RIP: No Privacy In the U.K.

jeffsenter writes "The NYTimes (free regis. req.) has an article on a new law being passed in the U.K., which 'goes further than the American plan unveiled on Monday in Washington, would make Britain the only Western democracy where the government could require anyone using the Internet to turn over the keys to decoding e-mails messages and other data.'" The RIP bill controversy has been going on for some months now, but it looks like the snoops are going to win.

Comments

The Baroness and the First Amend.

[Jim Tyre]

During the Paliamentary debate on July 13, Baroness Thornton nicely put in perspective what many outside of the U.S. (and too many here in the U.S.) think of the First Amendment:

It is beholden on noble Lords who are using the lobbying material and literature of that organisation to understand where it and its supporters are coming from. They do not want the technology to be available to all or for it to be safe. They would like to have the regime which exists in America, which is protected by the First Amendment and which has no constraints at all.

I do not want the industry to grow in this country under that regime because, in America, children are kidnapped. In America, there is no restriction on the paedophile activity which can take place. In America, there is no restriction on the Nazi propaganda, bomb-making and all the other things that can take place on the Internet because the authorities in America are hamstrung by the regime under which they work. I do not want the Internet in the rest of the world to operate under that regime. This country must take a lead in ensuring that that is not the case.

The First Amendment is not perfect, but statements like that should remind those of us in the U.S. to be thankful for what we have.