Slashdot Mirror
Surveillance Update
Several things occurred within the past few days on the privacy/surveillance frontier. First, the EU Parliament decision we mentioned yesterday is being widely reported as an assault on privacy (the European press barely mentions the spam angle we covered yesterday). As far as I can tell, this decision will loosen the EU's protections against surveillance, but does not implement any spying itself - national governments are free to NOT spy on their citizens, in the (perhaps unlikely) event that they don't want to do so. In the U.S., the FBI will be increasing their general surveillance - that is, they'll be doing more surveillance unrelated to any suspected crime, using commercial databases, etc. We can expect the Bureau to be used for more overtly political uses in the future - spying on the not-in-power political parties is no longer prohibited and will, therefore, occur. The NYT has an interesting analysis. Finally, the Washington Post reports that banks will be creating a massive financial database/blacklist of terrorists, wife-beaters, anti-globalization protesters, etc.
I say we all flee to Mars to escape persecution. It's not so bad; I hear they have water there now...
We can expect the Bureau to be used for more overtly political uses in the future - spying on the not-in-power political parties is no longer prohibited and will, therefore, occur.
.... Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover enjoy a final, hearty laugh.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
maybe the russians won the cold war after all...
ah well, so be it, go for communism. I'd rather live with some communist quinquennial plan than with my Nortel stock...
Okay, who else read the Washington Post article about the "criminal database" and thought "oooh...fun place to insert records...of, say....John Ashcroft..."
Of course, I'm not advocating that...that would be illegal....
Spackler likes the FBI. Spackler is a good guy. Spackler thinks you are doing a great job. Spackler will be happy to give up all the rights his forefathers fought for so you can get off finding out if I masturbate or not. Spackler is your friend. Don't investigate Spackler.
2 days later: Sir, here is that report on that subversive Slashdot thing.
Everyone but Spackler is a commie.
Leading financial services firms here have formed a private database company that will compile information about criminals, terrorists and other suspicious people, for use in screening new customers and weeding out those who may pose a risk.
Obviously, that's the catch-all phrase for anti-globalization wife beaters who make intricate gadgets from tropical bamboo and powered by cocnut cream pies.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
Clowns to the political left of us Jokers to the right Here we are Stuck in the middle with EU . Sorry......
...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
Well, perhaps you didn't put them there, but did you shoot them when they got out of control?