UK Government 'Using Fear as a Weapon to Erode Civil Liberties'

Government 'using fear as a weapon to erode civil liberties'

Britain on brink of becoming database police state, speakers tell Convention on Modern Liberty.

"There is a general feeling that in creating a climate of fear people have been writing a blank cheque to government. People feel the fear of terrorism is being used to take away a lot of rights." [said the human rights lawyer, Helena Kennedy].

[Kennedy] said voters were anxious that their communities were "being alienated" by the use of powers that were originally designed to protect national security but were now being used outside that remit. Now was the time for the electorate to make its feelings known to government, before the next election.

She said: "People are fearful of the general business of collecting too much information about individuals".

High on the list of concerns of many at the convention were the recent allegations against the British security services by the Guantànamo Bay torture victim Binyam Mohamed, plans for ID cards, DNA databases and surveillance powers being used by civil servants as well as the government.

February 28, 2009

for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/28/civil-liberties-government-law-courts