An excerpt : "The German government yesterday passed a controversial anti-terror law that would grant police the power to monitor private residences, telephones and computers. Instead of tapping phones, they would be able to use video surveillance and even spy software to collect evidence. [snip]...[snip] The bill, called a building block for Germany's security architecture by interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble, still needs to be approved by the lower and upper chamber of the German parliament"
Full article at : German government approves plod-spyware law.
Also in Europe, this time in Sweden, they're trying to pass a law that would allow the FRA to monitor all incoming and outgoing communications, affecting all Internet traffic and all telephony traffic, meaning web surfing, e-mail, phone, and fax are affected, to mention but a few.
Domestic communications would also be fed through the FRA due to technical routing reasons. In effect they would be spying (or at least have the capability to do so) on domestic users, but also intercepting all e-mail traffic that for instance goes from England to Finland, as international routing often passes through various other countries before a packet reaches the final destination.
There seems to be little international concern over this proposed law so far, and there is even less information available in English. I'd like to refer you to a post by Rick Falkvinge, leader of the Swedish Pirate Party. Not the most objective party, I admit, but sometimes you have to work with what you've got.
You can contact a local or national politician, or you can support organizations that stand on the barricades for your privacy and online freedom every day. Visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) or European Digital Rights (EDRI) website and support them, or learn how you can help.
Comments
oh my god, I only got to the second paragraph of the article and already fell off my chair!
"Instead of tapping phones, they would be able to use video surveillance and even spy software to collect evidence. Physically tampering with suspects' computers would still not be allowed, but police could send anonymous e-mails containing trojans and hope the suspects infect their own computers"
As if we don't have enough spam and spyware to get rid of already, now the government wants to use it???? Are they insane? Mails with Trojans hoping that we infect our own computers so they can tap into them... the worst part is, it will probably work on a lot of people too! *deep sigh*
Another worrying things I see is in Rick Falkvinge's article: "Major businesses will also get access to the wiretapping grid, but will have to go through an authority" You just know you'll be getting more ads in your mailbox once the businesses get access *another deep sigh*
I'm beginning to think that they are abusing the terrorist threat to pass some very unconventional laws. But can we do?
It's funny, but only last week was I discussing the novel 1984 and another short story that also contained a terrifyingly realistic view of the future and how Orwell really wasn't that far off and now I read this...
Posted by: Nadia at June 6, 2008 9:30 AM