People wanting to buy a mobile phone could be forced to show a passport and have their details added to a new security database, it's been revealed.

 

Everyone intending to buy a pay-as-you-go or contract phone would have to prove their identity.

 

The scheme is part of new communications Bill designed to tackle terrorism and crime, a Sunday newspaper reported.

 

It comes just days after home secretary Jacqui Smith unveiled plans to build a central database holding the date and time of every telephone call, e-mail and internet made in Britain, but not the content.

 

Public consultation would begin in the new year but news of the scheme has raised concern.

 

'Collecting phone and internet records would be a step too far for the British way of life,' said Richard Thomas, a spokesman for the office of the Information Commissioner.

 

And Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, added: 'The bigger the database, the greater the risk of accident, error and abuse.'

 

METRO.CO.UK

 

Another poor excuse to track what we do -_-

People who think that the whole "Big Brother Britain" idea is merely a scaremongering tactic seriously needs to read up on all this, because this is frankly bloody scary.... This goes beyond ID Cards or even DNA databases..... Take the email thing, could you imagine a similar thing happeneing with your post...? The govt having the right to come along and open your letters and packages "just in case".... Same principle....

 

All this stuff has to be taken together to build up a picture of the fact now that we are little better than prisoners, read up on Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon Prison" idea, where basically prisoners in cells could be observed from a central point. Of course not all prisoners would be watched at the same time, but the prisoners wouldn't know when they were being watched or by whom... It's the same idea here with CCTV, and monitoring of email and internet traffic.... You just know certain sites are going to be "red flagged", and it doesn't necessarily follow that it will ONLY be the Jihadist or p**** ones, it'll likely include Animal Rights sites, Anarchist, Leftist and Socialist sites, any site to do with radical politics which the Govt doesn't like.. Hell, it may even include Amnesty International, Gay Rights or Liberty's sites.... I mean, just imagine it, you're a student doing a thesis on Terrorism or Radical politics, you go on certain websites to carry out research, BOOM, you get your door kicked in and you suddenly have a half dozen armed coppers with itchy trigger fingers sticking a gun in your face....

 

This is dangerous and totally uncalled for, the Police and Security Forces already have sufficient powers to track the communications of persons of interest in matters of terrorist activity... There have been many attempted plots foiled by them exercising these powers, news reports of attempted terrorism cases PROVE this... So, one has to ask, just what IS the real reason for all this....?

 

If you ask me, it's all about creating a compliant, subjugated population too afraid to challenge or question authority because we will never know who or when is watching us.....