank of identity/the terrorism act/the tapping of MPs' phones/the use of the public-order act to control protest and limit free expression/the new powers of arrest/the retention of DNA samples taken from innocent juveniles.

�Make no mistake - we are wiring up for the police state.

Link here via Catherine.

As I continue to repeat, the fear of real or perceived threats has historically been the justification for the biggest assaults on civil liberties.

Furthermore, I�m truly shocked and concerned by what has been happening over in the UK. It�s not only the privacy issues. For example, just glance through the UK section of overlawyered.com. There�s just an extraordinary encroachment of government into people�s lives, under the guise of �safety� and �security� and political correctness � everything from nursery children being made to stay inside, to cutting down fruit trees (so people won�t slip on falling fruit), to having novelty calendars banned. The list is long. Trust me.

Ironically, I�d be scared to live over there. Really. I�d probably be arrested for blogging something in violation of some ridiculous rule.

How�s that for feeling �safe� and �secure�?

Alex Eckelberry