Slashdot Mirror
Dutch Wiretaps: Too Many To Bother Counting
Brenno de Winter writes "While the U.S. wiretapped 1,350 phonelines, the Netherlands managed to wiretap approx. 10,000 phonelines in 1999. With the new Telecom Act the Dutch government could wiretap even easier and are doing it so much they cannot count it anymore. Bits of Freedom (BOF) requested statistics under the Dutch Freedom of Information Act and were denied it since it was to hard to gather the data. Even though telecom and internet operators regularly send bills for operational wiretapping costs, the ministry of Justice claims it doesn't keep account of the numbers. What scares you more a government that wiretaps or a government that wiretaps and doesn't know what it is wiretapping?"
People always have these weird ideas about the Netherlands. Whatever made you think that we have 'virtually no laws'? We have countless laws, rules, and regulations, that control and regulate *everything* in life from the color of my front door to the height of my living room, from the locations where I'm allowed to park my bike to the time at which I can go to work.
And sure, I can ignore most of that and get away with it, but let's face it, this is a country where even the lowliest wretch can cause you misery simply because you broke some stupid, irrelevant "rule" that somehow became "law". And this is on all levels of society: I distinctly remember the asshole back at university who only sold required study materials during those hours you were supposed to be in class. If you came 3 seconds late, he would smile, say "rules are rules" (ie. not even a "sorry"), and ignore you, even if your life depended on it.
As for the often-heard allegation that this country is awash in drugs, that's just silly. Just because there is a large criminal circuit that is apparently allowed to go about its business unchecked, does not mean that every dutch citizen is a drug user. The percentage of the population using drugs is lower than in most other countries.
Not everyone here appreciates those 'liberal' and 'tolerant' policies. It has let us to a society where nobody gives a shit about anything anymore. The streets are littered with trash, buildings are covered with graffiti, and noone gives a damn. The community has more or less fallen apart, and we are now a collection of uninterested individuals.
Comparing with the United States (which I've visited), I find the US overbearingly nationalistic (what is it with those flags every 20 meters?), but people *do* care about things, which is good, and I liked the fact that its cities and countryside were so clean. Reflect on that for a moment...
In a recent poll, over half of the people in the Netherlands were *not* proud of their country. I'm one of those people not proud of it (anymore). I guess it stopped feeling like "my country" a long time ago. Now it is a country populated by disinterested dorks who know every letter of the law but none of its spirit; people who'd spit on you if you lay bleeding on the pavement.