Re: Codes of Practice - Really?
I share your chagrin.
However, re: how the bill is being handled, I've seen a pattern over the years, happening here and in the US: the gov-types introduce a security bill that shrieks with overreach, then the inevitable horse-trading begins. In the end, the proposers end up with a Law that is worse than the privacy/rights critics wanted, but the most egregious measures are pulled or dialled down, giving the illusion of a) relief and b) reasonableness. And all along the proposers were seeking the position they actually got, knowing they can return next year/whenever and gain yet more ground by the same tactic.
And that is how cynical the whole issue is to these control freaks! And that offends me even further...
I want to suggest that we start to frame the debate, not in terms that the proposers create (protection, fear and national interest alone), but in terms that change the public's perception of the issue - ways they can understand and feel. So, for example how would they feel if hidden strangers were listening in on their intimate conversations, watching them undress at home, assessing their every decision: strangers unaccountable, hidden and uninvited? Who could destroy their lives from afar, with impunity? What difference then if they are your government or a foreign power/group?
Dunno. But we must define what privacy means to us, and stand up for it, before they define it for us.