Subsequently, we learnt of the appalling treatment of the Lawrence family, who were “spied on” for four years by undercover officers tasked to find “dirt” on them in the aftermath of Stephen’s brutal murder in April 1993. This was the latest in a long list of covert policing disgraces in recent years.
For almost 80 years, Liberty has campaigned to protect civil liberties. Our right to privacy has always been high on our agenda – be it fending off ID cards or resisting the Snoopers’ Charter. Wholesale state snooping has global and profound implications not only for personal privacy but for free speech and democracy itself. That’s precisely why Liberty is taking legal action against the British Intelligence Services over their involvement in the surveillance scandal.
Politicians who claim that “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” lack imagination and seriously underestimate the threat to the Rule of Law and our hard-won rights and freedoms. Any one of us could become a “person of interest” to the authorities – just ask the Lawrence family.
With your support, we continue to put pressure on Ministers and an intelligence community which seems increasingly out of control.
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