Big Brother Watch

I’ve just been contacted by a UK organisation calling itself ‘Big Brother Watch’, which claims to be a ‘think-tank’ asking for my help and support. Now the UK already has Liberty, Privacy International, No2ID, No-CCTV, not to mentioned the Surveillance Studies Network, and various other campaigns and organisations, so why this new one? Of course anyone and their dog can call themselves a ‘think-tank’ but Big Brother Watch is being more than a little disingenuous. It is basically a creation of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, which in turn is a fake ‘popular’ pressure group, and a front for neoliberal economic think-tanks like the Adam Smith Institute, various large industrial interests and the most free-market wing of the Conservative Party – you can find out more about what they are really about here. Now, if those are your politics, and you are happy with who backs them, then you are most welcome to support this new creation, but they aren’t my politics and I won’t be offering any support for such front organisations.

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Author: David

I'm David Murakami Wood. I'm currently Canada Research Chair at the University of Ottawa. I like reading, cycling, running, and I am slowly coming to the realization of the limits of getting older.

3 thoughts on “Big Brother Watch”

  1. Sorry to read this here, David.

    My initial funding comes from the TPA, yes. But I don’t think it’s fair to describe us in the way that you have done.

    Our position on the police, here:
    http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2009/10/why-we-cant-have-unfettered-trust-in-the-police.html

    Or on Tory councils, here:
    http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2009/10/wandsworth_council_are_absuing_their_powers.html
    http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2009/09/could-nottingham-be-the-first-of-many.html

    Did you have a chance to look at the site before this post?

  2. Hi Alex,

    Of course I’ve read the site (or most of it), and I’ve no doubt that personally you are as well-intentioned as you appear to be. And as I’ve said, I have no objection to people supporting you who wouldn’t be attracted to supporting say, Liberty or Privacy International because they’re too ‘left-wing’ for them. I’ll even link your site from here. But please don’t expect me to be supportive of The Taxpayer’s Alliance – they are not an honest or credible organisation.

  3. Pingback: Europe’s Surveillance State « notes from the ubiquitous surveillance society

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