With the recent passing of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, all pretence of privacy in the UK was swept away.
Internet and phone companies are now required to store internet browsing histories and communication data for twelve months, and give a wide range of organizations access to this information.
Some people I’ve spoken to have said “so what?”
Their opinion being if you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide.
I am not a criminal, I am a law abiding citizen. And in view of that, does that give the government the right to spy on me?
They’ve probably been spying on the population for years anyway – now they’ve just made it official.

We have been de-sensitized to abuses and lies by our politicians over the years, our opinions given to us by mainstream media.

Lies and propaganda handed to us by our government, faithfully repeated by vast members of the population: “It must be true if it’s on the news….”
The irony of this situation is that a lot of people are willing to give away most of their information anyway.
Browse most genuine Facebook profiles and people will happily list where they work, their date of birth, phone number, their partners name, when and where they are going on holiday, their location at any given time, their favourite restaurant, the list goes on.
So apart from various government departments data mining Facebook profiles, this gives unscrupulous people the opportunity to socially engineer you.
For example…..
From the average Facebook profile, it is remarkably easy to uncover someone’s address, their next of kin, where they were born, and their pet’s name.
In conjunction with other information gleaned, a loan or credit card could be taken out in that person’s name.
Once you’ve built up a respectable credit history, more substantial gains could be had.
So while we are living here in the UK under the most intrusive laws in a generation, what people post on social media is not improving the situation…..
Copyright © Mark A. McPherson 2016
All rights reserved.