Privacy Law Musings

One of the more amusing (to me, anyway) stories to break at the weekend was that of the alleged bugging of an MP under terror laws introduced by this government. Oh, the shock and horror and public wringing of hands..! God forbid that politicians should be as subject to the same laws and lack of privacy that have been fostered on the rest of us.

Welcome to our world - do you now understand why we get a little annoyed at increased surveillance and simultaneous losing of personal data on a seemingly daily basis?

I have no sympathy.

I also note that the BBC ran a poll about this issue and roughly 75% of the 7-8000 respondents did not agree that politicians should continue to be exempt from monitoring...

There's a phrase about chickens and roosting that springs to mind...

Could these be related?

From the weekend's local government clippings service:

HOME SECRETARY SCARED TO WALK ALONE Jacqui Smith has admitted she’s too frightened to walk around the streets of London late at night. Her comments follow Labour claims that crime is down compared to the 1990s when the Tories were in power.S.Mail p5, S.Mirror p6, S.Indp p23, S.Times p1, S.Express p15, NOTW p2 and Monday papers

and

KNIFE SCANNERS AT SCHOOL GATES TO CURB CRIME Airport-style metal detectors will be installed at hundreds of school gates under sweeping measures to confront the growing problem of teenage knife crime. Their introduction at the toughest secondary schools will be announced next month by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and forms a core element of the government’s new violent crime action plan. Meanwhile, the S.Telegraph reports violent youth crime is up a third in three years. Observer p1&5, S.Telegraph p1&5 and Monday papers Independent p6, Express p22

surely the two couldn't possibly be interlinked? *cough*