Politics live blog | Politics | guardian.co.uk

[Ben Laurie]

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 2:22 PM, Ian Batten <igb at batten.eu.org> wrote:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2012/sep/26/nick-clegg-lib-dem-conference-live#block-5062e2cc58f9bdd2eeba0268
>
> But Browne alarmed the Lib Dem faithful when he attempted to illustrate the
> balance between state power and individual liberty by giving the example of
> an "elderly widow living in fear of marauding teenage gangs". If you were
> that widow, you would "happily trade off having your phoned tapped in
> exchange for a strong police presence", he suggested.
>
>
> Hands up anyone who can produce a use-case in which tapping elderly widows'
> phones is of benefit when it comes to protecting them from marauding teenage
> gangs.

I think you missed the point - they provide a police presence in
exchange for you getting your phone tapped.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket.