[Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 62Freedom and right to express at what cost to society.?

anupam chakravartty c.anupam at gmail.com
Wed Mar 25 13:24:11 IST 2009


Dear Sir,

Individuals make for a society. Well, nation state is not more important
than the people if we consider the present scenario of the world. You name a
region, there will be one issue or the other dividing the society. Why so?
Are people happy with the idea of dividing themselves as a nation or state
or society? Then why are there so many demands. Right to express is far more
important than peace, I guess. What good is that peace which turns out to be
a cold war? Offcourse, there are ways of articulating your thoughts and
beliefs. I think if we analyse our own homes -- what children, what do
adolescent wants, what the adults want, the senior citizens want -- we will
have so many differing views. Can we afford to quell each of them and
supress voices and needs? How would this family function?

I dont know much about BJP visiting a dargah or a temple. I dont think I
have seen too many BJP leaders in a dargah except for the ones who
have replicated the similar secular ideology of the Congress party ( by
throwing iftar parties in the national capital).

Similarly, your idea of awards given to a certain section of journalists is
contradictory to what you have said: "Freedom does not mean that an
individual can take law in to his hands and be the judge for the society at
what he percieves as correct. Nation state if is not there, what use is the
freedom to individual who lives in society using the societal benefits but
hesitates to own up his duty to society?" So all these journalists getting
state awards are rightly honoured because they are serving the society -- as
the state is the one which is giving them such honours (instead of gagging
their freedom of expression).

and last part about your post is more disturbing than anything else. it is
true that delhi registers more crimes against women than any other state,
but why have you selectively pointed out mangalore issue? and you go on to
say: "but in remote mangalore if *loose* (?) women and pink chaddis pub
attack is publicised one?" for you the sight of these women getting beaten
might have been entertaining sir, for me it was pure horror. i do not want
to compare you with pramod muthalik but your ideas are very similar with
his.

I hope you understand that this is a public forum, which is open to all.
therefore, not disrespecting you freedom to express, i request you to
carefully reconsider what you have said.

-anupam

On 3/25/09, rajenradhika at vsnl.net <rajenradhika at vsnl.net> wrote:
>
>
> I have been reading with interest the posts by an individual about national
> id card and clippings from news and media reports. This individual seems to
> think that individual freedom and right to express is far superior than that
> of societal needs for peace and harmony in society. Freedom does not mean
> that an individual can take law in to his hands and be the judge for the
> society at what he percieves as correct. Nation state if is not there, what
> use is the freedom to individual who lives in society using the societal
> benefits but hesitates to own up his duty to society?
>
>   It is sad that freedom of expression is muisused often to deride the
> societal sections of communities, use it as vote bank collection tool by all
> political parties, but when it is done by one section it is frowned upon by
> "secular" media, if one party starts its campaign by visit to hanuman temple
> and then a darga, it is secular canvassing of votes, if BJP does it, it is
> communal.! One thing for common man is very clear, the so called
> intellectuals, secular branded individuals in media do not like the BJP,
> they use their "freedom of expressio" to promote hate to the party, who need
> to first correct themselves as a common man now sees the game tru what with
> these blacksheep in media, ( media and judiciary is always respected in
> democratic life) getting rewarded and awardd by Padmashris nothing more to
> be added as much better journalists are denied of this honour as they are
> not psycophants, call spade a spade , be it from any political party.
>
> The days of men and women in media influencing the voting is over, as voter
> is more balanced and looks around at what is happening around them, as rapes
> in one state is played less hype in media but attack on women in another
> state is hyped in such a way that it becomes a joke in private circles of
> pink chaddis and loose women.? For example, the state of Delhi has seen
> murders of young women as routine and no tv channel made it an issue as all
> wanted to be in good books with the party ruling the state as their
> headquarters is at Delhi, but in remote mangalore if loose women and pink
> chaddis pub attack is publicised one.? This type of partisan journalism has
> made the channels to loose teir credibilty quotient alarmingly. News
> channels have now become entertainment channels, as they deal with anything
> but news.?
>
> Regards.
>
> Rajendra Uppinangadi,
> rajen882uppinangadi at gmail.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: reader-list-request at sarai.net
> Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 5:27 am
> Subject: reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 62
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
>
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> > than "Re: Contents of reader-list digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> >   1. News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose National
> >      Identity Cards-103 (Taha Mehmood)
> >   2. News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose National
> >      Identity Cards-104 (Taha Mehmood)
> >   3. News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose National
> >      Identity Cards-105 (Taha Mehmood)
> >   4. Lawyer-client privilege can't stop surveillance, says House
> >      of Lords (Taha Mehmood)
> >   5. Bush Surveillance Policies Live On In Obama White        House
> >      (Taha Mehmood)
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:44:01 +0000
> > From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose
> >       National        Identity Cards-103
> > To: reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID:
> >       <65be9bf40903241644w677427edlc147e4992949b664 at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=16552
> >
> > BJP releases 'IT vision document'
> >
> >
> > New Delhi: Trying to quash reports of personality conflicts within the
> > party, the BJP on Saturday kicked off its campaign by unveiling its
> > '''IT vision document', detailing how it planned to use information
> > technology as a tool for change in all major sectors, if voted to
> > power.
> >
> > Positioning itself as a party with a modern and progressive vision,
> > its prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani said that they planned to
> > use IT to transform various sectors, including education, health,
> > agriculture and even economy.
> >
> > He promised, among other things, 1.2 crore new IT-enabled jobs in
> > rural areas, laptops to one crore students at Rs 10,000 each,
> > broadband Internet in every town and village, bank accounts for all
> > with e-banking facilities, basic health insurance for all, and
> > promoting domestic IT hardware industry. Special attention would be
> > given to bring women, SCs, STs, OBCs and other weaker sections of the
> > society within the ambit of IT-enabled development.
> >
> > Stressing on NDA government's achievements under prime minister
> > Vajpayee and its successful schemes, Advani said that if they came
> > back to power, they will take forward the unfinished agenda. The
> > highways project will be taken forward to become the National Digital
> > Highway Development Project, and the rural road project will be
> > transformed into Pradhan Mantri Gram Digital Sadak Yojana.
> >
> > Advani's vision naturally could not have been complete without
> > focussing on national security. He said that they would revive the
> > project of Multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) launched when
> > NDA was in power, but it kept languishing under the UPA. He said that
> > the NDA will ensure an MNIC for each citizen within three years of
> > coming to power. It would provide a unique Citizenship Identity Number
> > (CIN) to each person, and it will integrate all identities including
> > election ID, PAN card, ration card, driving license number into one
> > common identity.
> >
> > Advani said that security was the main concern for making the cards
> > mandatory. He pointed out the increasing infiltration of Bangladeshi
> > nationals into the country, particularly in the northeast. There are
> > an estimated two crore Bangladeshi immigrants staying illegally in the
> > country, he said.
> >
> > Meanwhile, the party's high-profile general secretary Arun Jaitley
> > made a late entry at the important function. Other senior BJP leaders,
> > including party president Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Jaswant Singh
> > and Arun Shourie were present at the function.
> >
> > Rajnath Singh also launched BJP's revamped website on the occasion. A
> > day earlier, Jaitley, who is reported to be at loggerheads with Singh
> > over the appointment of Sudhanshu Mittal as in-charge of the poll
> > campaign in Assam and joint in-charge of the entire northeast, had
> > skipped the party's important central election committee meeting.
> >
> > Courtesy India Today
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:44:59 +0000
> > From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose
> >       National        Identity Cards-104
> > To: reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID:
> >       <65be9bf40903241644j3c80eb7fl50bc96079b1e1f8b at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
> >
> > http://www.countercurrents.org/karun240309.htm
> >
> >
> > BJP’s IT Vision: The Discreet Charm Of
> > Techno-Hindutva
> >
> > By Binu Karunakaran
> >
> > 24 March, 2009
> > Countercurrents.org
> >
> > In June 2007 the Indian Express reported that the Shiv Sena (SS) is
> > planning to build a software to monitor abusive communities on the
> > popular social networking site Orkut. One doesn't know whether the
> > Shiv Sainiks made use of any web technology when they singled out and
> > slapped a criminal suit on a teenaged computer science student from
> > Kerala for letting anonymous users post defamatory comments against
> > Shiv Sena in a community he created in Orkut.
> >
> > But one thing can be confirmed: The existance of saffron cyber
> > vigilantes crawling the internet for every bit of ideologically
> > inimical political kilobyte that lies buried in blog comments or
> > community discussion threads. Perfect virtual partners for the street
> > lumpens who beat up pub-going women or girls who dare talk to Muslim
> > boyfriends.
> >
> > The crime of Ajith D who now faces charges of criminal intimidation
> > and hurting religious sentiments in a Mumbai court (his appeal for
> > quashing criminal complaint was dumped by the country's apex court).
> >
> > There are several issues here that concerns not only the freedom of
> > speech but also the quality of democracy as reflected in our
> > participation in the information society through the medium of
> > Internet. The colour of content, the ideological orientation of
> > communities in the Indian cyber-landscape is showing a definite tilt
> > towards politics of Hindutva. Hundreds of ethnical and racially
> > abusive comments are posted in web discussion forums daily and any
> > content/article that touches Hindu nationalism brings in armies of
> > dogged cyber flame warriors.
> >
> > The political activism of Shiv Sainiks in Orkut, which tops the list
> > of social networking sites in India with 12.8 million unique vistors
> > is only a pointer to a larger Hindutva project that aims to hijack the
> > cyberspace for its political ends.
> >
> > In the past Shiv Sainiks have done everything from vandalising cyber
> > cafes to blocking entire web communities for hosting 'disparaging and
> > objectionable' content. But if you search for Shiv Sena in Orkut you
> > will find dozens of Shiv Sena communities along with anti-Shiv Sena
> > sites. Interestingly the ant-SS kept mostly alive by Hindu's who may
> > be supporters of BJP but can't stand the Maratha nationalism.
> >
> > The Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been in Orkut since June 2005 and
> > currently has some 45,565 members. A well organised community which
> > also has the technical ability to provide members with SMS update. The
> > VHP at the time of writing this article had some 11,563 members. The
> > BJP supporters group also in Orkut has a strength of 21,023. The
> > National Development Front (NDF) currently known as the Popular Front
> > of India (PFI), a political party suspected of harbouring Islamist
> > agenda has 545 members.
> >
> > For the comfort of the Left there's an unofficial CPI(M) community
> > with 619 members which suffers from lack of any active debate and
> > entry of fake profiles who carry out ideological sabotage. If you look
> > at Orkut communities little more closely you will find it a virtual
> > forest of fake profiles and pseudo communities. The profile of Praveen
> > Togadia for example lists Dawood Ibrahim as a community that he
> > joined.
> >
> > The activism of Sangh Parivar's cyber sympathisers should be read
> > together with the massive online campaign that the BJP has unleashed
> > through the Advani cult website www.lkadvani.in and the www.bjp.org.
> > The newly released and much-hyped IT Vision Document of the party
> > establishes a broader theoretical framework for cyber politics.
> >
> > It is easy to view the BJP's new IT vision document in the perspective
> > of techno-nationalism, where public policies that target strategic
> > industries (in this case the IT industry) are given governmental
> > support. The party's open support for Free and Open Software (FOSS)
> > and the promise to bring about standardisation in open source
> > computing has been generally welcomed by the Indian Freedom Software
> > community that prides itself on its stand against the greed of
> > techno-capitalism.
> >
> > As a party with a prounounced techno-ideological goal of becoming the
> > most high-tech political outfit, the BJP is ensuring that its action
> > matches the words by moving its entire IT infrastructure into the
> > realm of Open Source - In the words of Prodyut Bora, the national
> > convenor of the BJP's Information Technology cell: to create an entire
> > enterprise IT ecosystem using only FOSS. So the party uses OpenVZ for
> > Server Virtualisation, Qmail and Squirrelmail for emails, Ubuntu
> > interface for desktops and Joomla for web content management.
> >
> > The BJP is miles ahead of its political competitors when it comes to
> > thought and action on the possibilities of harnessing the
> > possibilities that the information society and the discreet charm of
> > the power that it provides.
> >
> > To be fair on the BJP the IT Vision document is not short on
> > great/grandiose ideas (even if some of them looks recycled) that can
> > tranform our nation like a national digital highway, unrestricted
> > VoIP, a special rural IT infrastructure christened Digital Gram Sadak
> > and a programme to help the marginalised sections of people enjoy
> > fruits of IT-enabled development. Also clubbed together are
> > techno-nationalist concerns reflected in the promise to promote the
> > domestic IT hardware industry and the domestic hosting industry. The
> > party promises that it will make India equal to China in every IT
> > parameter in five years.Though one is not very clear whether the IT
> > parameter also includea the level of freedom that the country's cyber
> > dissidents and netizens are currently enjoying.
> >
> > All this is well and good and reveals the Sangh Parivar’s bleeding
> > liberal info-tech heart.
> >
> > But read it closer and you cannot but arch your eyebrows. The BJP
> > wants to set up an independent body - Digital Security Agency
> > exclusively for cyber warfare, cyber counter terrorism and the cyber
> > security of national digital assets. One can understand the cyber
> > counter-terrorism and cyber security part of the declaration. But what
> > is cyber warfare? Did they mean to say counter-cyber warfare and
> > suffered a Freudian keyboard slip? No sane country in the world is
> > likely to set up a body for Cyber Warfare - the unofficial stink job
> > of spy agencies and misguided techno-Jihadi's.
> >
> > Then there is the new technology subdomain to bolster BJP's
> > ideological backbone of cultural nationalism. The use of IT to
> > protection of India's priceless cultural and artistic heritage. Good
> > so long as it is used to digitise ancient text archives, document
> > artforms and give fillip to dying languages. Scary when you think of
> > the potential to be used by self-imposed guardians of culture, muzzle
> > free press, gag bloggers and other cyber dissidents.
> >
> > The pivot of this digital revolution will be a Multipurpose National
> > ID Card that will integrate all identities (Electoral ID, PAN and
> > Driving License) into one common identity: Citizen Identification
> > Card. The project which was the brain child of NDA's Obsessive
> > Compulsive Neurosis with our nationalistic identity and disregard for
> > citizen's privacy. The vision document claims that the project has
> > been dumped by the UPA government. But the claim is far from true. The
> > UPA set up the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) in
> > January this year.
> >
> > The BJP now says it will combine the offices of the Registrar General
> > of the Census of India and that of the UIAI to create a Citizenship
> > Regulatory Authority of India (CRAI) which would maintain the National
> > Register of Citizenship. The CRAI would have a 24x7 Online presence
> > and enable government, law enforcement and ‘authorised’ private
> > institutions to let their computer systems 'look up' the MNIC database
> > in realtime. Leave the government institutions, but who is going to
> > ‘authorise’ private institutions to run a check on our privacy?
> >
> > "The amended Citizenship Act would make it mandatory under the law for
> > all citizens to acquire an MNIC and parents of newly born infants
> > would have to apply for one for their child, immediately after the
> > baby's birth," says the vision document. I hope there will be some
> > realistic time to cut the umbilical cord or tie a nappy.
> >
> > http://cheekyzero2.blogspot.com
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:45:54 +0000
> > From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose
> >       National        Identity Cards-105
> > To: reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID:
> >       <65be9bf40903241645i3c3c90c3lf4b37804f79029b0 at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
> >
> > http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar1509/at01
> >
> > BJP takes up ID-card issue as poll plank
> > Spl Correspondent
> >
> > NEW DELHI, March 14 – BJP’s new IT vision envisages according top
> > priority to detect illegal migrants by re-jigging the UPA’s brainchild
> > programme Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) to create a
> > new authority, Citizenship Regulatory Authority of India (CRAI) by
> > amending the Citizenship Act of 1955. The national ID plan is a key
> > component of the Party’s IT Vision,” declared Opposition leader and
> > Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP, LK Advani releasing the IT Vision
> > ‘Transforming Bharat’.
> >
> > The release function was attended by national president, Rajnath
> > Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Jaswant Singh, Arun Shourie, Ravi Shankar Prasad
> > and Arun Jaitely, among others. The man behind the Project is Assamese
> > IT professional Pradyut Bora, who heads the BJP’s IT cell.
> >
> > Addressing the function, Advani said that security concern continues
> > influenced by the problem of to be illegal migrants. “There are an
> > estimated 1-2 crore illegal Bangladeshis in the country,” he
> > contended.
> >
> > Castigating the UPA Government for not doing anything, Advani charged
> > that in a way the Government of India was colluding with them.
> >
> > The centrepiece of the implementation of the BJP’s IT Vision is the
> > Multi-purpose Identity Card (MIC), a programme started by the then NDA
> > Government. The party also pooh-poohed the attempt of the UPA
> > Government to introduce the (UIAI).
> >
> > “Only in January did the UPA Government make a token attempt to be
> > seen as responsive on this issue, when it set up UIAI, as an attached
> > office under the aegis of the Planning Commission,” the document said.
> >
> > Against this slipshod and half-hearted attempt of the UPA Government,
> > a future BJP-led NDA Government would give this programme topmost
> > priority.
> >
> > “We would amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to combine the offices of
> > register General if Census of India and that of the UIAI to set up a
> > CRAI. The amended Citizenship Act would make it mandatory
> >
> > under law for all citizens to acquire an MNIC, and parents of newly
> > born infants would have to apply for one for their child immediately
> > after the baby’s birth.
> >
> > It would be responsible for maintaining a National Register of
> > Citizenship (NRC), and keeping it current up to the minute.
> >
> > Based on the BRC, CRAI would issue each citizen an MNIC with a unique
> > Citizen Identification Number (CIN). CRAI would maintain 24X7 online
> > presence and enable Government, law enforcement agencies and private
> > institutions to let their computer system ‘look up’ the MNIC database
> > in real time, the document proposes.
> >
> > The BJP promises to complete the MNIC rollout within three years of
> > taking office, the Vision Document promises.
> >
> > Earlier, introducing the Project, Arun Shourie said that IT Vision is
> > part of the agenda of good governance. The emphasis is on technology
> > for people. He also explained the benefits that would be derived from
> > the new IT policy and some of its highlights.
> >
> > Recalling the initiatives taken by the NDA regime in the IT sector, he
> > said the new policy would help in telemedicine, health, and education,
> > besides other sectors. The document promises to re-orient the IT
> > sector by empowerment of rural India.
> >
> > Advani promised to take internet literacy to the country’s 6 lakh
> > villages leading to creation of 1.25 crore new jobs. The BJP promised
> > distribution of laptops to I crore students at interest free loans.
> >
> > Meanwhile, the BJP national president inaugurated the new look BJP
> > website (www.bjp.org).
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:48:13 +0000
> > From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Lawyer-client privilege can't stop
> >       surveillance,   says House of Lords
> > To: reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID:
> >       <65be9bf40903241648w615029fdmafa070a6bcc4b6dc at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > http://www.out-law.com/page-9897
> >
> > Lawyer-client privilege can't stop surveillance, says House of Lords
> >
> > OUT-LAW News, 23/03/2009
> >
> > The state is allowed to bug communication between lawyers and their
> > clients, the House of Lords has said. The UK's highest court ruled
> > that spy law the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) allows
> > lawyers' conversations to be bugged.
> >
> > Lawyers are allowed to withhold the details of communication with
> > their clients from the police, prosecutors or courts. This
> > long-established right is designed to allow a client to receive full
> > and proper legal advice. Under legal professional privilege they can
> > tell their lawyer the full facts of a situation without fear of the
> > communications ending up as evidence against them.
> >
> > RIPA is the law which governs secret surveillance, outlining what the
> > state can and cannot do to obtain information.
> >
> > Solicitor Manmohan Sandhu was charged at Antrim Magistrates' Court
> > with incitement to murder and intending to pervert the course of
> > justice. The evidence against Sandhu consisted of recordings of
> > conversations he had with clients in a room in Antrim police station.
> >
> > Sandhu claimed that it was against the law for police to record his
> > discussions with his clients because of legal professional privilege.
> > A Divisional Court backed his claim, but the case was appealed to the
> > House of Lords.
> >
> > Lord Carswell in the House of Lords said that RIPA does allow for the
> > surveillance of privileged communications.
> >
> > "In its natural and ordinary sense [RIPA] is capable of applying to
> > privileged consultations and there is nothing in its wording which
> > would operate to exclude them," he wrote in his ruling. "It seems to
> > me unlikely that the possibility of RIPA applying to privileged
> > consultations could have passed unnoticed [in Parliament]. On the
> > contrary, it is an obvious application of the Act, yet no provision
> > was put in to exclude them."
> >
> > Lord Carswell said that legal professional privilege cannot be
> > absolute, that it has to have exceptions. "If it were not possible to
> > exercise covert surveillance of legal consultations where it is
> > suspected on sufficiently strong grounds that the privilege was being
> > abused, the law would confer an unjustified immunity on dishonest
> > lawyers," he wrote.
> >
> > "There may be other situations where it would be lawful to monitor
> > privileged consultations, for example, if it is necessary to obtain
> > information of an impending terrorist attack or to prevent the
> > threatened killing of a child," said Lord Carswell. "The limits of
> > such possible exceptions have not been defined and I shall not attempt
> > to do so, but they could not exist if the rule against surveillance of
> > privileged consultations were absolute."
> >
> > Lord Carswell also said that the Code explaining RIPA suggests that
> > the law does cover privileged communication.
> >
> > "The Code makes detailed provision for obtaining authorisation for
> > monitoring consultations covered by legal professional privilege," he
> > said. "It was laid before and approved by Parliament, but no point
> > appears to have been taken that RIPA did not cover such consultations.
> > It would be surprising at least that no objection was made to the
> > inclusion of those provisions in the Code if it was thought that
> > Parliament had not intended that the consultations be covered by
> > RIPA."
> >
> > "Parliament intended that the covert surveillance provisions of RIPA
> > should extend to the type of lawyer/client and doctor/patient
> > consultations which are ordinarily protected by legal professional
> > privilege," he said.
> >
> > Because of the Divisional Court's initial finding that RIPA could not
> > justify such surveillance, though, two of the Lords expressed concern
> > that the Government had carried on regardless.
> >
> > Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers said that the court "made a finding
> > of law against the Secretary of State. She chose not to appeal against
> > that finding. In those circumstances it was not open to her to
> > consider as a matter of policy whether to "take the steps necessary to
> > remedy the concern identified by the Divisional Court". The position
> > was simply that unless and until she took the appropriate steps she
> > could not lawfully continue to carry out surveillance on legal
> > consultations in prisons or police stations".
> >
> > Lord Neuberger of Abbostbury also said that he was concerned at the
> > apparently illegal survillance.
> >
> > "Having decided not to appeal the Divisional Court's decision that
> > surveillance of privileged and private consultations under the present
> > regime is unlawful, the Secretary of State should have ensured that
> > such surveillance did not take place or she should have promptly
> > changed the regime so as to comply with the Divisional Court's
> > decision," he said. "Unless no surveillance of privileged and private
> > consultations has been going on for the past year in the United
> > Kingdom (which appears most unlikely), this strongly suggests that the
> > Government has been knowingly sanctioning illegal surveillance for
> > more than a year. If that is indeed so, to describe such a state of
> > affairs as "regrettable" strikes me as an understatement."
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 5
> > Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:57:26 +0000
> > From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Bush Surveillance Policies Live On In Obama
> >       White   House
> > To: reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID:
> >       <65be9bf40903241657i1015ef4k1733642a985158ce at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > Dear all
> >
> > The article below seems interesting. Unfortunately I could not access
> > the article because it is only available to subscribers. I would be
> > grateful  to anyone on the list who subscribes to the National Journal
> > and is willing to share this article with us.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Taha
> >
> >
> >
> > http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20090321_6471.php
> >
> > SURVEILLANCE: OBAMA AND THE ISSUES
> > Bush Surveillance Policies Live On In Obama White House
> > The new president has changed his tune from the campaign trail on some
> > surveillance policies.
> >
> > by Shane Harris
> >
> > Saturday, March 21, 2009
> >
> > Barack Obama began backing off his opposition to Bush-era surveillance
> > policies while running for president last year. Now that he's in the
> > Oval Office, he has shown no intention of turning back or taking a new
> > direction.
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > reader-list mailing list
> > reader-list at sarai.net
> > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> >
> >
> > End of reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 62
> > *******************************************
> >
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