We get spied on on a daily basis, it has become a normal facet of our daily experience. Our image is recorded atleast a few times a day simply by
going shopping. Since the World has adopted anti-terror legislation the state has granted itself wide ranging powers to spy on their bosses, us. This
forced me to ask myself a question, what is my red line? What do I consider to be an unacceptable breach of privacy?
If you were to some how quantify privacy and graph it alongside technological advancements you would see it fall off exponentially as the other sky
rocketed.
It seems that with every technological advancement there comes along another method of spying on each other. This is no accident, most of the
technology we use was forged by goverment development. Governments are the single biggest pryers into our privacy, so the technology reflects that
original objective.
Prior to 9/11, and the rash of anti-terror legislation, we accepted government surveilance as a crime fighting tool. But with one major difference.
The authourity to surveil was always sought from a judge and he would demand just cause to do so. After 9/11 that oversight was deemed an impediment
to prosecuting the so called War on Terror, and with the swish of a pen it was done away with.
Depending on what country you live in the progression of your government down the road to a police state varies. Britain leads the charge with
surveilance. They have the most surveilance cameras of any nation on Earth and they are pointed at the general public. The terror laws there allow the
government to imprison suspected terrorists in their own home, indefinately, without ever consulting with a court of law.
The United States government's surveilance programs have recently been exposed and they include seeking the phone records of every single phone call
made within the United States. It also includes a system of searches through the private financial transactions of every person in the World.
Some people have no issue with this. They accept the breach of privacy because of the sense of security we are told it affords us. But what price are
we willing to pay for our personal security? Would you give up all of your civil liberties if your government said it was the only way to keep you
safe?
To me, personally, I do not fear terrorists. Deaths from terrorists pale into insignifance when compared to even bee stings, yet we dont sacrifice our
traditional freedoms to protect us from those do we? Cars kill hundreds of thousands of people per year, as do cigarettes but our response isnt to
throw down our civil liberties and ban those activities is it? Even though the death tolls are severe we accept it as a risk and get on with our
lives.
Why is terrorism perceived as such a danger that most of us cower in fear and readily give up our freedoms to make it go away? Who keeps instiling
this fear into our collective conscience? Have a think, who drags up the spectre of terrorism at the drop of a hat? Why its our very own politicians
thats who!
So, gang, how far will you allow these politicians to go to "protect us"? Let them dictate curfews? Let them RFID tag us? Let them check papers at
internal check points? Let them institute martial law? Let them implement military tribunals to try terror suspects instead of civil courts? Let them
intern muslims to pre-empt a terror attack?
We have to assess what we have permitted our governments to get away with. These guys work for us, we pay their salaries and they are beholden to us.
Not the other way around. My red line was passed when governments abandoned trying to hide what they were getting up to. Brazen displays of wholesale
surveilance, and governments actually having the gaul to defend this activity is unacceptable to me.
How far will you let them go before you object? What is your red line? Have you even thought about it? Jail cells are pretty darn safe, after
you...
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