On last week's "Question Time" (Still available on the BBC's iPlayer, if you're quick), the Government's proposal to keep a record of every phone call, email, blog post and text message was discussed. The usual balance of civil liberties versus national safety was bandied about, but then a curious exchange occurred.

Geoff Hoon, Minister of "what haven't I tried yet?" was asked how far the government is willing to go in undermining civil liberties in order to monitor extremists.

"To stop terrorists killing people in our society quite a long way, actually." Which suggests that record keeping may not be the limit of government plans. Certainly, suggestions have been made* that they should be able to install spyware in any computer to read its hard drive or record every keystroke made. **

"The biggest civil liberty of all is not to be killed by a terrorist," was Mr Hoon's justification. Is he right? What actions would be justified? How much liberty must we lose to guarantee our liberties?

Discuss.



* Seriously. European Interior Miniters considered the matter at a recentsymposium.
** This is the same technology that phishers use to stel your banking details. If anyone else does this, it can land you in jail.

Labels: freedom, politics