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posted by LaminatorX on Tuesday January 27 2015, @07:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the Parliament-of-Rooks dept.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/27/how_peers_failed_to_sneak_snoopers_charter_into_terror_bill/ El Reg reports that the controversial Snooper's Charter was again defeated when peers of the House of Lords attempted to amend it's powers into the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill in yesterday's House session.

A bewildered Lord King of Bridgwater trotted out the usual alarmist guff that Britain faced a grave and growing threat from terrorists, before adding that the law needed an overhaul to deal with access to communications data such as Snapchat and WhatsApp. Inevitably, the recent Paris atrocities were opportunistically used by the Tory peer to ram his point across. He complained that May's draft Communications Data Bill had been mothballed after it was published two-and-a-half years ago. [...] [The] Tory peer then went on to expose himself as a dunderhead by admitting he was clueless about the apps and websites that are widely used by Brits. Nonetheless, Lord King believed he could push for legislation without having the necessary knowledge to understand the implications on our privacy rights that such planned amendments to the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill posed.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair also expressed his support for dragnet surveillance of the United Kingdom, but the amendments were withdrawn during the debate. This won't be the last we see of the Snooper's Charter - Lord King said he will push for a vote in the Lords next week as the bill reaches the report stage.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 27 2015, @07:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 27 2015, @07:18PM (#138605)

    Tony Blair still not being brought to trial for war crimes?

    • (Score: 2) by emg on Tuesday January 27 2015, @08:39PM

      by emg (3464) on Tuesday January 27 2015, @08:39PM (#138625)

      Still, look at it this way. If The Antichrist himself is in favour of something, that's a pretty good sign that you should be against it.

      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Wednesday January 28 2015, @03:29AM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday January 28 2015, @03:29AM (#138732) Journal

        If The Antichrist himself is in favour of something, that's a pretty good sign that you should be against it.

        And if the Antichrist's poodle is in favour of something, well, even more reason to be against it. Especially if it is an unindicted war-criminal poodle.

  • (Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Tuesday January 27 2015, @07:22PM

    by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 27 2015, @07:22PM (#138608)

    I'm looking forward to when the current crop of tech-illiterate gasbags finally croak. Maybe then those in power might actually understand enough of technology to not make fools of themselves.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 28 2015, @05:59AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 28 2015, @05:59AM (#138765)

      Ah, but by then the technology will be different and it will be the gas bag cronies, and us, who don't understand why everyone is going on about 3Dtechnihyperwizbang.com