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?"
Their incompetence means a reduced efficiency, which they have to make up for with many more wiretaps. Or something like that.
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
And then there's the U.S., a basically free country, which has too many laws to count, and plenty of laws which contradict other laws, and many times more population.... It's the country most lived in and hated by vocal Slashdotters --
You're painting with a broad brush. I've never seen any "vocal Slashdotters" saying anything about "hating" their country.
most of the non-vocal probably disagree, with the vocal ones, but who can prove that, either way.
In other words, unless someone specifically says otherwise, their silence should be taken as agreement with you and your own opinions.
(I am not the typical vocal Slashdotter, when it comes to my views of the U.S. Perhaps, warts and all, I love my country more than most.)
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Mere flag waving doesn't make you a patriot.