The Associated Press offers this interesting article on the difficulties that the British government and police are having in balancing national security and civil liberties. The article artfully addresses the parallels between the British struggle with this balance and the American experiences fighting terrorism and protecting individual rights after 9/11.

In the same way that police and other authorities were granted more expansive powers after 9/11 to fight terrorism, certain proposals in Britain are calling into question whether individual rights are being sacrificed in the name of fighting potentail suicide bombers. These proposed British initiatives include:

Britain's police argue that authorities should be allowed to hold suspects without charge for as long as three months — rather than the two weeks now allowed under terrorism laws — because the global phenomenon requires time and expertise to combat.

Police also want a new law making it a crime to withhold information on computer encryption and the right to suppress what was described as inappropriate Internet usage.