Big Brother (No, Not That One!)
23.06.2008
A neighbour of mine went downstairs at 5.30am one day last week to scare off what he assumed was a cat going through his rubbish … imagine his surprise, then, when he opened the door to find someone equipped with clipboard and pen, carefully sifting through the rubbish and recycling and making notes!
I presume that this nosey-parker was in the employ of the local council, but don’t know for sure as the man scuttled off when asked what his game was.
It’s a fair guess, however, that it was a council official, as this is the sort of activity undertaken by councils across the country – but for how much longer? The Local Government Association chairman Sir Simon Milton has written to councils warning against overzealous use of the powers. He was interviewed on the Today programme earlier and explained he’s worried that if councils continue to use the powers afforded to them under anti-terrorism legislation in this manner, then the powers will be taken away from them.
Personally, I think that surveillance activities should always be authorised by a judge. It’s quite wrong that some junior official sat in the local town hall should be able, with a stroke of his/her pen, to arrange this sort of snooping.
It’s also a warning sign, if you need it: I doubt that those people who thought that the legislation was a good thing - and that ‘there’s nothing to worry about if you’ve nothing to hide’ -ever imagined for a moment that their local councils would be secretly filming them as they walked their dogs or placing their entire family under surveillance during the school run.
I presume that this nosey-parker was in the employ of the local council, but don’t know for sure as the man scuttled off when asked what his game was.
It’s a fair guess, however, that it was a council official, as this is the sort of activity undertaken by councils across the country – but for how much longer? The Local Government Association chairman Sir Simon Milton has written to councils warning against overzealous use of the powers. He was interviewed on the Today programme earlier and explained he’s worried that if councils continue to use the powers afforded to them under anti-terrorism legislation in this manner, then the powers will be taken away from them.
Personally, I think that surveillance activities should always be authorised by a judge. It’s quite wrong that some junior official sat in the local town hall should be able, with a stroke of his/her pen, to arrange this sort of snooping.
It’s also a warning sign, if you need it: I doubt that those people who thought that the legislation was a good thing - and that ‘there’s nothing to worry about if you’ve nothing to hide’ -ever imagined for a moment that their local councils would be secretly filming them as they walked their dogs or placing their entire family under surveillance during the school run.
