We have plenty to worry about, with the prospect of industrial spies snooping into our email, hackers, disgruntled employees and other vigilantes who want to know what we’re up to. And now we have one more to put on the list, and that’s the government.

The Times reported last Sunday that the Home Office has a plan to allow police throughout Britain to hack into your personal computer without a warrant. The Home Office was quick to deny the plan though, noting that such authority is already permitted under the Computer Misuse Act of 1990, and regulated under the Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). According to reports, such surveillance can be conducted by sending Trojans through email, WiFi eavesdroppping, or through the physical installation of a keystroke logger.

The Times’ story said that the EU’s Council of Ministers have adopted a plan to allow all member states to expand the scope of warrantless surveillance of PCs, and would allow member nations to request the surveillance from UK police.

Although the Home Office has tried to downplay the reports and has stated it has made no changes in surveillance rules, this type of intrusive snooping still deserves to get all the press and attention possible. No government should be engaged in warrantless snooping (an activity of which Mr. Bush was also fond), and the excuse of ”necessary because of 9/11″ is beginning to wear thin.  

The fact is though, the technology held by government snoops is no better than the technology used by private snoops, and so long as you have a properly configured firewall and email security software, chances are, they would not be able to access your computer remotely.