Saturday 28 February 2009

The crisis of liberty.

The first plenary session is underway, which at the moment isn’t very coherent[1] but is full of good atmosphere'. interestingly despite even the conference organisers playing to the stereotype that the audience was a bunch of tree-hugging vegetarian Guardian readers the Conservative MP got a good response. You can probably guess what Helena Kennedy said, all good.

The gentleman now speaking is trying to persuade us that all of this database state stuff is about making life easier for us, he has already said he doesn’t believe one big database would actually bring the ‘managerial efficiencies’ that others are claiming, but he then goes on to hide behind the idea that everyone else is asking for our data so why shouldn’t the government. Luckily before he was lynched Georgina Henry pointed out you can’t be fined or put in jail for refusing to fill in the survey attached to subscribing to a magazine.

Now we are coming back to the questions raised  by Dominic Grieve and Helena Kennedy about what is in the water at the home office. Ken Macdonald is starting with some justification about how those in security and crime based ministries get the chapter and verse on the worst case every morning and then set out to try and protect everyone and this is what leads to the disproportionate measures that have been brought in by the last several governments.

[1]OK apart from Mr Database state, it has now pulled together.

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