The thirst for information is insatiable. In the hands of the state, knowledge begets power and more information, backed by ever-increasing computational capabilities, ensures more control over the outcomes. Now, to assure themselves of policy control, the database state races towards an exit with no ends: a database that collects more and more personal information, until the state knows all and privacy is dead.
New Labour has a history of debasing liberty for the appearance of action against a terrorist threat:
Sir Ken, who steps down as DPP next month, also described how in 2004
he had resisted pressure from Tony Blair to make it easier to prosecute
terrorism suspects by lowering the standard of proof in such cases.
Now, Sir Ken Macdonald, Director of Public Prosecutions, has spoken out against the designs of the 'security state'.
Government plans to build a giant database holding information about every phone call, email and internet visit were last night dealt a major blow after the man in charge of prosecuting terrorism in England and Wales warned of the dangers posed by a "Big Brother" security state.
Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told ministers not to "break the back of freedom" by creating irreversible powers that could be misused to spy on individual citizens and so threaten Britain's hard-won democracy.
This follows the unworkable attempts to create an ID card database and a register for mobile phones: produce an ID when you buy, or lose your right to call. None of these shoots will ever reach fruition as registration and control leads to the madness of kings. However, under the guise of security, the surveillance state is extending itself beyond the viable and endangering us by using encompassing methods when finer and more delicate solutions are required to combat terrorism.