They’ve added a new sport to the Commonwealth Games: Internet lunacy. Until recently, Australia was clearly in the lead with ‘Clean Feed’, the program that forces ISPs to censor Web sites included on Government blacklists.

But, according to CNET, the, “U.K. government is considering the mass surveillance and retention of all user communications on social-networking sites, including Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo.” The article goes on to explain that, “the government still intends to have a consultation on whether to inspect and then store all Internet traffic data in a centralized government database.”

I’ve got one question.

Where did the citizens of the U.K. find these idiots? Please, I beg you, tell me this is some sort of hoax and that John Cleese will tear off his mask any moment now.

This kind of privacy violation is insane. Nobody would stand for the Government opening every piece of mail and copying it. Why would they think, even for a second, that doing it on the Internet is acceptable?

Then there’s a pesky little practical detail. Any twelve year old with a calculator could figure out that nobody can afford to retain all that data. It’s mind bogglingly cost prohibitive and to even suggest doing so demonstrates how completely out of touch UK politicians are.

Or maybe they really have added a lunacy event to the Commonwealth Games.