SPIES IN THE CAMP...
At a time when the UK Government is trying to reintroduce laws to ensure that police and intelligence services can continue to get access to internet search info and phone contact info, I find myself drawn to the issue.
The wonderful court of Human Rights (who have a propensity to do great deeds and then restore the balance with ridiculous rulings) have decided it is unlawful and not in the interest of privacy... and although I really, genuinely, do see their point; a huge part of me thinks they have missed the point.
The scaremongerers out there (you know, the ones who scream 'conspiracy' at every opportunity) may well have a point that these powers border on the edge of reasonable acceptance, but I also think that the modern, web-linked world is becoming ever-more dangerous and it is all because of our own, quite remarkable, technological advances over recent decades.
The World Wide Web is a wonderful thing, providing everything from shopping to education, services and social media platforms. But in our hurry to reach every corner of our little ball of cosmic dust, somewhere along the line we have lost sight of too many realities.
My memories of growing up involve days and weeks of endless running about outside; playing sports, riding bikes, climbing trees, playing games... yes, we had video games. My generation were the first to play Pong in black and white... soon to be followed by Donkey Kong, Sonic, Tetris, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Star Wars, Pole Position and countless others... we also had games with names like Jet Set Willy, Q-Bert and Piggit!!... all played in basic 2D graphics with annoying, repetitive tunes running continually in the background... Stay with me, I'm actually going somewhere with this...
For my friends and I, computer games involved a huge logistical process. Parents had no objection to us playing, but we had to arrange specific times when friends could come over (usually after dinner and homework) and then we'd get about an hour or so to shout at a small, portable TV screen before it was time for friends to go home and the computer or console to go off.
And here's the thing... there were no mobile phones, no internet, no 24 hour TV channels (in fact, we only had 3 channels up until the 1980s... then we had FOUR!!!). If you wanted to see friends, you went out and found them, whether that involved walking, running, skateboarding, cycling... you got off your backside and made a physical effort... and if there was a chance you might be going a fair distance to see them, you went out into the hallway in the middle of the house (where everyone could see and hear you) you picked up a big, plastic phone handset, dialled a number on a big, round, noisy dial, and you SPOKE to them... or maybe, just maybe, you spoke to their PARENTS... just to make sure they knew you were coming to visit, and that they weren't going out shopping, or to visit granny and grandad.
My point is, we had to interact with people every day. Our base of friends was pretty much restricted to our own age-group, but if we knew someone and they were 'a friend', you could pretty much guarantee that, within a few weeks, everyone in YOUR household, knew pretty-much everyone in theirs. There was trust, there was constant communication and an underlying knowledge of the people in your circle of friends.
So... what changed?
Unfortunately, too much, too quickly...
We are a race which strives to always be one step ahead. This isn't a fault. Without this part of our nature, we would still be living in the technological equivalent of the 1800s about now, but the internet was a massive leap. It was a step humanity was not prepared for and because of this, my generation didn't really understand what we had unleashed. There was no forethought in the early 1990s, to rein in the monster that has devoured our children and grandchildren. And so, here we are, a couple of decades later, playing catch-up with a level of technology we will now never, ever, be able to fully control.
The great vision to join the world together in electronic harmony was one of inspired beauty. What we, as ignorant, self-important know-alls did, was corrupt and twist a piece of brilliance.
Within a few short years, the internet was a haven for everything from espionage to pornography. The dream was probably dead before we'd even closed our eyes to go to sleep.
By the time the forerunners to modern computer systems were established in the mid-90s, there was so much stuff floating around in the ether, we could never hope to even get a foothold in trying to bring in controls... and I think we have to accept that the world-wide political picture has and will always be the dominating factor in just how much control there is on the internet.
Every government in the modern world will be utilising the internet for its own means. If you believe any different you need your head examined. The technology to know what we each do when we log onto our computers has undoubtedly existed for years. What on earth makes you think it isn't being used?
For all I know, Mr Putin and Mr Obama may be reading this very post and having a damn good chuckle at my naivity. If they're reading it and thinking something else, well... it's been nice knowing you all.
Perception is a powerful thing. I live in the UK, part of the 'Free West', part of NATO, home of the 'mother of parliaments'... so I perceive that I have greater freedoms here than people in other parts of the world. My knowledge of current affairs and populations around the world make it highly probable that I am correct, but this is still a perception on my part.
Someone living in the most remote part of eastern Russia may have the same perception of themselves. If their knowledge-base and lifestyle is so dramatically different from my own, who am I to argue.
But perception is as prone to corruption as human nature is. Every country has 'enemies'. In the past, an enemy was defined as another country, or a specific organisation bent on your destruction. A country is... well... a country; defined by borders and population, with a specific infrastructure, defence forces, etc.
An organisation may be harder to define in such specifics, but take examples like the Basque Separatists, ETA, or the IRA from Ireland... No, you can't always define everything, but you know who they are, where they come from, what they are aiming to achieve and you have a very good idea of the methods they will employ.
Let's be frank, the internet has grown and grown far beyond anything we can control, and has completely changed that key perception of what an enemy is.
If I want to learn how to build a bomb, or a weapon, I'm sure the internet will provide me with that information. If I want to sign up to fight the Fuzzy-Wuzzies in Ugland, I don't doubt I could find a way of doing it... on the internet.
My enemy is no longer the kid at the end of the street who wants to punch me in the teeth for knocking over his bike, its an unknown person from an unknown country who is speaking to someone I have never ever laid eyes upon, and telling that person to get a gun, or build a bomb and kill as many people as he or she can.
It isn't that the lines have become difficult to distinguish, its that they have been obliterated by the thing that was meant to make the world a brighter place.
My children have access to computers, I have access to computers, everyone I know has access to computers. But it goes far deeper than that.
Where I used to mess around and play the odd game here and there, computers, tablets and phones are now the centre of everyone's life.
I envy those who can live technology-free, and I can say that with conviction knowing they will never read it. My children have friends they may not see for days on end, yet they know what those friends are doing, pretty much 24 hours a day.
I like to think that I know all the people my children interact with, but I'm sure there are a percentage who I have never heard of and who, perhaps, they have never physically met.
I can't complain. My writing life has introduced me to people I may never meet, but I regard them as friends. They are from all different countries and all different walks of life. Do I know these people? No. Are they friends? Yes.
In our moden world, a leap of faith is a necessity.
So, our government wants to know who we talk to and what we look for on the internet. Do I object? No, but I understand why many do, and I think they are misunderstanding the bigger picture.
I may well be wrong, but the way I understand it is; they want to know who we contact, not what we say to them. I don't doubt they have the means to know both, as digital communications must have opened up a whole new range of monitoring abilities. But what they are asking for is the ability to ask mobile companies for a list of numbers and times by legal means. Do you really think they can't get the information anyway?
They want to know what I search for on the internet. I'm fine with that, but I would genuinely question the reasons of those who aren't.
It is nothing to do with privacy. We let that boat sail 20 years ago without a compass. We missed our chance to make the World Wide Web into the wonder it was intended to be. WE made it what it is now... an absolute bloody mess!
They don't want this information on every person, every minute of every day, they just want to be able to ask for it if we suddenly start behaving like terrorists, or if we start popping up on internet sites looking for where we can get hold of a few ingredients to make a bomb.
As my daughter is fond of saying, "It's not rocket salad."
If our governments are able to stop one bomb going off and killing one innocent person, I don't understand why anyone would object to them having the power to do it. Our ability to find the people who threaten our peaceful existence is reduced a little every time one of these laws is challenged. As much as I don't like the idea that someone, somewhere can pick up information about my virtual life, I'm not so arrogant as to think it isn't done for a reason.
The world has changed. We've watched our own technological terror turn on us and now we don't want anyone to have the power to protect us from it.
I know there are those out there who will pick holes in my arguments. I know there are others who won't care. But while we all argue about rights of privacy and listen to the idiots who think the government have time to listen to millions of phonecalls simultaeously, hopefully no-one will be shot or blown up or stabbed or kidnapped...
Have a nice day.
