The British Government is contemplating the third-party construction of a super database containing the identities and location of every person in Britain. The 'super database,' which comes at the hefty cost of 12 billion British pounds, would be run by one or a number of private companies and would track every citizen's Internet usage, every phone call, every text message, as well as many other transactions.

The government claims the database is necessary to fight terrorism and serious crime. Of course, the government also claims it would come with stringent safeguards to protect a user's personal private information, but if history is any indication, those safeguards would prove mostly ineffectual and that information will inevitably end up being leaked into the public domain. (Source: telegraph.co.uk)

The British government -- as well as the U.S. and many other governments -- has had major problems keeping the private information of its citizens safe. Last year, the UK's HM Revenue & Customs Department lost 25 million child benefit records. (Source: techworld.com)

Needless to say, the personal and privacy rights violations could be quite staggering and no matter what alleged safeguards are put in place, the resulting violations could be disastrous. As history has repeatedly proven, no government can be trusted to protect so much personal information. (Source: guardian.co.uk)

As noted by Sir Ken MacDonald, former Director of Public Prosecutions, "the tendency of the state to seek ever more powers of surveillance over its citizens may be driven by protective zeal, but the notion of total security is a paranoid fantasy which would destroy everything that makes living worthwhile. It would be a complete readout of every citizen's life in the most intimate and demeaning detail." (Source: theregister.co.uk)

The new plan, to be outlined early this year in a consultation paper on the interception modernization program, would allow one or a number or organizations to proactively collect all communications data, including broadband phone calls and chat rooms instead of being provided by the ISP's and telecoms at the request of the police or other governmental agencies.

Internet Service Providers and Telecom companies are already able to provide the police necessary information about the whereabouts and identities of suspects when necessary.

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