2009: a bad year for civil liberties

2009 was a bad year for liberty in Great Britain.

Consider:


2009: A bad year for civil liberties

28 December, 2009 • The 20,000 snooper army: Vast number of town hall bureaucrats get power to enter your home without a warrant

28 December, 2009 • Conwy near top of “Big Brother barge-in league”

23 December, 2009 • Police officers claim we're not a Big Brother state



22 December, 2009 • The real cost – and value – of CCTV

21 December, 2009 • Is Britain becoming the censorship capital of the world?

21 December, 2009 • ‘MUSIC BAN WILL HIT BRITISH WAY OF LIFE’

21 December, 2009 • The Equality Bill could Outlaw Evangelical Christianity In The U.K.

21 December, 2009 • The growing threat to free speech

21 December, 2009 • Equality legislation means our very right to believe is under fire

20 December, 2009 • The horror of virtual courts is upon us

18 December, 2009 • Local councils ‘have trebled number of CCTV cameras in a decade

16 December, 2009 • Town hall 'enforcers' with police powers increase by a fifth in a year

15 December, 2009 • Army of private snoopers growing

16 December, 2009 • Fishermen to get bigger quotas if they carry CCTV

12 December, 2009 • Why not just scrap ID cards, then?

9 December, 2009 • The great 'big state' debate

8 December, 2009 • The police are right not to remain silent on civil liberties

5 December, 2009 • Swiss MP fears for Britain

5 December, 2009 • Buy your children toy weapons for Christmas and you could face an armed raid, police warn parents

5 December, 2009 • Equality snoopers to keep files on your sexuality

3 December, 2009 • BOY TAKEN INTO CARE FOR BEING 2 POUNDS TOO LIGHT

30 November, 2009 • £500 to spy on your neighbour

30 November, 2009 • Home-schooling parents may face criminal record checks

27 November, 2009 • Thousands of children jailed – before being found guilty

27 November, 2009 • PREGNANT MUM TO FLEE UK

26 November, 2009 • New U.K. Bill Requires Homeschooled Children be Registered with Authorities

26 November, 2009 • DNA database has eroded liberty

25 November, 2009 • More than 1 in 10 people now have their DNA on West Midlands Police's database

24 November, 2009 • UK national identity register is 'up and running'

24 November, 2009 • Police are arresting innocents to meet DNA database targets

19 November, 2009 • CCTV IN HOMES TO SPY ON NEIGHBOURS

18 November, 2009 • Blindly fingerprinting children

18 November, 2009 • The Nanny State even inspects our wallpaper

18 November, 2009 • Big Brother quiz for new school parents: Officials launch 83-point probe into families' lives

16 November, 2009 • 'Big Brother' ID cards cost taxpayers £230,000 each days'

16 November, 2009 • NOW HEALTH AND SAFETY SNOOPERS VISIT YOUR HOME

12 November, 2009 • Councils deploy snooping powers 200 times a week

11 November, 2009 • Leave Child-Rearing to Parents, Not the State

11 November, 2009 • DNA profile database plans unveiled

10 November, 2009 • Home Office aspires to read your emails

10 November, 2009 • Police report pregnant woman to social services over half-decorated home

9 November, 2009 • Chipping away at free speech

9 November, 2009 • Army of 'citizen snoopers' recruited by council to spy on neighbours

9 November, 2009 • Mother trailed by policeman and warned by council for telling off son at checkout

7 November, 2009 • ContactPoint database of 11million children’s details to go ahead despite security fears

6 November, 2009 • Who has authority over our children?

5 November, 2009 • Disguising the detention of children

5 November, 2009 • Spy victim mother takes snooping council to court

5 November, 2009 • Curb on Big Brother 'Doesn't Go Far Enough'

4 November, 2009 • Out of Afghanistan, into a police state

4 November, 2009 • Alan Johnson announces plans to curb excessive council surveillance

2 November, 2009 • When in Europe Watch What You Say

28 October, 2009 • Policing of Opinion Has No Place In Our Country

28 October, 2009 • Britain passes Big Brother landmark: More than one in 10 people now on DNA database

28 October, 2009 • Councils get ‘Al Capone’ power to seize assets over minor offences

27 October, 2009 • ID card plan 'needs 28m people to sign up to cover costs'

27 October, 2009 • Brussels 'Home Office' plot to snoop on all of Europe

26 October, 2009 • 'Bedroom snooping' by 2011 census

26 October, 2009 • Innocent protesters' details collected for police databases

26 October, 2009 • Police compiling database of 'domestic extremist' protesters

25 October, 2009 • Secret court seizes £3.2bn from elderly

25 October, 2009 • Brussels is 'Plotting a Spy State"

24 October, 2009 • Want to help the neighbours with the rubbish? It's illegal

22 October, 2009 • Teacher 'bullied' by council for leaving bag of waste paper next to full recycling bin

22 October, 2009 • Social workers remove new-born baby from obese mother

21 October, 2009 • Spying on Communities Contravenes Cherished British Freedom

21 October, 2009 • DNA database now holds profiles of 5.6m Britons (but crimes solved using it falls by a fifth)

22 October, 2009 • Armed police to permanently patrol Britain's streets

21 October, 2009 • Liberty warns of new secret inquests threat

21 October, 2009 • Big Brother Britain: £380 a MINUTE spent on tracking your every click online

21 October, 2009 • Hundreds of council workers duped into answering Health and Safety questions on eating biscuits

19 October, 2009 • Trafigura: 'Never again should a newspaper be barred from reporting Parliament'

15 October, 2009 • MEPs call for compulsory 'EU lessons' in schools

15 October, 2009 • Terror Act used on climate activist

13 October, 2009 • A David for this surveillance Goliath?

12 October, 2009 • Equality database sought by government

12 October, 2009 • £1,000 fine for putting any food scraps in the dustbin

9 October, 2009 • Council Snoops Have Power to Issue £300 Fines

8 October, 2009 • Big Brother culture attacked by country's top barrister

7 October, 2009 • Authoritarian? China’s not a patch on Britain

7 October, 2009 • Amateur photographer is quizzed by police (for taking snap of the sunset)

3 October, 2009 • English children abroad to be included on government database

1 October, 2009 • Couple fail to win return of obese children

1 October, 2009 • The United States of Europe Will Come

29 September, 2009 • Europe spies on your pay and savings

28 September, 2009 • Council hires hoodie spies to rummage through bins and see what is being thrown away

25 September, 2009 • Police threaten to 'put mother in the cells'... for pulling up dead plant from flowerbed

20 September, 2009 • Brown misleads Conference on ID cards

20 September, 2009 • Restaurant use CCTV cameras

15 September, 2009 • Presumed guilty

15 September, 2009 • Police must 'be ordered' to ditch DNA

15 September, 2009 • Holyrood security officials accused of illegally snooping on neighbours

15 September, 2009 • Another invasion of liberty. And only the Tories are alert

16 September, 2009 • Conservatives would cut back ‘Big Brother’ state

13 September, 2009 • Government issues 'snooper handbook' to staff

13 September, 2009 • We need to repeal 12 years of vile laws attacking our liberty

13 September, 2009 • Security guards ban boy, 9, from sailing toy boat on pond because it 'frightens the fish'

12 September, 2009 • Eurocrats to Control Britain's Borders

9 September, 2009 • Police given assault warning over DNA samples taken from children

8 September, 2009 • Does your council persecute households?

7 September, 2009 • MoD spends £426,000 spying on injured soldiers

5 September, 2009 • Town halls are spying on us at tips and in car parks

4 September, 2009 • ID cards: A new layer of compulsion

2 September, 2009 • £500 fine if you put out wheelie bin on the wrong day

25 August, 2009 • CCTV: the worst of all possible worlds

20 August, 2009 • ASBO for buskers who only knew two songs

17 August, 2009 • Millions Wasted on Nonsense 'Nanny-State' Jobs

15 August, 2009 • Police stop and search children as young as two

12 August, 2009 • 300 children a day added to DNA database

11 August, 2009 • Big Brother Britain has more CCTV cameras than China

10 August, 2009 • 1,500 snoop requests made every day

7 August, 2009 • Police told to ignore human rights ruling over DNA database

5 August, 2009 • Government Announces 24-Hour CCTV Surveillance for Bad Parents

4 August, 2009 • CCTV cameras installed in classrooms

4 August, 2009 • EU "Equality" Directive an "Instrument of Oppression" against Religious Believers

3 August, 2009 • ContactPoint database could put 11 million children at risk

1 August, 2009 • Health and safety row over man who died in 18in of water as 999 teams were told it was too risky to rescue him

30 July, 2009 • Drippy health and safety police ban swimmers from doing lengths

30 July, 2009 • Johnson due to unveil new ID card

27 July, 2009 • Get £500 to spy on neighbours

21 July, 2009 • Police given powers to enter homes and tear down anti-Olympics posters during Games

21 July, 2009 • Councils still breaking surveillance laws

18 July, 2009 • Child database: danger of malicious reporting

16 July, 2009 • Police force calls time on stop and search - after using power 3,400 times but failing to make single terror arrest

14 July, 2009 • DNA database expanding by 40,000 profiles a month

10 July, 2009 • On-the-spot fines replace court hearings

6 July, 2009 • £1,000 fines to bolster ID cards as Tories pledge to scrap scheme

1 July, 2009 • ID scheme is an 'embarrassment'

29 June, 2009 • Police 'got it wrong' at G20 summit

25 June, 2009 • Government forced to again deny ID cards U-turn

23 June, 2009 • ‘Police robbed me of my dignity with strip search’

22 June, 2009 • EU security plans threaten freedom, says rights expert

22 June, 2009 • Police criminal records database may be slashed

20 June, 2009 • Twins removed after mother jokes with social workers

17 June, 2009 • Stop and search made for 'racial balance'

16 June, 2009 • Tories 'will end Big Brother state'

16 June, 2009 • Former Law Lord calls ID cards an 'invasion' of civil liberties

12 June, 2009 • Town halls hire citizen snoopers as young as SEVEN to spy on neighbours

12 June, 2009 • Man who dropped a ten pound note is fined £50...for littering

12 June, 2009 • Anti-discrimination laws persecute everyone, including atheists

11 June, 2009 • Big Brother database on adults working with children may ruin innocent lives, warns watchdog

10 June, 2009 • Met police: six officers accused of torturing drug suspects

10 June, 2009 • Has New Mobile Directory Got Your Number?

8 June, 2009 • Fighting Nineteen Eighty-Four

8 June, 2009 • How equality legislation threatens liberty

4 June, 2009 • Police target 'innocent' youths for arrest in bid to increase DNA samples on database

4 June, 2009 • Nanny State Spells End of Pick Your Own Fruit

3 June, 2009 • Ministers warned over DNA plans

28 May, 2009 • The surveillance society is an EU-wide issue

27 May, 2009 • Police chiefs want DNA from minor offenders to be kept on database

27 May, 2009 • MI5 faces fresh torture claims

26 May, 2009 • State recruits an army of snoopers with police-style powers

25 May, 2009 • State 'spying on Heathrow critics'

23 May, 2009 • Over-regulated Britain

22 May, 2009 • Children revolt against classroom CCTV

21 May, 2009 • Surveillance of protesters ruled illegal

19 May, 2009 • CCTV doesn't cut crime

18 May, 2009 • Town halls hire citizen snoopers as young as SEVEN to spy on neighbours and report wrongs

18 May, 2009 • Government child database goes live

16 May, 2009 • Headteachers to get more power to 'snoop'

14 May, 2009 • Health officials brand little boy overweight for being just a pound above NHS guidelines

13 May, 2009 • Calls to disband the Met squad in G20 riots

10 May, 2009 • G20 police 'used undercover men to incite crowds'

7 May, 2009 • Why no respect for the presumption of innocence?

7 May, 2009 • Free Speech in Europe

7 May, 2009 • ID cards: A weapon to beat terrorism or a threat to civil liberties?

7 May, 2009 • Ministers keep innocent on DNA database

28 April, 2009 • David Blunkett: 'ID cards should be scrapped'

28 April, 2009 • More than 180,000 on police DNA database

28 April, 2009 • Phone bills 'will rise' to pay for database

27 April, 2009 • Government climb down over the database

26 April, 2009 • Police could get water cannons

25 April, 2009 • Police can snoop on every email and eavesdrop on Internet phone calls under new plan

24 April, 2009 • Paying billions for our database state

24 April, 2009 • Police caught on tape trying to recruit Plane Stupid protester as spy

23 April, 2009 • A historic attack on liberty

22 April, 2009 • Civil servants want to read your emails

21 April, 2009 • Russian journalist blasts 'Big Brother Britain' and compares it to life in the old Soviet Union

21 April, 2009 • Thought police muscle up in Britain

20 April, 2009 • Police 'taught to treat the public as the enemy'

20 April, 2009 • G20 officer ‘pointed Taser at protesters’

17 April, 2009 • Surveillance evidence to be allowed in court

17 April, 2009 • Home Office dodges the issue on snooping powers

17 April, 2009 • Ministers to review councils' use of anti-terrorism surveillance powers

16 April, 2009 • DNA database: proven guilty

16 April, 2009 • Police, protest and the surveillance society

15 April, 2009 • DNA database brands people as criminals, says professor

15 April, 2009 • Internet privacy: Britain in the dock

14 April, 2009 • Eyeball spy turns the tables on Big Brother

14 April, 2009 • Abuse of police powers is unexceptiona

7 April, 2009 • Wasteful empire-building of ID agency

6 April, 2009 • Campaigners warn of user data creep

5 April, 2009 • Plan For `Internal Borders` Within The UK

3 April, 2009 • The Government wants to know about your day trip to the Isle of Wight

3 April, 2009 • Communications database could be brought in without parliamentary debate

3 April, 2009 • Why did the police punish bystanders?

2 April, 2009 • No 'surveillance society' for British, says Minister

2 April, 2009 • Police diversity guide derided for 'political correctness'

1 April, 2009 • National police database to share intelligence on millions

1 April, 2009 • Student finds mobile phone and is ARRESTED after handing it in to police

31 March, 2009 • DNA database grows faster than forecast

31 March, 2009 • Big Brother is watching: surveillance box to track drivers is backed

31 March, 2009 • Council accused of wasting cash after hiring ‘spy plane’ for £30

30 March, 2009 • 'Transexual joke led to police warning'

29 March, 2009 • Government advertisements run 10,000 times a day

29 March, 2009 • Headteacher bans eggs at Easter because of health and safety fears

29 March, 2009 • Big Brother is watching Bridgend

26 March, 2009 • Councils spied on public 10,000 times

26 March, 2009 • Government to monitor Facebook in 'Big Brother' database plan

25 March, 2009 • Council spying: List of odd uses for anti-terror powers

25 March, 2009 • Government to monitor Facebook in 'Big Brother' database plan

23 March, 2009 • Illegal government databases and what we can do about them

23 March, 2009 • Quarter of UK's databases are 'illegal'

22 March, 2009 • New rights spark ‘nanny state’ row

18 March, 2009 • Brits consider tracking all UK Facebook traffic

16 March, 2009 • Channel 4 defends use of hidden cameras in schools

12 March, 2009 • Pub landlord wins right not to fit CCTV cameras

12 March, 2009 • DNA bank for pregnant women

12 March, 2009 • Disturbing report into policing of Kingsnorth protest

11 March, 2009 • Internet ad tracking system will put a 'spy camera' in the homes of millions

4 March, 2009 • CCTV installed to monitor classrooms

2 March, 2009 • UK underground centre that is spy capital of the world

1 March, 2009 • Liberty groups unite to defend UK rights

27 February, 2009 • Database makes suspects of us all, watchdog warns

26 February, 2009 • Mass civil liberties rallies planned for UK

25 February, 2009 • Big Brother spy drones may soon hover over your home

25 February, 2009 • Fight against terror 'spells end of privacy'

24 February, 2009 • Straw forced into retreat over ‘Big Brother’ data sharing plan

24 February, 2009 • Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes

23 February, 2009 • Blunkett warns over ‘Big Brother’ Britain

22 February, 2009 • Hazel Blears to attack political correctness

22 February, 2009 • Privacy law threat to Gordon Brown's phone tap plan

22 February, 2009 • Straw is told to ditch the 'snoop' law on personal data

20 February, 2009 • Children as young as two 'must be tested for obesity'

19 February, 2009 • UK has 'suffered wholesale removal of civil liberties'

17 February, 2009 • Ex spy chief says government risks "police state"

12 February, 2009 • Primary school receptionist 'facing sack' after daughter talks about Jesus to classmate

12 February, 2009 • Whatever happened to free speech?

11 February, 2009 • Councils to be given power to snoop on calls and emails

10 February, 2009 • The secret police are watching you

8 February, 2009 • Spy centre will track you on holiday

8 February, 2009 • The Government is creating a surveillance state

6 February, 2009 • Surveillance state is threat to freedom, say peers

2 February, 2009 • Call for two-child limit on families from Government adviser

2 February, 2009 • DNA tests done without consent

30 January, 2009 • Welcome to the brave new world of broadband for all – and Big Brother

26 January, 2009 • Food police come knocking on your kitchen door

26 January, 2009 • Child database plans unveiled

14 January, 2009 • Census answers could be passed to snoopers

14 January, 2009 • New giant database will store private details of EVERY person in 'Big Brother' Britain

12 January, 2009 • An Englishman's home is no longer his castle

10 January, 2009 • Call for safeguards over Big Brother database

10 January, 2009 • Now even police can't object to gipsy camp in picturesque village...because it's racist

9 January, 2009 • Email law 'attacks civil liberties'

7 January, 2009 • Britain's jack-booted paramilitary police

7 January, 2009 • Hundreds of children's details added to database every day

5 January, 2009 • UK's database plan condemned by Europe