Slashdot Mirror
Google May Close Gmail Germany Over Privacy Law
Matt writes "Google is threatening to shut down the German version of its Gmail service if the German Bundestag passes it's new Internet surveillance law. Peter Fleischer, Google's German privacy representative says the new law would be a severe blow against privacy and would go against Google's practice of also offering anonymous e-mail accounts. If the law is passed then starting 2008, any connection data concerning the internet, phone calls (With position data when cell phones are used), SMS etc. of any German citizen will be saved for 6 months, anonymizing services like Tor will be made illegal."
Yeah, Google will do in Germany what it didn't do in China? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_by_Google# China (OK, not exactly the same thing but you get the point). I won't bet on it.
Yes I wonder why they didn't stand up to a government that executes more people then the rest of the world combined...
Would that be the US government?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
Currently the EU is being very, very, very controlling and surveillance. They are being totally draconian. I live in the UK and ive just had about enough of this EU bs. Do you know what they have been up to this weekend? They have been meeting with the German Chancellor (Its germanys turn to be EU leader bods) to find a way to push through this new EU treaty. Basically it means they can push through the EU constitution that was thrown out by voters in 2 of the countries last time, without the pesky annoyances of, oh lets say, the people of the EU voting on the matter through those annoying referendums. Annoyingly, voters dont seem to want a Draconian controlling EU, where only a majority of countries are needed for things to be agreed upon not unanimous, and are able to force through anti privacy laws without needing for one of those Referendum things that dont go their way. We EVEN have a memo from this Cow of a chancellor who ADMITTED to forcing the main points of the constitution through without the need for those annoying voters having a say. This is an insult to the freedoms our heros fought for during the two world wars. They are slowly eroding them with "Directives" and "Treatys" Im sick of it.
Here's the impression I get from the headline: Google's violating privacy, Germany threatens to pass a law against it, Google would rather shut down than end their nefarious activities. I read the summary, and I find it's not a privacy law, it's a surveillance law. Google's the good guys here!
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." - Bob Dylan
I couldn't care less if people Godwin me, but Germany has a level of control over Europe today that Hitler only dreamed about in the early 1940s. And I mourn because this time, she has no enemies.
Up to 50 years ago, the world had the good fortune that no system of allied governments, no matter how repressive, had the technology to conquer the world and destroy all dissent; today, every step away from freedom is globalised, and there is no island so remote that it can stand defiant and fight back when it is finally threatened.
So yes, let us rejoice that for now, and probably for the next couple of decades, we shall enjoy an unprecedented level of peace and "tolerance" in Europe and North America. Because it's come at the expense of the growth of a fist and a boot so hard, that when it chooses to stomp, no-one will be able to dodge its path.
It is privacy, and the ignorance/apathy of the community, that allows all of your examples to happen. QED.
GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.