The most dangerous woman in Britain?

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]hami Chakrabarti, dubbed “the most dangerous woman in Britain” by the Sun, visited Warwick recently, as part of the speaker series for the PPE society.

The director of Liberty, the civil rights advocacy organisation, put an emphasis on some of the issues that have been making headlines recently, Edward Snowden, the Interview, Snapchat and transatlantic cycber-hacking are just a few of the privacy scandals that have gripped the world’s attention, especially around snooping into personal data.

“The innocent may not have anything to hide, but they may have something to protect” – a simple thought seems to have slipped the minds of David Cameron and Barack Obama. This week, they have postured encryption regulations that could see services like WhatsApp banned as they cannot be monitored for dubious activity. It is as ludicrous as it sounds.

Chakrabarti was extremely pessimistic about the way in which surveillance has been used in Britain over the last 50 years. Since the war, the effort to regulate undercover police and the secret service in her opinion, has been reduced. This has ruined the lives of ordinary people in the reach of “national security.” It seems to be a con – a way to protect the interests of those that exist in the shadows like a poorly shot James Bond film.

But the shadows are disappearing and the internet is being illuminated by the hackers. “I think Ed Snowden was a hero” gaining respect from an audience that were taken aback by Chakrabarti’s honesty.

Privacy, nor freedom of speech is an absolute – it is a right that we need to protect.”

However, in the search for votes, as our industrialised democracy piles its way into another election of the political landscape again, we have to remain informed.

Shami Chakrabati is the most dangerous woman in Britain at the moment because she is providing the keys to a door that has been locked and bolted by the government. Are you ready to open it?
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Photo: flickr/chrisjohnbeckett