Slashdot Mirror
U.S. to Gain Access to EU Retained Data
shenanigans writes "After the EU recently ratified controversial data retention laws for ISPs and other telecommunication companies, it now looks like the US government will get full access to the data. From the article: 'US authorities can get access to EU citizens' data on phone calls, sms and emails, giving a recent EU data-retention law much wider-reaching consequences than first expected'. Apparently, the US has been calling members of the EU to 'ensure that the data collected [...] be accessible to them'."
Country A can't spy on its own citizens (legally), but country B can (because they are "foreigners"). Country B can't spy on its own citizens (legally), but country A can (because they are "foreigners"). Gee, I wonder how they'll solve that problem?
I'm starting to think I should just set up a web page and post my photograph, fingerprints, blood type, DNA records, phone conversations, credit-card, passport, travel history, social-security numbers, and real-time GPS coordinates. It would save alot of hassle and expense.
I know that a lot of people will disagree, but I think this is actually an argument in favor of a strong EU, rather than the other way around. If EU citizens got their act together and created more grass roots pressure groups to put pressure on Brussels, it would be easier to keep a united europe from being arm twisted by the US rather than so many small countries. Just remember how much respect the US has had for Danish wishes to keep Greenland a nuclear free zone...Or how much heed was paid to Blair's request to have steel import quotas not be applied to the UK in spite of the fact that he went out on a limb for them engaging his country in an illegal invasion on what were clearly false pretenses. Remember how Blair wanted token US participation in the climate change conference so as not to appear to come home empty handed? How much deference did he win on that one?
The fact is that to have your voice heard, you need to be an effective counterweight, and pack some clout. This doesn't mean that everything has to be turned into a childish pissing-contest, the way it so often is, but that you need to have enough clout to have your wishes taken into account in bilateral relations
It is EU citizens' responsibility to have this sort of policy reverted at the EU level, not the US's (just as it is US citizens who have to deal with the NSA's very liberal interpretation of wiretap laws...), but once a decision has been taken, the EU has more of a chance of having it be respected that a country with some 5 million inhabitants on its own, just like washington is taken more seriously at the international level than, say, Iowa would on its own.
EU-wide NGO's and parties are still in their infancy. I really hope they get their act together sooner rather than later, people too often forget that reverting any democratic deficit in the institutions has a lot to do with effectively using the conduits available. Democracy is a process you can't expect to get anything out of if you're not willing to put something into it.
Slashdot: news from nerds.
How about Yet Another Flamewar about EU citizens vs. their moronic governments and EU administration?
If a train station is a place where a train stops, what's a workstation?
Come on, they are terrorists, they are dumb, right? The only reason why they attack anybody is because they are evil, right? Plluuuueeeaaasssee.
I'd be surprised if with all this data retention and spying (both US and EU) there will be single terrorist caught *before* the act.
Guess how many terrorists have been caught by the London camera network - which was installed to track down terrorists. If you guessed "zero" you'd 100% correct. Instead that very camera network is now used to keep track of every vehicle that enters the inner city on London.
Somehow through the EU politicians get away with things that would be doomed to fail in any memberstate - well, maybe except Great Britain.
I wish we would gather the same kind of energy to fight poverty, and other more pressing social issues.
FOR HEAVENS SAKE WILL THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT - FUCK OFF!!!!! It's no bloody wonder the world wants to stick a bomb under the White House when these paranoid schizophrenic war mongering assholes will not leave you or anyone to live in peace. I beg and plead with every decent United States citizen to do the world a favor and oust these prats from turning everyone against you. Enough is enough - and trust me I will be doing the same on my side of the pond. Long live freedom.
I live in the EU, so naturally I'm concerned about this.. But: I don't care who reads my sms messages because frankly I expect them to be insecure. My phone calls themselves, yes I worry a little over that because it would enable social networks to be drawn up. But by far the biggest thing I was concerned about was my email, which accounts for well over 90% of my communications.
Then I remembered that I use web based email from a well known search engine who are based in the US. Isn't my data already within US jurisdiction?
(yes, I know TFA is refering to EU-ISP-owned data, but I think it's less of a sudden move than many realise)
The EU is here to stay. The three largest nations control it, without much democracy and the markets are closed. To gain access to the markets you either have to be a member or pay an insane fee.
Norway is not a member, so we pay a fee that is larger than Germany to the EU just to get access to their markets. Norway has 4 640 200 citizens, Germany got 83 251 851. In return we must also make all these directives a part of Norwegian law to ensure Norwegian corporations compete on equal terms and do not gain any advantage.
Norway can afford it, but most nations in Europe can not. They just bend over and hope to get accepted.
Not sure we have it any better outside and we have to follow all the madness they decide yet we have no way to influence the decisions of the EU.
I've stayed pro-US all my life, but the developments the past 5 years has made me even more skeptical to the US than the EU. I see both as a big threat to privacy.
The world is pretty much screwed the way I see it. I fear that there is no return.
So, tell me, how hard would it be to stage an armed coup? I hear the second amendment was crafted with just such a scenario in mind.
(I'm waiting for the FBI raids website known to harbour militant and anti-US sentiments headline tomorrow. This is my attempt to bring slashdot down, FYI)
There's already been a fight over data transfer from the EU to the US. EU privacy laws are strict and forbid leaking data to any place without the same protections. There were long negotiations ending in a fudge.
So is the EU simply ignoring the law this time?