Snooping
An investigation by the Western Morning News down in the West Country has found that some councils are spying on the public. The newspaper has discovered that private investigators, similar to those prosecuted in the phone-hacking scandal, are being hired to secretely intrude into people's privacy. One of the arguments used by the councils is that this surveillance can help save taxpayers money by exposing fraud, and it comes on top of the GCHQ centre in Cheltenham getting government approval to monitor our e-mails. GCHQ is our very own high-tec spy centre, and it no doubt liaises closely with the American centre at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire. Now I'm not against surveillance entirely because CCTV does help fight crime. And of course some checking up has to be done where individuals show indications of breaking the law. But downright and all out invasive snooping? Pretty soon we'll all be afraid to speak on the phone because Big Brother could be listening in. I'm not convinced that GCHQ doesn't do this sort of thing already, and I'm of the opinion that banks readily give our account details to government bodies without our knowing. Anyone got any views on this?