This weeks Easter break gave me chance to beat the governments snooping charter and clean up my computer. After erasing my viewing history and deleting the confirmation email for my babe station subscription I thought I had better check the photographs I had stored before Jack Bauer and his men came and locked me up for 90 days. Obviously, the pictures of me without my top on had to go as did the pictures of the kids playing in paddling pool last summer. As paranoia really began to kick in I figured that dodgy programme I accidentally uploaded, but never opened when I typed Gary Glitter into the search engine whilst doing a Christmas CD.
The map of Meadowhall was next to go and then I deleted Rucksacks R us from my favourites. Imagine my frustration when I heard that Nick Clegg, the saviour of Liberty and freedom was blocking the monitoring of our emails and browsing habits.. Lib Dem president Tim Farron then appeared on Andrew Marr promising also to block any excessively intrusive moves to snoop on us.
And rightly so.. What possible justification can there be for knowing what's going on in the privacy of our homes. If I want to look at how to build a bomb, or send hate Britain propaganda, what business is it of any one else. Clearly it would be a violation of my human rights, definitely a disgraceful attack on freedom and liberty that is my god given right to pretend to be a 15 year old girl on social networking sights if it helps me to make friends and keeps me from pulling the wings and legs off insects.
So what if I have an unhealthy obsession with certain public figures and have photographs and addresses of elected members of parliament. Why should I have to be worried about repercussions when my friend in Birmingham tweets me about where I can get a very good deal on TV's, providing I can collect?
The coalition has just gone too far!
Now, as a parent I would like to think that my children, who are growing up in a very digital, technologically savvy world, can go online safely. As schools look at ways to introduce the web into more and more of the curriculum such is the reliance on the internet, surely not just the kids safety but national security is vital.
How can these stupid checked flares and sandals wearing do-gooders hide behind the principle of freedom while protecting the rights of murderers, paedophiles, fraudsters and identity thief's. What about the right of children to browse the web without being groomed? What about the rights of lonely middle aged women duped into giving away their life savings to a stranger in Africa because she thinks she has found a soul mate?
What about the rights of shop keepers, who have worked all the hours God sends to earn an honest living, to not have their premises burnt to the ground or ransacked by mindless youths who cannot read or write, but are able to arrange a national riot on social networking sites?
What about the rights of all those people who voted for their members of Parliament in the hope of getting a responsible and approachable representative with their interests at heart, but then find they cannot get any where near them to offer an input.
There was, rightly so, outrage at the thought of rich business men paying for a seat at the table of Mr Cameron. Now we have a chance to get a direct line to the government just by letting them into our routers - for free.
If the stuff on your laptop could potentially embarrass you then it probably shouldn't be there. If the websites you visit might incriminate you then you probably shouldn't visit them. If your activity is vile, immoral and illegal then you probably should be in prison. Let them know what we are interested in and let them know what we really think. That's what I call freedom.
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