CHAPTER 3: THREATS
in fact the case. The truth is that the future always looks unpredictable and
complex because it hasn’t happened yet. We don’t feel the force of the
uncertainties felt by our predecessors. … At least some of the areas of concern
that I have highlighted tonight may turn out to be dogs that don’t bark. … On
the other hand, the dog you haven’t seen may turn out to be the one that bites
you.”3
3.6.
The moral is not that threats ought to be ignored: on the contrary, any credible threat
should be guarded against. The point is, rather, that claims of exceptional or
unprecedented threat levels – particularly if relied upon for the purposes of curbing
well-established liberties – should be approached with scepticism.
The importance of good order
3.7.
It was said in Chapter 2 that privacy is a prerequisite to individual security, selffulfilment and the maintenance of a thriving democratic society. So indeed it is: but
each of those things depends more directly still upon the population feeling safe,
secure and confident that the criminal law in all its aspects will be effectively enforced
against wrongdoers.
3.8.
The point may seem obvious, but by way of illustration:
3.9.
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4
(a)
A person who lives in fear of anti-social behaviour, online harassment,
neighbourhood drug gangs or persistent nuisance calls is patently unable to
experience individual security or self-fulfilment.
(b)
The trust in strangers on which civilised society depends is eroded by a
perception that cyber fraud is prevalent, that rogue tradesmen prey on the old
with impunity or that paedophiles flourish in the privacy of their homes.
(c)
The threat of terrorist atrocities curtails normal activities, heightens suspicion,
promotes prejudice and can (as the terrorist may intend) do incalculable
damage to community relations.
(d)
A perception that the authorities are powerless to act against external threats
to the nation, or unable effectively to prosecute certain categories of crime
(including low-level crime), can result in hopelessness, a sense of injustice and
a feeling that the state has failed to perform its part of the bargain on which
consensual government depends.
For such reasons, the law plainly states that the right to respect for private life and
correspondence can be overridden (where it is necessary and proportionate to do so)
in the interests of national security, public safety and the prevention of disorder or
crime.4
Lord Mayor’s Annual Defence and Security Lecture, Mansion House, (June 2012), para 6.
See 5.16 below.
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