The Conservatives want to ban messaging services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat. The reason given is because they are encrypted services, therefore they cannot be monitored. Apparently the recent terrorist attacks in Tunisia mean the process could be sped up.
In addition to this ban, search engines would be required to keep track of every search. As an aspiring writer, this could lead to many awkward early morning police raids, with the police standing above my bed, asking me why I searched for so much information about kidneys, the time I had to search for how to evade the police or perhaps the search I made about the best way to tear out a still beating heart.
All of these were searches I made while writing fiction, in order to make it seem as realistic as possible. It's called research. I know of other writers whose search history is going to be much worse than mine. The police are going to be kept very busy or at least the ones who still have a job after cutbacks.
While I agree that something needs to be done about terrorism I don't think this is it. I can't imagine one terrorist turning to his terrorist friend and declaring, 'well that's it then, Google are watching us, WhatApp is gone. We may as well give up and live a peaceful life instead'.
If I didn't know any better, I would think David Cameron just wants to snoop on everyone. So in that that case I have nothing to hide. I'm quite happy to share that my most recent WhatsApp conversations included informing a neighbour that I had taken her fridge in for her, discussing with someone how he's going to lose money due to the reduction in tax credits and telling someone else about a protest I attended. Do these things make me a criminal or worthy of being censored?
The reason I use WhatsApp is not because I'm conducting acts of terrorism. It's because it's free to use and I rarely have credit on my phone to text anybody. Although by all means, just take away all methods of free communication. Cut me and other people off from everybody we know. Many people live miles away from each other and use these free messaging services to stay in touch.