Re: Funny how everyone points at the Tories doing all kinds of shenanigans...
... And then it's a Labour MP who pulls this stunt. Oh, yes, and we know who put some of the original surveillance laws in place too... It wasn't the blue party either.
Putting aside the discussion of what colour weasel came up with this, the proposals aren't inherently bad. In their current form, they are unworkable for some pretty obvious reasons. However, the problem of online terrorist material isn't going to go away without some form of action.
Assuming you don't believe in a total libertarian world, where everything is permitted, and free speech has no bounds, there have to be laws about what you are not permitted to say. (The archetypical example is the freedom to shout 'fire' in a crowded venue - it is not infringing freedom of speech to make causing mass panic a crime).
With the advent of youtube et al it has become trivially easy to publish terrorist material, and indeed criminal material of all types. There is no real argument about whether it is harmful to society, so someone has to tackle it. It follows that it should be incumbent on the content providers to take down material that has been flagged as illegal. The technicality comes in how, and by whom, this flagging takes place, and what oversight there is of the removal process to ensure it is not abused, as well as the question of what recourse someone has if their material is wrongly removed. The big players (Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc.) have not come up with any sensible suggestions as far as I know, hence these proposals. Bear in mind that they are, currently, at the committee stage, prior to a white paper, and prior to any debate in parliament. Whilst it is entirely correct to be concerned about the potential impact on civil liberties, it might be a bit premature for those concerns to be substantial. Right now, I'd be more concerned about the likes of May being on record as wanting to get rid of the ECHR.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
