
Giant database plan 'Orwellian' - azharcs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7671046.stm
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zandorg
A friend of mine complained that Orwell, being a kind humanitarian, should not
have a bad word named after him. Perhaps Stalinesque?

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dazzawazza
IMO to call something Stalinesque implies that it is not out of the ordinary
for it to occur, just 'evil' in some way. Stalin was at least honest with his
politics and motives.

Orwellian implies something subversive, underhand and state driven.

Much of current politics is driven by double speak. The politicians claim to
_need_ this data to fight terrorism but at the same time acknowledge that the
same data is already used in 95% of criminal cases. So they already have
access to the data they need.

What they _want_ is a database with which they can track everyones movements
easily... they just can't bring themselves to say it.

Living in the UK is like being a mouse in the hands of Lennie Small. You know
you are cared for but are always on the brink of suffocation.

I think Orwell would have been happy for his name to be used to describe, what
he would see as, communist activities.

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vixen99
'At least honest with his politics and motives'. Really? Are you talking about
Joseph Stalin or maybe you're confusing him with Art B. Stalin who runs a
convenience store at the end of our street and likes dabbling in local
politics?

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anthonyrubin
PBS has a new Masterpiece series that includes plot elements related to these
systems in the UK:

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/index.html>

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zandorg
I haven't read it all. However, I applied for a new 10-year passport in 2005
to bypass the ID card scheme. But they keep coming up with the same old crap
and I don't know how to evade them indefinitely.

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streety
Any suggestions on how to mitigate the risks of a technologically inept
government leaving a list of all the sites I visit on a train? Route all
traffic through a VPN out of country perhaps?

~~~
eru
Tor?

