Erosion Of Privacy

[Martin]

On a thread about bringing cash into Thailand, we strayed into discussing the modern, worldwide syndrome of "Big Brother wants to know what you are doing, and to stop you if it doesn't suit him".

I am posting this so we can discuss that, but not be 'off topic'.

One of the things that I like about Thailand is that I find the people have lots of the basic liberality of spirit that is getting more and more squashed in the Western world.

Which is ironic, in the light of the Western world's fixation on so-called democracy, whilst Thailand has a society that is quite happily hierarchical.

Identity cards are a case in point. The Thais have them, but they are very basic; whereas the UK, which has only previously ever introduced them in time of war, is now setting off down the road to introducing really draconian ones.

I have found a good summary of the case against sophisticated ones:

...."Liberty also claims: 'In many countries that have a compulsory system there are complaints that minorities, dissidents and young people are harassed by over-zealous police checking.' Is this really a danger in Britain, a democracy with a free press? In fact, there are many who believe that the real victims of identity cards would not be minorities, but the great majority. Sean Gabb, a supporter of the Right-wing Libertarian Alliance, says: 'The real victims of an identity card scheme will be us, the honest public. What remains of our freedom is held ever less by legal right than by the simple inconvenience for the authorities of taking it away.' Identity cards, says Gabb, will allow the state to examine our lives in ways which would never be permitted by Parliament. They are, he says: 'The equivalent of laws to make us send our letters unsealed through the post, and to give sets of our housekeys to the police.'

Actually, the authoritarians (Labour and Conservative alike) managed to hang on to keeping identity cards in being for seven years after WWII (which itself only lasted six years!).

But one Liberal man from Yorkshire 'stood up and was counted'.

He had driven to London on business and parked his car too long in a street. He came back to find a London policeman by it. He gave his name and address so a summons could be sent to him, but the policeman demanded to see his identity card. He refused to show it, and was summonsed for that, too.

In court he argued that identity cards were introduced as a Wartime Emergency measure, and the war was over so now they had no standing.

The magistrates ruled that he had actually broken a law that was still in being, but didn't feel he should be punished. So they found him "Guilty" and gave him an "Absolute Discharge" (i.e. no punishment).

He appealed the finding of "Guilty", and the case went right up to a very high court---which ruled that the magistrates were right to find him guilty, but also had imposed the right sentence!!!

The Government and the Police were horrified. They knew everybody who disliked Big Brother would now refuse to show their cards and insist on being summonsed. So the Police would either lose 'face' by not upholding the law or lose it by having the courts clogged up. (And 'face' is very important in England, especially to the minions of the authoritarians. That is why they are given formidable-looking uniforms to bolster it.)

So the Government had to act quickly to limit the damage to the 'face' of the bossy. They brought in a bill abolishing identity cards the following week.

I find that Thailand has drawn the sting of authoritarian uniforms in a really clever way. Don't make them fordding, and give one to everybody who is willing to give their fellow citizens a bit of a lead---even down to schoolteachers and village elected-head-men.

Bushists and Blairists they ain't---and so it can be a LOS.