[No direct mention of ID cards or the Database State, so filing this one straight in "Civil Liberties". AJW]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ciety.html
Big Brother HAS gone too far ... and that's an ex-spy chief talking
By Matthew Hickley
Last updated at 1:16 AM on 02nd June 2009
The former head of MI6 has hit out at 'striking and disturbing' invasions of privacy by the Big Brother state.
Sir Richard Dearlove, who led the Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 to 2004, claimed some were an 'abuse' of the law.
He attacked the 'loss of liberties' caused by expanding surveillance powers and described some police operations as 'mind-boggling.'
The former spy chief joins a growing number of high-profile critics warning that individual freedom and privacy are being seriously eroded by the Government's disproportionate efforts to guard against terrorism.
Sir Richard was particularly critical of what he claimed were inadequate laws to regulate some surveillance powers.
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Sir Richard, who spoke out during a question-and-answer appearance in front of 800 people at the Hay on Wye Festival, was a career intelligence officer who joined MI6 in 1966.
He was in charge of the agency at the time of the September 11 attacks, and oversaw the response to the emerging threat from Al Qaeda.
When he left MI6 and became Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, officials said he would not be giving interviews or making public appearances.
But in recent months he has spoken at a number of events.
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