Privacy in a Pound Shop Police State

Authoritarian regimes seek to control and manipulate the flow of information. The methods used to suppress free speech range from subtle to brutal, and differ among countries, but all police states attempt to control information.

For our July meetup, our speaker will be discussing this issue, specifically the current state of free speech in the UK. Some folks believe we are already well on our way to authoritarianism, as monitoring and punishment of perfectly legal speech, in the broadest sense, is accelerating rapidly. Are we on the unstoppable end result of full-scale repression, of the type seen in say, China and North Korea?

Our speaker, Dr William Gale, a professor emeritus at the University of Leeds, will discuss the current precarious state of free speech here, and will explore some of the practical means by which private communications containing legal speech can continue reasonably unimpeded.

His own teaching and research focused on both engineering and the connections between this and public policy. He has signed the Campaign for Academic Freedom Declaration and participates in Academics for Academic Freedom.

Join CCC Manchester for stimulating and fresh conversation and debate! We’re a friendly, welcoming bunch, and many folks even choose to stay well past 4pm to continue the discussion! Grab a drink at the bar and come upstairs for some lively, open and honest chat. All good faith opinions are welcomed and respected. We don't charge for our events but we do ask for a small cash donation on arrival to help pay for expenses.