Slashdot Mirror
Europe Moves To Track Phone and Net Use
An anonymous reader writes with a NYTimes piece on the early moves by European governments to implement an EU data retention directive. The governments of Germany and the Netherlands are initially proposing much more stringent programs than the EU directive requires. For example, the German proposal "would essentially prohibit using false information to create an e-mail account, making the standard Internet practice of creating accounts with pseudonyms illegal." The Times notes that, early days as it is, nevertheless some people involved in the issue are "concerned about a shift in policy in Europe, which has long been a defender of individuals' privacy rights."
> dammed if you do, dammed if you don't
"Obstructed" if you do, "obstructed" if you don't. Superb Enlgish, I suppose!
dam1 (dm) n. 1.a. A barrier constructed across a waterway to control the flow or raise the level of water. b. A body of water controlled by such a barrier. 2. A barrier against the passage of liquid or loose material, as a rubber sheet used in dentistry to isolate one or more teeth from the rest of the mouth. 3. An obstruction; a hindrance. --dam tr.v. dammed, damming, dams. 1. To hold back or confine by means of a dam. 2. To close up; obstruct: He tried to dam his grief. See Synonyms at hinder1. [Middle English, probably from Old English *damm.] --dam"mer n.
Pissing-in-his-pants