Slashdot Mirror
It's "1984" in Europe, What About Your Country?
An anonymous reader asks: "A few hours ago, the European parliament accepted a proposal '...on the retention of data processed in connection with the provision of public electronic communication services...'. Summarized: any data (internet connections, traffic, email, file sharing, SMS, phone calls) of 450 million people of Europe has to be collected by telcos, to be used by governments in their fight against 'crime and terrorism' ... oh, and child porn, of course. In Germany, over-the-sea reports are limited and usually do not include the latest developments in law and order, but since Slashdot has readers all over the world, I would like to ask: how is the status of YOUR country in terms of anti-terrorism-laws, observations and such? Any recommendations where one can still live free and unobserved in a non-nanny state?"
Obviously, English isn't your first language, so I've gotta ask - are you denying the holocaust in that first sentence?
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
we've been blanket-collecting signals intelligence since WW2
remember, junior g-men: you only need a warrant for the evidence you use in court!
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
Is ripping people's quotes out of context to make points a hobby of yours?
Someone mod this troll down.
-stormin
The Southern Baptist Convention has creationism. On Slashdot, we have porn.
So where do you draw the line to defend oneself? Handguns are OK, what about machine guns? What about tanks? What about anthrax or nuclear weapons? Sure, if Timmy the Meth Head goes crazy with his rifle, a few people are dead and he gets punished, but if he goes crazy with his Scud launcher or warhead, what then?
At some point you have to draw a line, and then you get regulation all over again. The only system you've ended up with is one with slightly fewer regulations than previously - and once you've made allowances for outlawing certain types of weapons, there's room for people to outlaw more types.
Maybe crime will go down if people can carry handguns, or maybe criminals will shoot first, then search the body. Maybe muggers will wire themselves with C4 and a dead-man's switch.
I don't think that relaxed gun laws are necessarily the solution to society's problems.
I yearn for you tragically. A. T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.