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from the keeping-tabs-on-everything dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
A petition to Parliament requesting the repeal of the Investigatory Powers Act has received the 100,000 signatures required to make Parliament "consider" debating the issue.
Although the Investigatory Powers Act doesn't actually exist at the moment — it remains a Bill of Parliament which will not become an Act until it achieves royal assent — the deep unpopularity of the surveillance legislation has already provoked over 100,000 people to sign a petition against it.
This means it meets the threshold for Parliament to "consider" debating its proposition, though in practice debates are rarely carried out resulting from such petitions, and the repeal of the Investigatory Powers Act is ultimately extremely unlikely.
Created by someone calling themselves Tom Skillinger, and titled "Repeal the new Surveillance laws (Investigatory Powers Act)" the petition described the legislation as "an absolute disgrace to both privacy and freedom".
Skillinger wrote:
"With this bill, they will be able to hack, read and store any information from any citizen's computer or phone, without even the requirement of proof that the citizen is up to no good."
"This essentially entitles them to free reign [sic] of your files, whether you're a law-abiding citizen or not!"
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Funny) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday November 30 2016, @03:47PM
Yes, definitely. Hundreds of thousands of people who might have otherwise caused a ruckus were already appeased by having the option to just sign a petition instead. It saved billions of tax-dollars (-pounds, -euros) otherwise to spend on police forces for riot control etc. Even the internet-nerds can bath in the warm feeling of cheap achievement, now that the parliament will have to debate the issue.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday November 30 2016, @04:07PM
Harnessing slacktivism for the police state! I wonder who came up with that genius idea.
(Score: 1) by RS3 on Wednesday November 30 2016, @05:25PM
How very civilised.
Here in the States we prefer the economic stimulus of a good riot. Think of all the work and income generated by windows and cars needing replacement, police needed, riot gear needed, firemen, trucks, hoses and water, stun guns, tear gas, radio systems, computers, software, and IT infrastructure to manage it, doctors, nurses, EMTs, ambulance drivers, and other healthcare workers needed to repair the damage, psychologists and psychiatrists, legal and illegal medications needed afterward, insurance inspectors, claims adjusters, lawyers and courts, and on it goes- capitalism at its finest. Just do like we do and you'll make Britain Great again.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday November 30 2016, @06:38PM
Europeans used to be the world champions of massive street protests (with the Chinese coming from behind fast), but their governments now have the magic word that not only excuses those bad laws and also forbids public gatherings of concerned citizens: Terrorists! [insert scream here]
Dear communists, dear Putin: you were nice scarecrows for a while, but, dude, you got seriously obsoleted. We can get away with anything using the terrorist label. Thanks for your service. No hard feelings, it's just business.