Slashdot Mirror
NZ Government Pushes For Wide Spying Powers
lim-bim-tim-wim writes: "The New Zealand government is planning to introduce powerful legislation to enable the Police, GCSB and Security Intelligence Service to hack into computers without the knowledge of the owner. Owners will also have to give up cryptographic keys and passwords on demand. ISPs and telecom companies will have to provide backdoors for government agencies. So how does this affect you? It appears this has been brought about by pressure from the FBI. So maybe your country is next. There is a short story at www.stuff.co.nz "
How many people out there with a computer are actually terrorists? How many people have been caught plotting a terrorist activity by the FBI using something like a network sniffer or Carnivore? Pedophiles, on the other, have been caught under certain circumstances. I would love to see pedophiles and terrorist get thrown in jail, but to give up everyone's right to privacy and to make potential criminals out of everybody is not the way to do it. I will NEVER consent to this type of fascist orwellian abuse of power. I will stop surfing the net alltogether should this happen. I know what you're thinking... "yea yea, whatever dude." However, I'm dead serious on this one. I value my freedom and my privacy more than anything and no I don't have anything to hide and I'm no criminal, however I do believe I am entitled to certain rights! On the other hand, I can only stand in horror and dismay at the eroding freedoms in the US. I posted a rant on Kuro5hin called Has the US government become to hungry for power? In this rant I pointed out some abuses by corporations and government both overseas and on the local front. I encourage you to read it.
If the FBI indeed pressured the NZ government to do this then a similar plan is in effect here. I mean we do have carnivore, but to have a backdoor to everyone's PC? That is an Orwellian nightmare! What about fourth amendment protection against searches and seizures? If they can go into your computer at will, the fourth is standing on it's last leg. Wait, civil forfeiture laws already have the fourth amendment on it's last leg. Well, so much for the fourth.
My point here is, if you give the government and inch, it will take a mile. This is an attempt by government to make potential criminals out of it's citizens. If everyone is suspect then the police don't have to justify a warrant. This is the end of your civil liberties buddy! It is sad that governments are using this technology to spy on their own citizens. What is more sad is that you buy into their lie and believe that government is doing this for your protection. It is doing this to have more control under the guise of "protecting the innocent." Sorry, I don't buy this and neither will anyone else with half a brain. Whether we can do anything about it is another story alltogther.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin