Why is it that I don’t get a coherent view of what’s happening from my papers and telly? I want to see dots joined up- stories in one part of a paper make reference to related stories in another part. And I want to see a clear presentation of cause and effect- if you let x happen then Y will occur.
For example, Karlin Lillington has done great work revealing the level of information retained by telecoms firms at the order of the government.
As you can read here, Michael McDowell first announced that he had plans to bring in legislation to force companies to store info on people’s phone, mobile and internet use for years longer than any other european country. He justified this plan by saying that Europe was making him do it. Though Ireland was one of the most pushy members trying to get the EU Telecommunications Council to propose such changes in the first place.
The Bill was said to be at a consultative stage, though the only people the Department of Justice actually consulted while drafting the Bill were the Garda Siochana. That consultation, it was swiftly clear, was a sham. (Though the same really could be said about any ‘consultation’ period between a state body and the rest of the world.)
Then a new twist. It turned out that the Bill was really just a method of putting on the statute books an already existing data retention regime.
The State has had a secret data retention regime for almost a year, after the Cabinet confidentially instructed telecommunications operators to store traffic information about every phone, fax and mobile call for three years. “The Data Protection Commissioner, Mr Joe Meade, revealed that the former minister for public enterprise, Ms O’Rourke, issued secret directions for data retention when a dispute arose between the operators and his office over how long they should hold such data.
(from Karlin Lillington in the Irish Times, sub required.)
And now today I see, in the Times again, that our attempt to export this kind of plan to the rest of the EU has floundered on the grounds that it “could contravene the European Convention on Human Rights”.
Now that the Morris tribual has shown us what a trustworthy, transparent and reliable police force we have, why doesn’t anyone ask if we still have no fear of them misusing the Rights-breaking powers the Minister for Justice has given them?
Where is my joined up thinking here?
(As a post script, am I the only one in the world who wonders what the source was of the Evening Herald’s story that criminals had put a €300,000 contract out on the garda in the recent Post Office shooting? It helpfully drowns out criticism of the force to switch attention to an alleged crminal menace, plotting against the sturdy yeomen of the state. Particularly as Crime Correspondants haven’t been anything other than Garda Spokesmen for years anyway.)