Freedom Not Fear are organizing a second International Action Day, to be held in as many capital cities across the world, to protest against the “security craze” that is leading to the erosion of civil liberties in so many supposedly liberal states worldwide. Their day of action last year lead to protests held in more than a dozen countries and it is hoped that more will come together this year to express their opposition to the creep of surveillance and controls implemented by their governments.

Whether it’s huge new databases to collect our data, worryingly unsafe ID cards, a great deal of intercepted emails and phone calls, or just the continuing spread of CCTV cameras all around us, the trends in our own green and pleasant land are extremely worrying, as the Convention on Modern Liberty highlighted earlier this year. Even for those who do think that security concerns should influence our decisions on information and privacy restrictions, worries over the efficiency of such measures (only 9% of the 500,000 requests for interception of data helps with convictions, for example) as well as the enormous potential for abuse created by these new schemes should encourage us to take a good look at the direction we in the UK are heading and what we should be doing about it. Those who want to get involved can take a look at the Freedom Not Fear website for the protest to be held in London here.

(hat-tip NO2ID)