England’s computer privacy rights totally screwed

It’s one thing to have a camera shoved up your ass where ever you go in England but that doesn’t appear to be good enough for the powers that be in England; or the European Union. According to a report in the Times Online today the English Home Office has very quietly (I wonder why) adopted a new plan that will allow police across Britain to routinely hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant.

Without a warrant!

WTF England – why are you putting up with this shit. How much more are you going to take from your government and the loss of any sense of individual privacy or rights? No longer are your e-mails, your web browsing habits or your instant messages yours alone. No .. now your government through the police can at anytime through their discretion; or on behalf of other EU police forces, invade your personal computer.

Under a fresh Brussels decision the police across the EU have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a rarely used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private property. This strategy will allow French, German and other EU forces to ask British officers to hack into someone’s UK computer and pass along any information they find there.

It only takes a senior officer’s approval as long as that officer believes that it is proportionate and necessary to prevent or detect a serious crime – which would mean any crime that would get you three years or more in jail.

England may be the country of my birth but it sure as hell isn’t a country I would ever want to return to anymore – not even for a visit.