And they mostly won't be using these powers to fight terrorism.
Like RIPA they will use it in ways that it was never openly stated, like, say 'Benefit Fraud'. A friend of mine who is quite disabled and has been on the highest level of DLA for a number of years, suddenly had all his benefits stopped and was accused of fraud. The reason? A payment of £5000 into his bank account took him over the £6K allowed savings limit. It took 2 months and a huge amount of stress (for someone who is already ill) to get things sorted. That is 2 months without any income. And the 5K? That was the money to bury his father from his estate. It was only in his account for a week. Aside from the fact that the Department of Works and Pensions couldn't be arsed to simply enquire into the matter before trying to starve him to death, he was curious as to how they knew his affairs so precipitously. I guess that RIPA is being used to justify (and by the looks of it, automate) access to claimant's bank accounts. And before the Daily Mail readers cry 'and a Good Thing too', I hope you are prepared to justify every transaction in your bank account because as sure as shit, HMRC will have justified a similar intrusion into everyone's affairs. Still, what's a bit of freedom and privacy in the fight against Terror?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
