Sheep magazine Archive 2: issues 10-17

The bill will allow the Government to hand UK tech firms top-secret
notices to hack their customers; the police will be able to look at your
internet browsing history, and your personal data will be tied together so
the state can find out if you’ve attended a protest, who your friends are,
and where you live. The most authoritarian piece of spying legislation any
democratic government has ever proposed has sped through Parliament
with only a whimper of opposition.
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What makes this all the more incredible is that some of the most
prominent and respected voices for liberty will abstain from voting this
draconian legislation down. The Investigatory Powers Bill, a Snooper’s
Charter, is the canary in the coal mine for our diseased democracy.
Shami Chakrabarti spent 13 years as Britain’s most prominent
human rights defender. Just six months ago, she told the media that
the Government ‘must return to the drawing board’ with its illiberal
Investigatory Powers Bill, because to do anything else would show
‘dangerous contempt for parliament, democracy and our country’s
security’.
Jeremy Corbyn, in his column for the Morning Star, denounced the
extension of state surveillance rushed through parliament two years
ago, describing it as a ‘travesty of parliamentary democracy’ and
praising Liberty (then run by Shami Chakrabarti) for lobbying MPs
to oppose it. Diane Abbott agreed, writing in June this year that
this ‘Snoopers’ Charter will target minorities – and do nothing to make us
safer’.
SHEEP IN THE ROAD : NUMBER 16