Britain adopts Fascism
- Newspapers that "misbehave" would be finded up to $1.5 million.
- Newspaper Internet sites and political Bloggers could be targeted by Big Brother for daring to publish ideas not approved by the all-powerful State.
Police State - The Conservative Party controlled British government is cracking down on freedom of the press and of free speech.
Britain's newspapers are urgently considering whether to sign up to the new system agreed by political leaders on Monday in the wake of a phone-hacking scandal at the now defunct Rupert Murdoch-owned News of the World tabloid.
The new watchdog, underpinned by law, would have the power to issue harsh sanctions on misbehaving publications, including fines of up to 1 million pounds ($1.5 million, 1.2 million euros).
While the Leveson Inquiry into press standards resulting from the hacking scandal did not cover online publishing, the new royal charter hammered out by political leaders specifically covers "news-related" websites too, sparking uncertainty reports the Global Post.
Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini with Leader Oswald Mosley (right) during Mosley's visit to Italy in 1936 |
Bigger Brother: Total surveillance comes to UK
In the UK, the chances are you're being watched. It has more CCTV cameras per person than almost any other nation on earth. And now the government is planning to cast its intrusive eye over online activity, phone calls and text messages, all under the guise of an anti-terror law.
In recent years, the authorities have taken a growing interest in prosecuting people for comments made on the Internet.
Meanwhile newspapers have railed that details of court rulings preventing them from publishing stories about celebrities have been openly circulated online, effectively making a mockery of the rulings.
Though the Department for Culture, Media and Sport claimed that small-scale bloggers and comments on Twitter and Facebook would not be subject to the new royal charter regulating publishers, campaigners feared that the new system could still be ambiguous.
"It won't affect bloggers," a DCMS spokesman told AFP.
"What Leveson was talking about was newspapers -- national and local -- and newspaper-type websites. It's not people who are writing a blog." BULLSHIT. They are expanding Police State power to the Internet.
To be considered a news publisher under the charter, outlets must meet each of three tests.
They must be "publishing in the course of business"; publish news-related material written by a range of authors; and be subject to editorial control.
National and local papers and their online editions fall under the law, as do lifestyle magazines and "online-only edited 'press-like' content providers", such as the Huffington Post, said the DCMS.
The new watchdog will also be able to force publications to issue upfront apologies for inaccurate or intrusive stories, as well as offering a free arbitration system for victims.
Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of the Index on Censorship freedom of expression campaign body, said Tuesday that despite the politicians' claims, the "loose definition" of a publisher would "undoubtedly have a chilling effect on everyday people's web use".
"Bloggers could find themselves subject to exemplary damages in court... This mess of legislation has been thrown together with alarming haste: there's little doubt we'll repent for a while to come."
Paul Staines, who runs the well-respected Guido Fawkes blog about British politics, argued that the new plans were unworkable.
"I don't see how they can regulate the worldwide web when the servers are based in other countries," he told BBC radio.
"My servers are in California. Are they going to send the royal navy gunboats to North Beach, California to pound the servers?
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