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@david crawford - 03:10pm

Does the quote 'Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety' mean anything to you?

Destroying freedoms to protect them has been the theme of almost every great dystopian story in existence. The risk of an attack does not justify an entire country living under government surveillance. Further, to say that freedom, liberty and privacy are 'concepts' that are 'all very well' is also worrying; those hard-won rights are fundamental to a civilised society, not idealistic abstractions to be traded in at will.

And for those of you who would say, 'Well, I've got nothing to hide', I would remind you of the following words from Joseph Goebbels, of all people: "What the individual thinks is irrelevant. Only what the government thinks and what their perspective on that individual and what they are doing is relevant."

Governments rarely relinquish powers once they have them, and there is no guarantee as to the qualities of future administrations.