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Britain Tapped Communications
The BBC news is reporting (thanks to aspodf for the link) that Channel 4 News alleges that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been
intercepting all phone calls between Britain and Ireland
for the last 10 years. A similar article in The Independent
presents similar information as fact. Apparently, the tower was
used to scan every single message between Britain and Ireland for certain key words
(sort of like Echelon), and the tower is now up for sale by the MoD.
It's about Menwith Hill, the US spy-base in the UK that supposedly taps communications all over Europe.
Incorrect. The areas of the U.S. with the highest levels of gun ownership have the lowest incidence of violent crime.
Mexico, as I understand it, has fairly restrictive gun laws, but is a rather dangerous place nonetheless (at least certain parts of it, anyhow; a friend of mine was murdered there).
And, as you know, even in Europe, Switzerland has widespread gun ownership, with no apparent ill effects.
Violent crime is not a gun-related problem; it is much more complex than that.
--
The analogy was purely hypothetical, but Quebec did come to mind due to the similarity of that situation. Except they want to join France (IIRC).
Although the BBC article was unclear on the point, the Independant article spelled it out:
The communications that were intercepted were those of the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and thus domestic, the Republic of Ireland is a sovern nation.
I sincerely doubt that the citizens of the Republic of Ireland felt that the UK's interception of their communications (supposedly to help with a domestic issue) was a 'necessary evil' to 'protect them from harm'. Especially since the UK has no authority or desire to protect the citizens of the Republic of Ireland from anything.
For those in the US, consider how you would feel if the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intercepted your phone calls (business, government, and private) 'to solve a Canadian problem with terrorism'. In particular, imagine this terrorism is by a group of people who want their territory to secede from Canada and become a state of the United States despite the lack of an offer from the United States.
The kilt isn't unknown in ireland, just far less common. Come to think of it, there's a couple of british military units that still use them in dress uniforms.
:) ] than Washington.)
>As I beleive one of your "founding fathers" once
>said (and I think I'm paraphrasing)"Those
>who would give up liberty for security deserve
>niether."
Benjamin Franklin. (Who might also make a more literal claim to being "Father of our country" [hmm, and parts of france, too
>Actually, Texas was independent for about 10
>years befor it joined the US.
So was California by the time Mexico "sold" it. THe "Bear Flaggers" had formed the California Republic, and planneed to use the Texas model.
>But, while we're talking about returning land,
>what about all the land that the spanish took
>from the aztecs and incas? What about all the
>land taken from the other indians by the british
>and french?
Mmm, and the land taken from the native north americans, let's give that back. Oops, can't do that, the "American Indians" killed them all off a great many centuries ago . . .
This sort of thing demonstrates clearly why governments want to control individuals access to encryption. It has been said by various people that you have nothing to worry about because it would no be practical for governments to monitor all communications in this sort of trolling operation. Apparently people were wrong.
development.lombardi.com
Um, Try going back to school. You have apparently mixed up Ireland with SCOTLAND!!!!
Braveheart aka William Wallace was from and fought for SCOTLAND. Men in SCOTLAND wear "dresses" or as we prefer to call them kilts. SCOTLAND is attached to England in the North part of the island, Ireland is a whole separate island to the west. SCOTLAND has a separatist political party, but, unlike some fine members of the UDF or IRA, they haven't pipe bombed any school buses full of children lately (as you can see I don't particularly like either side in the Irish Troubles). By God, leave SCOTLAND out of this!
Now that that is off my chest...
Why is anyone surprised about this. Most of the world has known for over 10 years now, since the release of Peter Wright's book Spycatcher, about the exploits of MI5 and MI6 (except my cousin in SCOTLAND, where the book was and still is banned due to "national security"). Why should we be shocked that the British Intelligence community has listened to every phone call between Ireland and England for 10 years when they have had a duplicate key to every lock in the city of London for over 30 years (again see Spycatcher).
Personally I find no comfort or protection in doing or saying nothing "wrong". If the state has and uses this kind of power, your innocence won't matter since they could create evidence, plant evidence or infer anything from your private communications. Planting a bomb and blowing someon e up is a crime...talking about it isn't. Don't take away my freedom for something I say I'm going to do, take it away for actually doing it.
As I beleive one of your "founding fathers" once said (and I think I'm paraphrasing)"Those who would give up liberty for security deserve niether."
A Canadian member of MacDonald of Clanranald.
Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
On a related note, if your cable provider carries BBC News 24, give it a go. BBC journalism is first rate. Being a UK citizen, I'm kinda biased :-) Even so, give News 24 a look if you can. You won't be disappointed.
This doesn't really surprise me at all. When it comes down to it, there are no rules when it comes to 'national security'. Check out this link for more details of British surveillance operations. It's scary how much info they were collecting. http://jya.com/irish-war.htm
Hee, hee -- nothing backs up an argument better than suggesting that people who disagree with you have small genitalia. :)
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the mallocs.
omigod
Masters of Downloading has the tower!?
They are so l33t!
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?