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Concerns on digital privacy
Jan. 9th, 2009 12:38 pmTo tell you the truth, this piece of news gave me the jitters: UK e-mail law "attack on rights". In short, it's about a new piece of legislation about to be enacted in the UK that will force all major internet service providers to retain information on all e-mails received or sent in the country for one year, contents of the messages not included. The official excuse is "crime and terror inquiries". Many human rights groups have considered this to be an infringement on the citizens' fundamental right to privacy - not to mention a waste of good money.
But that's not the whole story: the British government is currently looking into an even more extensive data retention scheme. It could involve "one central database, gathering details on every text sent, e-mail sent, phone call made and website visited."
Every. Bloody. Single. One.
And there would go everyone's digital and radio-frequency privacy down the drain, just like that.
Now, as you know, I'm not an UK resident, but unfortunately this kind of plans have the irksome quality of getting aped by other governments, and as far as I'm concerned, my texts, e-mails, phone calls, and web browsing - or even the details thereof - are no business of my government unless they suspect me of some major crime, thank you very much. I doubt that the new plan will ever pass even in the UK, but the fact that someone can propose such a thing with a straight face and without becoming a laughing-stock, is honestly frightening.
I thought we passed year 1984 some 25 years back, but I might have been wrong.
But that's not the whole story: the British government is currently looking into an even more extensive data retention scheme. It could involve "one central database, gathering details on every text sent, e-mail sent, phone call made and website visited."
Every. Bloody. Single. One.
And there would go everyone's digital and radio-frequency privacy down the drain, just like that.
Now, as you know, I'm not an UK resident, but unfortunately this kind of plans have the irksome quality of getting aped by other governments, and as far as I'm concerned, my texts, e-mails, phone calls, and web browsing - or even the details thereof - are no business of my government unless they suspect me of some major crime, thank you very much. I doubt that the new plan will ever pass even in the UK, but the fact that someone can propose such a thing with a straight face and without becoming a laughing-stock, is honestly frightening.
I thought we passed year 1984 some 25 years back, but I might have been wrong.
