Sure, there's a bit of hyperbole in this thread, but the fact remains that democracies the world over are under pressures that experts on democracy are concerned about, let alone anyone in this thread. I don't know about you, but I want to keep my democracy - it may not be perfect, but it's better than any other form of government I'm aware of (and yes, I know there's plenty of scope to argue that most western democracies are actually oligarchies but my point remains.) Part of what concerns those experts is the slide towards surveillance states in many of those democracies. The UK is, if not leading the way in this area, certainly one of the leaders. Hence the OP, and hence the real worry, that is in no way unwarranted. Unless you have your own expertise on democracies to call on, to be able to dismiss this as a concern...?

A quote I saw a while back shows how over the top surveillance et al is in blighty.

"UK has 1% of world's population but 20% of its CCTV cameras. Experts have called for a halt in the spread of CCTV cameras. Britain is now being watched by a staggering 4.2million - one for every 14 people and a fifth of the cameras in the entire world."

Even when the govt is warned by EU or whomever that something it's doing is illegal, it just continues with it or changes the name of it to sneak it in under some other "laws".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_surveillance#United_Kingdom

That's because you have bizarro definitions of liberal and conservative?

Nothing new, actually. Same thing governments was trying to implement in Ukraine, China, Russia and many other countries. And they didn't succeed. They only boosted population's learning about TOR, I2P, Darknet, Proxy and other interesting things. For example, in Russia any local judge can block any site on the Internet and providers will have to block access to the site. Do you really think, that Russians stopped visiting this sites. Same for the Ukraine and China. Not that much actually. With the new leader NK changed significantly. On the other hand, in NK, at some point, had more democracy than SK. For example, miniskirts laws: http://kotaku.com/5991862/why-mini-skirts-could-become-illegal-in-south-korea

This law come in force 23rd march 2013. Can you provide examples of "unspeakable crimes against its citizens for the lulz" not from western propaganda, but from any reliable source? :) Because, you know, trusting west journalists and politicians after Saddam's weapon of mass destruction story is quite hard. :)

A shame that something so obvious needs to be stated, but it does. +1

UK and NSA 4ever!

At the same time the US kills net neutrality rules so Verizon and Comcast can dictate what you're allowed to access on the net and charge more for premium content sites should they so choose.

Some awful sources you cite there. Not only is there no real information but rather a lot of speculation and rumours (which can be true but more often than not are completely wrong), but the style how the gossip is presented is really awful.

I would prefer some more solid, well-written sources before discussing anything.

Just a small bit of argument. The Internet should be somewhat regulated, it should not be a law free space, if only to protect us. Now it all depends on the how much, how exactly, what to achieve, ...

Let me help you:

Conservative = Clinging to the past
vs
Progressive = Embracing everything new

----

Liberal = Minimal interference of the government
vs
Authoritarian = The leader decides for you

----

Social = redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor
vs
Unsocial = mine is mine

----

Lawful = Independent, strong jurisdiction
vs.
Unlawful = dependent, corrupt jurisdiction

----

Free = Laws that enable freedom
vs.
Non-Free = Laws that prohibit freedom

---

Summary: The UK Tories act somewhat conservative (although they changed their view towards gays marriage), somewhat liberal (except for security, there they are rather strict), somewhat social (but only on paper, not what they really do), mostly lawful and somewhat free (if it's about security or terrorism or just people who may not think exactly the same). What's so difficult to understand about it?

Btw. Are you a voter in the UK or not?

Hey, say what you will about NK, but at least they do good military parades. What do the poms do well?

What's wrong with the Independent article that was cited?

That's good enough for casual discussion, I think.

Invent the world wide web which your using to post that comment.

Come now, everyone knows it was Al Gore than invented the interwebz.

Your right, I should have put discover and colonise Australia. Also looking at the guys username we gave the world the first commandos. By the way the internet and the web are two completely different things that just happen to run together on modern computers

Well that's what happens when you leave left wingers in charge. You only believe what they want you to believe. You can only say what they tell you to say. No thoughts of your own.
The EU can walk of a fecking cliff. This country was better without their benefit scroungers, lefty politics and endless rules.