Individual Privacy Under Threat In Europe and US, Report Says
LONDON: Individual privacy is under threat in the United States and across the European Union as governments introduce sweeping surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and controlling borders, an international rights group has said in a report.
Greece, Romania and Canada had the best privacy records of 47 countries surveyed by Privacy International, which is based in London. Malaysia, Russia and China were ranked worst.
Both Britain and the United States fell into the lowest-performing group of “endemic surveillance societies.”
“The general trend is that privacy is being extinguished in country after country,” said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International. “Even those countries where we expected ongoing strong privacy protection, like Germany and Canada, are sinking into the mire.”
In the United States, the administration of President George W. Bush has come under fire from civil liberties groups for its domestic wiretapping program, which allows monitoring, without a warrant, of international phone calls and e-mail messages involving people suspected of having terrorist links.
“The last five years has seen a litany of surveillance initiatives,” Davies said.
He said little had changed since the Democrats took control of Congress a year ago.
“We would expect the cancellation of some programs, the review of others, but this hasn’t occurred,” Davies said.
Britain was criticized for its plans for national identity cards, a lack of government accountability and the world’s largest network of surveillance cameras.
Davies said the loss earlier this year of computer disks containing personal information and bank details on 25 million people in Britain highlighted the risks of centralizing information on huge government databases.
The report, released Saturday, said privacy protection was worsening across Western Europe, although it was improving in the former Communist states of Eastern Europe.
It said concern about terrorism, immigration and border security was driving the spread of identity and fingerprinting systems, often without regard to individual privacy.
The report said the trends had been fueled by the emergence “of a profitable surveillance industry dominated by global IT companies and the creation of numerous international treaties that frequently operate outside judicial or democratic processes.”
The survey considers a range of factors, including legal protection of privacy, enforcement, data sharing, the use of biometrics and the prevalence of closed circuit TV cameras.
“People shouldn’t feel despondent about the results,” Davies said. “Our view is that privacy-friendly systems will emerge in coming years and that consumers will soon begin to see privacy as a political issue.”
© 2007 The Associated Press
Privacy is a political issue, because it is a right. The faux-security coming from invading people’s privacy only protects the political powers that be, not the people. Sure a crime might be caught on tape and used to prosecute, but what about non-crimes used to shame and shun people?
I want privacy not a police state, down with Oceania!
Only Kucinich has promised to abolish the Patriot Act. He is the only presidential candidate that has honored his oath to uphold the Constitution. The police state is already out of control, but it is not too late to stop it.
We must throw out the majority of the US Congress
www.peacecandidates.com
1984 Big Brother
2000 Baby Bushwhack
Both dictatorships came to power from the extreme selfish cowardry of the wealth lusting legislators that produced them and the profit driven media vultures that always circle the rotten corpse of greed.
Who in hell elected these people?
Any dictatorship/totalitarian regime use secrecy, power/force, and propaganda through state controlled media to perpetuate a “culture of fear” resulting in the silence of the populace, and to create its own narrative about citizens and the country, so that it can continue the dominant social order.
To maintain the dominant social order, the powers know that people have to be muzzled and rendered powerless. Propaganda, biased or filtered media news coverage, and violent punishment of “disobedient” individuals or groups that oppose the dominant evil powers are the tools for maintaining this social order. The dominant powers, both locally and globally, not only keep the general populace in ignorance of the reality with their propaganda and biased information through state controlled media, but also create a “culture of fear” through violent punishment of the “disobedient” by portraying the latter as opponents of “freedom” and “democracy” and the cause of social disorder. Thus, they not only portray the “victim” as the cause of violence, but also justify their violence against the “victim”. The dominant powers also create fear in citizens through “secrecy” of the activities of the state, like surveillance, creating a list of “terrorists” (ironically anti-war/peace activists are included in the US list of “terrorists). The “culture of fear” is “conducive to an extreme individualization and privatization of human beings” where people try “to isolate themselves from their social environment and emotional attachments in order to attain that state of detachment necessary to ignore the shouts for help and the cries of despair of their neighbors.” Thus, the “culture of fear” results in the silence of the victims, making any opposition powerless and voiceless. Under the apartheid regime of South Africa “much of the country’s populace was silent through fear, apathy, (and) indifference.”
The silence of the “victim” is conducive for the narrative of the dominant powers or the oppressors. Teresa Godwin Phelps says: “(I)n that silence, a new narrative is created by the oppressors. The oppressors symbolically “have the microphone” and construct the dominant story, the master narrative” about the society or nation and its citizens. The narrative of the oppressors arises out of the silence of the oppressed. The apartheid regime in South Africa constructed a narrative about the necessity of separation of races with the race of the Europeans as the ruling class and the native peoples relegated to inferior class and thus pushed to the margins of the society. Similarly the US and the Europe supported dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, constructed a narrative of a critical fight against the forces of communism that threatened to take over the country, and that portrayed him to be the savior of the western civilization, and so freedom and democracy , in Chile. This fight, according to the dictator’s narrative, required draconian measures to ensure safety and security, and “freedom” and “democracy” in the nation. Thus, he justified his dictatorship and cruelty towards the opponents of his rule, by depicting the latter as the cause of social disorder, and a threat to “freedom”, “security” and “democracy”.
This is what we notice in countries like the US and UK, where inncoent citizens are chased like mad dogs and killed or tasered, because they oppose the wicked and evil dominant powers. President/Prime Minister and the police enjoy “rights” which keep them above the civil and criminal law. The state controlled media praise this state of the country as a model of “freedom” and “democracy”. The general public is kept silent through the “culture of fear” and police brutality.
Isn’t this the “freedom” and “democracy” that the US and the European countries have been champions of and trying to promote in other countries like Iraq? What is happening in New Orleans since the day Hurricane Katrina struck it, is a glaring example of “freedom” and “democracy” that the US believes in. What has happened to an American Muslim student in UCLA library, to a member in the audience of John Kerry’s meeting, the passenger at the airport is just a “taste” of police brutality and state sponsored “terrorism against its own citizens. The first two in the above example were tasered by the police, and third one was tasered and killed by the police. No legal action against the brutality of the police!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unless there is a revolution of the general public against the oppressive, exploitative, and repressive minority elite class, the scapegoating of the weak, vulnerable, and the poor will continue. This needs courage, and willingness to pay the cost, like the host of our forefathers like Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mandela……and their families.
Nazism is not dead. All those in the Nazis and those in the Gestapo along with German intelligence where put on the pay role of the CIA, Military intelligence. and other state department spots given to them by the Dulles brother who helped to rescue their Nazi friend with their industrial friends and their German wealth Nazi were places the Arab middle east. They were given new names!
In fact Cuba was to be the covert rest home for the Nazis who were to help run and design the Nazi World of Anti-Communist league until the CIA front companies fell apart from all the corruption in the CIA who was being blackmailed by the military on the inside for allowing Castro to come into power. Bush and his family lost money in Cuba The same game plan that was used in Cuba, Vietnam, and the Philippines is the same.
The communist scare in America was funded by the American Nazi’s who feared prosecution after the war. They were happy FDR die who would have sent America’s wealthy to prison for war profiting and Trading with the Enemy! They are currently in Iraq.
I guess now General Petraeus is going to bribe all of Iraq’s secret armies and kill teams to control Iraq just like they did in Germany
DEEPA — Thank you.
If every man’s home is his castle why can’t We-The-People claim executive privilage? The usurpers do. If at first we don’t secede…
I read an article yesterday [Sunday Paper?] about privacy and the perception of privacy among Face Book users. I am not one, so I don’t really know how it works, but individual posts are apparently broadcast to large numbers of people without control by the original poster.
We’ve all read about this, but the point of the article was that the wired generation doesn’t mind, and has a far different concept of privacy then those of us in the ‘old fart’ generation do.
The archiving of personal posts etc forever, for anyone to tap, doesn’t upset or surprise them. That’s just how life is…
I’m still unhappy about Google mining my e-mail so they can put topical links and ads on the screen. Anyone who thinks this is an environment that promotes freedom is nuts, at least if they define freedom as partly the freedom from spying for political or financial gain.
Guess what I saying is that many members of CD may be against this blatant loss of privacy in our homes and public places; but many younger people don’t see the problem - they’ve never had any privacy to speak of.
Remember, most of these kids are searched entering their own school, are subjected to random locker searches, and even are given piss tests to participate in after school activities or because someone thinks a teenager is acting irrationally.[duh]
Mounting a revolution to prevent the invasion of your personal space is going to pretty difficult if half the population don’t see the problem…
This is ridiculous. Privacy has actually increased–just look at the dramatic rise in the number of classified documents, the changes in presidential records policies, and the thus far unpunished defiance of Congress and the courts. Sure, the rabble may be listened to, searched, watched on surveillance cams and spied on in their emails and net usage, but the people who really matter have more privacy than ever. The courts and the Congress obviously agree.
DEEPA
I second npsire’s admiration. What an eloquent post. Your screen name is most appropriate. Please please, continue to post on these stories for us. I will use the “search in Common Dreams” box on the main page to find more of your posts.
You too matthood and xntrk. Good posts.
Great postings Deepa and willybill. The truth is that we are caught in a Brave New World situation in which we dissidents are just communicating with each other. We live in a controlled environment in which information is available, but only a small segment of the population is equipped to digest and use the information. The rest are mesmerized by the mix of popular culture and government propaganda and await the moment of crisis when an economic meltdown and/or further terror attacks lead to a declaration of a national state of emergency and martial law. The only hope for us dissidents when that time comes is that the military splits into segments and that the anti-authoritarian segment proves strong enough to stop the fascist auto-coup.
Watergate, the break in of Democratic Party HQ in DC just to illegally bugged their telephones is no longer necessary. Those in control of the US government have all the access they want. Everything from campaign itineraries to organizers and supporters can be accessed to undercut the campaigns. Union organizing can be monitored and disrupted. Any grassroots movement concerning environmental issues, healthcare, human rights, voting rights, opposition to war and on and on can be significantly disrupted. Privacy is an imperative for a democracy to survive.
Guilty until proven rich.
The wiretapping database has been turned over to the ATF (Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms). By eavesdropping on all phone records and E-mails to gun and arms dealers and even Wal-Mart where you must sign and identify for purchasing bullets etc., the ATF has narrowed down their list of personal gun owners addresses. In the event they want disarm the American Public, you probably get my drift on what they have to do. This April, 2008 the Supreme Court is going to re-think the meaning of the 2nd amendment to the Constitution. If they decide we aren’t allowed to own guns, and someone perpetrates another terrorist attack (American Hiroshima), and Bush declares Martial Law..???? GET PREPARED NOW AND HIDE YOUR GUNS!
Wow, I must be a conspiracy theorist!!
It cracks me up when I see signs lately. In the bank I read. “This bank requires two forms of identification for “YOUR” safety.
I read this not too long ago regarding apartment parking. “The reason that people have to report licenses and registration information to the office regarding guests is for “tenents” safety!” There is absolutely no privacy anymore.
Now a days if your privacy is invaded they are doing you a favor……
When all is said and done, surveillance cameras will not deter any group or person from carrying out whatever it is doing. Any serious, sophisticated and dangerous group or individual will simply use a disguise.
I mean, wouldn’t you? Even at demonstrations here in the States, if you’re worried about some governmental agency identifying you at, say, a political rally, all you need to do is alter your appearance.
What is truly disturbing is the fact that USA citizens will now need to have approval from Big Bro before being allowed to travel inside and outside of the USA by plane. I am sure that once the general public learns of this new change (MSM sure didn’t mention it in the States) that there will be true outrage and perhaps an awakening as to how far we have slid down the slope toward a totalitarian nation.
Tecnology is a two edged sword.
I believe as tecnology advances,so will the surveillance of our private lives.
George Orwell was not a prophet,he just understood human nature.
HYBRID
is that really true about having to have permission to travel by plane? it’s been mentioned before here but i didn’t think it was genuine. how do you know this?
coco: I should have read more carefully, but national flights are also in the gunsights of HSA.
The following is what I had remembered, but I mistakenly made the claim about national flights - although it can still happen.
Forget no-fly lists. If Uncle Sam gets its way, beginning on Jan. 14, 2007, we’ll all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us permission to leave-or re-enter-the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSA) has proposed that all airlines, cruise lines-even fishing boats-be required to obtain clearance for each passenger they propose taking into or out of the United States.
It doesn’t matter if you have a U.S. passport-a “travel document” that now, absent a court order to the contrary, gives you a virtually unqualified right to enter or leave the United States, any time you want. When the DHS system comes into effect next January, if the agency says “no” to a clearance request, or doesn’t answer the request at all, you won’t be permitted to enter-or leave-the United States.
Consider what might happen if you’re a U.S. passport holder on assignment in a country like Saudi Arabia. Your visa is about to expire, so you board your flight back to the United States. But wait! You can’t get on, because you don’t have permission from the HSA. Saudi immigration officials are on hand to escort you to a squalid detention center, where you and others who are now effectively “stateless persons” are detained, potentially indefinitely, until their immigration status is sorted out.
Why might the HSA deny you permission to leave-or enter-the United States? No one knows, because the entire clearance procedure would be an administrative determination made secretly, with no right of appeal. Naturally, the decision would be made without a warrant, without probable cause and without even any particular degree of suspicion. Basically, if the HSA decides it doesn’t like you, you’re a prisoner-either outside, or inside, the United States, whether or not you hold a U.S. passport.
The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized there is a constitutional right to travel internationally. Indeed, it has declared that the right to travel is “a virtually unconditional personal right.” The United States has also signed treaties guaranteeing “freedom of travel.” So if these regulations do go into effect, you can expect a lengthy court battle, both nationally and internationally.
Think this can’t happen? Think again.it’s ALREADY happening. Earlier this year, HSA forbade airlines from transporting an 18-year-old native-born U.S.
citizen, back to the United States. The prohibition lasted nearly six months until it was finally lifted a few weeks ago.
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are two countries in recent history that didn’t allow their citizens to travel abroad without permission. If these regulations go into effect, you can add the United States to this list.
For more information on this proposed regulation, see http://hasbrouck.org/IDP/IDP-APIS-comments.pdf
MARK NESTMANN, Wealth Preservation &
Tax Consultant on behalf of
The Sovereign Society
assetpro@nestmann.com
www.nestmann.com
GOOD GOD…………..i’m so glad i’m a foreigner. this is outrageous.
hybridoma2001, have you yet mentioned the biometric requirements for future issues of passports and driver’s licenses?
It’s scary that if I incorrectly chose the time of my emigration (once the country has become too authoritarian for me to stomach) that I could be denied exit because I refuse, on principle, to submit any biometric data to the govt. for the needs of passport renewal.
Iris scanning, palm printing, genetic profiling, familial history, on and on until the creation of a remote ‘you’ within a virtual simulation, profiling and predicting human behaviour, comparing it to norms and spitting out abnorms.
peace candidate wrote -
“We must throw out the majority of the US Congress”
- uh correction
- we must ARREST the majority of Congress, the ENTIRE Supreme Court, and the executive branch, including those no longer holding office but having participated in the crimes. Try ALL of those who participated in the War Crime called Operation Iraqi Freedom and anyone who voted for it and/or the PAtriot Act as guilty of treason, war crimes and crimes against humanity and hand them all over to The Hague for a World Court trial as War Criminals.
This just in… the Global War on Terrorism declared by the Bush adminsitration in 2001 is going to be used by ALL national governments throughout the world to declare war on their own people. It will be nothing more than a tool for governments to use to retain power for the elite aristocracy that rules each country. Governments only seve one pupose - to control large groups of people so a small minority of people can hold power and control the flow of money.
Rick wrote - Tecnology is a two edged sword.
I believe as tecnology advances,so will the surveillance of our private lives.
George Orwell was not a prophet,he just understood human nature.
OK Rick - when are you going to go down to your local HSD/TSA office and get your biometric implant?
Hey Samski - don’t run man!! Stand and fight with the rest of us who still can find some courage!!
Never forget that the reason we are fighting the US government is that they hate our freedom.
The UK Home Office wants to have a national ID scheme for its citizens but cannot even be trusted to employ people who are not illegal immigrants! Anyone know a harsher word for incompetence?
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2006_05_19/uk/illegal_immigrants_caught_at_uk_home_office.htm
“Never forget that the reason we are fighting the US government is that they hate our freedom.” Good one GWB! And so true!
As I understand it, the New World-Oder” is already upon us. Medea Benjamin and a US military service person (can’t remember her name) found that out a couple of months ago when she had been invited by the Canadian government to speak on the advancement of world peace. She was turned away at the Canadian border because she had been charged with being a peace activist in the US. She was on a list put out by the FBI that the Canadians are, by law, required to enforce.
Yes, folks, Americans have already been locked into our own country. I tried to get a passport. They would not accept my original “birth certificate” that clearly states that it is good for identification for getting a passport. Says so right on the document. So, I ordered up an official “Birth Certificate” from the county I was born in. A bunch of $$’s and time later, I now have the “right” certificate. Now I have to go down to the Post Office and submit my application, pay more bucks, and wait for who knows how long to be issued a passport. Because I don’t know if I’m on some damn list somewhere, for heaven only knows what reason, I have to make the trip to the Canadian border to see if I can get across. The trip is required because there is no way for me to find out ahead of time if I will be denied entrance.
So, let’s say I was a REALLY poor person. Could I leave the country if things got really bad here for me? Probably not. I probably counldn’t afford the passport or the trip. Would I be a prisoner in my own country? Yep!
Fact is, no matter what new laws or edicts or rules our government plans to put into place, we are ALL already prisoners of the US government and it’s spy agencies. The old rule of “innocent until PROVEN guilty” no longer applies. We are ALREADY in our own prison.
Jeez! What a damn mess. At least we are in good company with all the other innocents.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
What? How can Canada be tied for first place in protecting privacy and at the same time be “sinking into the mire?” Unless first place just means the least bad of a terrible lot.