Under daily observation from thousands of surveillance cameras mounted everywhere from street corners to taxicabs to public parks, Britons rank among the most-watched people on Earth. But a new government plan is poised to take the gaze of this nation’s security services dramatically deeper: letting them examine the text messages, phone calls, e-mails and Web browsing habits of every person in the country.

The “snooping” proposal set to be presented in Parliament later this year is sparking an uproar over privacy in Britain, fueling a debate over the lengths to which intelligence agencies should go in monitoring citizens — a debate that has resonance on both sides of the Atlantic.

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1. Pageantmaster [KJS to Coventry] wrote: Another coalition own goal, following pastygate, the granny tax, gay marriage and now North Korean surveillance of its citizens.  Is there some fast backpeddling going on? Both Cranmer and Charles Moore point out how out of touch the coalition are becoming. April 3, 7:19 pm | [comment link]

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