Help stop the Government snooping

[Lord Pork Pie of Melton]

Yesterday, the government set out its new plans for the year ahead in the Queen’s Speech. [1] It’s just what we feared: they want new powers to invade our privacy. They plan to collect and keep information on all of us about who we call, text and email, and which websites we visit. And they won’t need a warrant or reason. [2]

There’s still time to stop them. If enough of us work together, we can get these plans scrapped. We can build a huge movement to stand up for our freedom and our right to privacy as law-abiding British citizens.

Last year, hundreds of thousands of people worked together until we stopped the government’s plan to sell off England’s woodlands. [3] We can do it again - but we need big numbers. Can you forward this email to people you know and ask them to sign the petition?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/stop-the-snooping-plan

Last week, David Cameron and Nick Clegg took a real pounding in local elections up and down the country. Now lots of their MPs are squabbling about what the government should do to try to win back voters. [4]

Our civil liberties have taken a battering in recent years from politicians of all backgrounds. Now it’s time to for us to push back. If hundreds of thousands of us demand that politicians protect our freedoms instead of grabbing more power, they’ll see the tide is turning. It’s time to tear up the Big Brother plans - let’s get started today.

Help build a massive people-powered petition to protect our freedoms by forwarding this email to your friends, or quickly share it on Facebook and Twitter:

Share on Facebook:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/stop-government-snooping-facebook

Share on Twitter:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/stop-government-snooping-twitter


   Thanks for being involved,

   Marie, David T, Hannah, Becky, James, David, Cian and the 38 Degrees team


   PS: The government promised they would stand up for our freedoms. Now it seems they want to chip away at them. Let’s build a massive petition to protect our privacy and stand up for our rights. Can you ask more people to sign it by forwarding this email? https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/stop-the-snooping-plan


   NOTES
   [1] From official Parliament website - "The Queen's Speech is delivered by the Queen from the Throne in the House of Lords, in the presence of Members of both Houses. Although the Queen reads the Speech, the content is entirely drawn up by the Government and approved by the Cabinet. It contains an outline of the Government's policies and proposed new legislation for the new parliamentary session." http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/occasions/stateopening/

   See also BBC: Queen's Speech 2012 at-a-glance http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17988236

   [2] Draft Communications Bill paper issued by government: http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/PoliticalUploads/Draft_Communications_Data_Bill.pdf

   Telegraph: Queen's Speech 'Surveillance of the entire nation' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9255201/Queens-Speech-Surveillance-of-the-entire-nation.html

   [3] 38 Degrees blog: Victory! Government scraps plans to sell our forests https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/forests-victory-blog

   [4] Guardian: Battered coalition partners begin to doubt strategy of compromise http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/05/nick-clegg-david-cameron-election?intcmp=239

[Lord Pork Pie of Melton]

Privacy Update:

Last week, the government laid out its plan for massive new powers to invade our privacy online. [1] It’s bad. Information about who we’ve emailed, websites we’ve visited and much more will be routinely available to the government.

People power can stop this invasion of our privacy. Over 150,000 of us have already signed the petition. And last week's papers mentioned the size of our petition as evidence that the government may struggle to get its plans through. [2]

We’re going to need huge numbers of people if we’re going to work together to defeat these Big Brother plans. Every single extra name on the petition will help. Can you ask your friends and family to take 30 seconds to sign it?

You can forward this email and ask them to sign the petition here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/privacy-petition

The government’s plan would mean phone and internet companies would have to keep details of your use of email, websites you’ve visited, phone calls you’ve made over the internet and how you've used Facebook and Twitter - for a whole year. [3]
   
On Thursday, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, claimed that the plans would only affect terrorists and paedophiles - and called people who value their privacy from government “conspiracy theorists”. [4] But that’s simply not true - the plans would allow the government to spy on every one of us. [5]

Let’s show Theresa May that there are huge numbers of people in this country who value their freedom and privacy  - and that doesn’t make us “conspiracy theorists”. Can you help grow the campaign by asking more people to sign the petition?
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/privacy-petition

You can also share the petition on Facebook with one click:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/privacy-petition-facebook

Or on Twitter:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/privacy-petition-twitter


Thanks for being involved,

Marie, David, Belinda, Becky, Hannah, James and the 38 Degrees


PS: Thanks to pressure from 38 Degrees members, the government has made one tiny concession - local councils won’t get new snooping powers. But the real, everyday invasion of our privacy will come from the government itself. Please forward this email and ask as many people as you can to add their names to the petition: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/privacy-petition


NOTES
[1] Draft Communications Data Bill http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm83/8359/8359.pdf
BBC: May setting out plans to monitor internet use in the UK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18434112
[2] Guardian: Online privacy: Home Office to write blank cheque for 'snoopers' charter; http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/13/online-privacy-legislation-internet-phone-data
[3] BBC: How will the proposed surveillance laws work? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18434232
[4] The Sun: May blast for critics of email tracking http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4371932/May-blast-for-critics-of-email-tracking.html
[5] BBC: How will the proposed surveillance laws work? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-1843423