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EU To Monitor All Internet Searches

Xemu writes "The European Parliament is issuing a written declaration about the need to set up an early warning system to combat sexual child abuse. However, the substance of the declaration is to extend the EU data retention directive to search engines, so that all searches done on for example Google will be monitored. If you are a citizen concerned about the right to privacy and freedom on the Internet, you can help by sending e-mail to the MEPs from your country and explaining the issue to them."

20 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Take off and nuke the Vatican from orbit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's the only way to actually do much of anything about child sexual abuse.

  2. Yeah OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because pedos are totally going to Google "kiddy porn downloads".

    1. Re:Yeah OK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      First they come for the criminals and the pedos. Then they come for the rest.

      As always, it is a shitty job trying to defend privacy and freedom of expression as one always defends the pervs and the criminals. But the laws are always "aimed" at them, but then magically used against everyone else. Just see the 9/11 laws that were only to be used for combating terrorism. :/

    2. Re:Yeah OK by jornak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Full infiltration of the TOR network is pretty much necessary if they ever want to catch pedophiles in the act.

      I've also got some philosophical issues with the removal of access to this content as well. If you take away CP from a pedo, doesn't it just mean that they're going to turn to alternative methods to fulfill their urges, such as nabbing little kids, and public indecency at parks, etc etc??

    3. Re:Yeah OK by logjon · · Score: 5, Funny

      I know there are those who hype the child porn issue to such an extent that you are labeled a pedo if you post anything less than an extremist attack on child porn, but I'm not so concerned about those people that I need to be anonymous in order to speak out against what I see as retardation incarnate.

      Clearly you aren't thinking of the children.

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    4. Re:Yeah OK by calmofthestorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, they'll immediately revert to being moral, responsible citizens.

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  3. This will never fly by Jerrei · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 12

    No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

    If the EU doesn't uphold this, it's members will.

    1. Re:This will never fly by weicco · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Bah! In Finland government welcomes any new idea to monitor use with open hands. We have already blacklists which are supposed to keep you away from child porn but it is not working very well and for some curious reason it filters out also local Finnish site criticizing the blacklisting. The law enables only to filter foreign sites.

      I think I'm already hearing applauding coming from the seat of the government some 150 km south from here...

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  4. Think of the Children by Adrian+Lopez · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Pedophiles use children for their own self-serving purposes, and now the government wants in on the "fun". They're using these poor children to achieve the government's broader political goals, getting away with things they otherwise could not. "Think of the children", the oldest trick in the book since the Victorian era.

    Perverts and legislators -- it's like they're made for each other.

    --
    "In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
  5. They're not [just] stupid... by calmofthestorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    CP is just an excuse, not the real thing they want to look for.

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  6. Sick and tired of the "pedophiles" excuse by mykos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "We need to monitor your internet searches. You know, to prevent pedophilia."
    "But I don't want anyone's internet searches monitored without a warrant to monitor them."
    "SO YOU'RE PRO-CHILD MOLESTATION AND YOU WANT GRAPHIC SEXUAL DEPICTIONS OF THEM ON THE INTERNET?!"
    "What in the hell? That's not what I said at all!"
    "Maybe we should be monitoring YOU, pervert."

  7. Re:Well, shit by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No https://www.startpage.com/ might, but if its ordinary HTTP, it can be detected by the ISP which is honestly more of a threat than Google logging searches.

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  8. Child Abuse? You lying mother fuckers. by Jackie_Chan_Fan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fuck the EU and fuck the children. Fuck the assholes who use "child porn" as an excuse for every thing!!!

    When has Google Trends ever listed a single Kiddie Porn search string?

    If Kiddie porn was such a problem on search engines, surely it would be right up there on #1 of Google Trends right?

    Give me a break.

    The child fucking boogieman is not real. Its not the children that are getting fucked... ITS YOU.

    Burn your governments down.

  9. Re:Researchers by timmarhy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    if she had of been a He, they'd be in jail right now, probably getting molested. oh the irony

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  10. All Sex Must Be Monitored by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Internet searches aren't child molestation. Child molestation is a sex act. So the EU must monitor every sex act to prevent child molestation. Otherwise it's just wasting everyone's time while the real killers run free!

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  11. Pedo-Paranoia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I almost got kicked out of college because I, from school, googled "6 year old girl in sundress." I was looking for reference images for finishing a photoshop painting of a man walking with his daughter on a beach. I had the beach, I had the man, the ice-cream he was holding and in the middle of class I goggle images of kids because the bone structure of kids is different than adults. 2 days later I'm in the deans office getting a "Letter" added to my records. I'm like WTF? Did they think I was looking at child porn in a room full of twenty three people and the only one who noticed was the IT filter? So it's on my permanent scripts now.

    If I go to a 4 year program I have to hope they explained it well enough I'm not just denied for "viewing inappropriate material" on campus. My teacher even backed me up and explained he was in the class with me and that the images where completely harmless, fully clothed, yet they still put it on the record. Pissed me off.

    The world has gotten so freaking paranoid about pedos it's crazy. What's next public burnings? This pedo-paranoia has to be screwing up the kids too. When I was a kid we played with all the kids in the area, went where ever we wanted and were pretty damn safe. Now kids have play dates and a small circle of friends. Adults act like kids are made of glass and might break. If we screw up 90% of these kids childhoods with paranoia to save 10% of the kids who are going to get molested how the heck is that good for the human species?

    We are going to have whole generations of social cripples afraid to be around each other and eating/drugging themselves to death while they wonder why they can't feel happy. The human race has moved along quite well without fenced in play grounds and cops policing public parks constantly. Kids shouldn't have to live in fear that the boogie man might touch them in their private places. "Keeping the kids safe" is doing more harm than good if you look at it from the big picture. Let them act like kids for Christ's sake.

    But I'm sure by posting this I'll be marked as a child stalker. *rolls eyes*

  12. Re:All searches? by metacell · · Score: 5, Funny

    But think of the children!

    No wait! Don't think of the children!

  13. So, what happens... by lattyware · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So basically, all the pedophiles (who don't spend thier time doing google searches for 'child porn', I'd hasten a bet) are unaffected, while all the people who search for information on the subject (reporters, worried mothers, hell, anyone looking for information on a subject, which we should be allowed to do in the modern world) gets monitored. Seriously. Great plan.

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    -- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
  14. Re:Eh, this is to stop child abuse, not CP by PeterBrett · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kill catholics (a good idea in general)

    Why do you want to kill me? What have I ever done to harm you? Last time I checked, I was spending large amounts of my time and money fighting hard to protect people's privacy and freedom of expression. Now you're calling for my death?

  15. Re:All searches? by Halo1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's mainly a good opportunity to correct some sensationalist misreporting:

    • A written declaration is just that: a declaration. It's not a legislative proposal and has no legislative value. So the title "EU To Monitor All Internet Searches" is complete bullshit. If it is adopted, at most it can be used to remind MEPs later on that they supported this text, and hence should support legislative proposals in the same vein. However...
    • ... as TFA explains, MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) have been misled into signing it, because the statement that "data retention should be extended to search engine queries" is hidden in the text. "Data retention" is not mentioned, it just says, amongst many other statements, "implement Directive 2006/24/EC and extend it to search engines in order to tackle online child pornography and sex offending rapidly and effectively". There are tons of directives and most MEPs won't have looked up what this specific directive is.

    Since MEPs have been mostly misled into signing onto that particular statement, it is quite unlikely to have any clout if cited back at them later on. If someone tricked you into signing a declaration containing stuff you don't support, you'd probably not be very motivated to strongly care about it later on either. In that sense, overblowing the whole thing like in this Slashdot summary is completely counterproductive, because you give the MEPs signature more weight and make them actually more bound to it then they would be otherwise!

    Christian Engström's blog post (TFA), where he explains how MEPs are misled, is good because it can help getting rid of the declaration altogether by exposing it for the deceit that it is.

    This summary on the other hand is just a bunch of misinformation that will cause a lot of misguided mails to be sent. It might also raise awareness and cause MEPs to withdraw their signatures, but it will probably cause at least as many MEPs to disregard the complaints because it will be clear that people sending a mail don't know what the hell they are talking about.

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