why we should all become internal security threats

[Peter Presland]

Roy talks with Laura about ...... why we should all become internal security threats.

Seems to me that, in large measure, that is exactly how the general population of the UK/US - and probably elsewhere are already viewed by the 'National Security State' - and especially so if you have the temerity to get involved with something like DPF.

I make strenuous efforts to avoid paranoia but two things have happened to me over the past couple of years that give me pause.

1. I applied for one of 5 vacancies on a County Police Authority. That's a body charged with a small measure of public oversight of a police force - in reality they tend to behave more like the PR divisions of their respective forces and I would certainly have had something to contribute on that score. I had served on one some 20 years ago in my orthodox establishment apologist days; I gained considerable experience liaising with the police at senior level during the campaign against the UK Hunting Act (I was a Regional Chairman) and coordinated face to face visits to all 48 Chief Constables from 2001-2004; I had the time needed and I live in a Division with with no current representation. An FOI request reveals that I did not make it to first interview because I did not pass initial security vetting - hey ho - I'm a security risk it seems.
2. About 6 months ago my telephone started behaving differently. It is a digital cordless with 3 handsets and a base station. About 3-5 times daily the base station emits a brief, barely audible warble - never done that before in over 5 years of continuous use. I've done a lot of internet digging but nothing concrete. However that, together with what have become fairly regular 'International' and 'number withheld' calls that are either silent or have odd echoey inchoate background noises to them but otherwise nobody there, leads me to suspect that the line is being monitored. I complained to BT about the calls, since I am ex-directory. Their explanation was that auto-diallers in India and elsewhere deliberately dial too many numbers so that tele-sales operators remain fully occupied - offered me a new number, otherwise nothing they could do - ho hum - plausible I suppose since 'official explanations' always are, but how come I get far more of those than properly connected sales calls, especially when I'm also registered with the tele-sales preference service as not wishing to receive ANY unsolicited calls?

Actually I don't much care if it IS being monitored. I can't prove it and 'They' know it. And I've got better things to do with my time than waste it on what - shock horror - I've come to regard as relative trivia. Different matter if I COULD prove it and stood any chance of causing some serious official embarrassment over it but I'm afraid pigs are not about to start flying. I just work on the assumption that anything and everything I say - including pm's etc on DPF are susceptible to 'official' eavesdropping.

What I do know is that anyone who gets close to understanding how things are really run - and behaves in a fashion that risks effectively spreading such understanding - let alone organising to CHANGE the way things are run, is by definition, a 'Security Risk' in the eyes of 'The National Security State.