UK, China and Russia beat out US in race to end privacy

[mawilson 2,133]

A new report published by the British nonprofit Privacy International has ranked

the leading surveillance societies in the world, and the results aren’t pretty.

As far as benchmarks such as privacy enforcement and communications interception

go, the United States has found itself in some rather awkward company, according

to the survey from the privacy watchdog group. The US was ranked in the second-

worst category overall in defending privacy, and at the very bottom when it came

to enforcement of privacy regulations, communications interception, and workplace

monitoring.

Privacy International used 13 different criteria, ranging from constitutional protections

to biometric identification, to evaluate privacy protections across 36 different countries.

And the report is nothing if not graphic. The US shows up in the flaming red category,

a color long associated with human rights stalwarts such as China and…uh, well,

anyway, at least it did better by a hair than privacy black holes such as the UK,

Malaysia, Russia and Singapore, not to mention China itself.

The accompanying report does take note of the difficulties in this age of terrorism

paranoia of preserving a civil and open society. That paranoia, supported by modern

high tech surveillance equipment, is providing fertile ground for governments around

the globe to roll back the civil liberties once lorded over the Chinese and the Russians

as triumphs of western governance.

Aloha, Big Brother.

Source: http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-545269

[Ban Hammer 13,637]

britain..........the new russia

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Thank you, GW Bush.

[Ban Hammer 13,637]

Thank you, GW Bush.

it's his fault britain is going in that direction

[mawilson 2,133]

Thank you, GW Bush.

it's his fault britain is going in that direction

Most definitely is. Britain is going in that direction thanks to GWB's "war of terror".

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Thank you, GW Bush.

it's his fault britain is going in that direction

Who should I be thanking?

The US was ranked in the second-worst category overall in defending privacy, and at the very bottom when it came to enforcement of privacy regulations, communications interception, and workplace

monitoring.

[Ban Hammer 13,637]

Thank you, GW Bush.

it's his fault britain is going in that direction

Who should I be thanking?

The US was ranked in the second-worst category overall in defending privacy, and at the very bottom when it came to enforcement of privacy regulations, communications interception, and workplace

monitoring.

you're not at work are you?

[DeadPoolX 9]

This is one category where I am on the left's side. I strongly believe in limited government and a policy that revolves around safe-guarding my individual freedoms. Normally that's the domain of the right, but recently, they've failing miserably in that arena.

I completely understand the need for security -- I don't want to be wide-open to attack any more than anyone else -- but there's a fine line between being secure and living in a police state.

As I've posted before in other threads, the main reason I've voted Republican in the past is because I've seen the Democratic Party as the believers in "big government" and "intruding in our lives." The Republicans, by contrast, were usually the ones who believed in limiting such government involvement in day-to-day issues.

I hate to lay blame, but the Bush Administration has been a huge proponent of "big government," only in a different way than the Democrats. The Bush Administration (and all extensions thereof) have invaded our lives by using scare tactics and over-dramatizing the overall situation. Yes, we need security, and yes, there are "evil people" out there who intend to kill us. These individuals need to be stopped; however, we -- as a country and as a people -- cannot afford to lose sight of what makes the United States of America so great, and that is our freedom and liberties. Trampling all over these, in the name of being secure, defeats the entire purpose of the "War on Terror."

I know I probably sound like a "liberal Democrat" right now. Socially speaking, I generally agree with the Democrats; it's on fiscal policies that I tend to side with the Republicans. So I anger both parties. I figure so long as I'm not firmly entrenched in one camp, I'm doing something right and keeping my mind open to all possibilities. As it stands right now, I am very disappointed with the Republican Party, and perhaps only losing either or both the House of Representatives and the Senate will wake this party up, and get them to go back to their roots.

Edited November 7, 2006 by DeadPoolX