[doc_holliday]

Yes, the lack of outrage is worrying to say the least.

What I find very disturbing is the response I've got from some people in regards to signing the petition against the legislation.

"I don't want to sign that, I will probably end up on some watchlist".

This is incredible, to admit this you are basically admitting that we no longer live in a free democracy. If you cannot sign a petition regarding basic civil liberties without ending up on a watchlist then you do not live in a free democracy. Upon me telling them this, I am usually then greeted with a shrug.

[cantagi]

Good point. Whenever I post about the snoopers charter, I even have friends jumping in arguing that it's a good idea and that it's necessary in order to protect us from terrorists and pedophiles. As hypocritical and intellectually lazy as it sounds, I delete their comments.

[iamben]

If your friends are reasonably bright/open to discussion, but are making the "I have nothing to hide, so why should I worry" argument, and their genuine fear is terrorists blowing up their kids - I've had a little success with the "You might not have anything to hide, but others may." Then remind them that some people may be hiding things for good reason (fear of ostracisation/violence/death) as a result of social or religious reasons, and that if a list like this become public it could seriously affect _other people's_ lives, has sometimes made people take note. Obviously you have to choose your argument carefully.

[artofcode]

In The Netherlands nobody had anything to hide, like the Jews around WW2. It was all neatly recorded who was a Jew and made things a whole lot easier for the Germans once they got their hands on the records after they invaded.

People might not have anything to hide now, but things can change... fast.

[iamben]

Yeah. My point exactly.

[dasboth]

Even if you believe it's a necessary evil in principle, the implementation is bad enough to want to be against this particular law. The list of agencies who could gain access is laughable and there's nothing that fills me with confidence about ISPs storing people's browsing history with proper security. Three and TalkTalk have both had massive data breaches recently, and I have precisely zero confidence that there won't be a huge data breach/leak in the next few years.

[brokenmachine]

Hopefully the knee-jerk reaction to the inevitable massive leak will put this law where it belongs.

[k-mcgrady]

I'm vehemently against this legislation - but I also did not sign the official petition. One reason was that, yes I might end up on some list. I believe that risk is very small but the reward potential of signing the petition is effectively zero so why bother taking the risk? The bill had no real opposition so what use is a debate going to be, especially when all it now requires is royal assent (Edit: Just saw that happened yesterday, fuck). A debate would have been useful 12 months ago.

At this stage the important thing is to have it go through the courts and have them stop it. Hopefully, as long as we're still in the EU, the ECJ can do something to at least water this bill down. At the very least I would like to see the requirement for Internet Connection Records to be held for everyone to be removed. I don't like the ability for 12 months of data to be collected with a warrant but at least there is some process there and some oversight.

[dasboth]

I couldn't understand that either. The thought of getting on a watchlist didn't even cross my mind, which might be naive although I'm cynical enough to at least entertain the possibility now it's been brought up. Ultimately though I'll keep acting like we're a free democracy, signing petitions against laws I don't agree with etc., until proven otherwise.

[worutuwoeriuo]

that's because it's meaningless. they're doing all this and more already and this is just to make it official. signing a petition wont change a single thing. you can safely assume that legal or not all your traffic is monitored and stored forever and that's not going to change ever.