Sleepwalking into a Surveillance Society

Telecommunication data retention. In a proposed EU-side law, european internet service providers are requested to retain not only email, but any metadata of communication originating from their network . This issue is currently under debate in many europan countries, and several have voiced reservations, labeling the proposed law as unconstitutional. The politicians who are in favor of the law can't seem to dig up important arguments as to why we as civilians should welcome, or even accept such a restriction of our freedom.

The reason for this is, of course, simply because there are no good arguments. There is now way this law can be utilized as an effective tool for safety in our so called democratic society. Storing data from everyone, is labeling everyone as a potential criminal. A potential pedophile, a terrorist, a member of an organized crime network.
However, the claim is that the data will be available only if you commit a serious crime in the future. Then, and only then, will the police get access to your data trails. Well, atleast that's what they say now. Big Brother is watching you, and people are being watched in their sleep. What scares the shit out of me, is the amount of people who just don't care, claiming there is nothing to be afraid of - unless you are engaged in something dodgy. I want to reprase that to: "As long as you do as you're told."

Today John Ståle Stamnes from Kripos (the investive branch of the norwegian police) wrote about this in the biggest news paper in Norway. And by doing so, he reveals Kripos' lack of understanding of the internet, and also their unvillingness to attack internet crime from a different angle. The pedophile is a returning villain in his line of argumentation. I suppose this is in order to hopefully trigger the well known knee jerk response most people get from the word by itself. But the pedophile who downloads the child porn, is not the same person who raped the child in the first place. That child is allready a victim, and will remain so no matter how many people get arrested for wanking off to some underage filth. The child is primarily being hurt in the real world, not in cyberspace. The crime it being commited in homes, by dads and moms, by other family members and friends, by strangers, by pimps and by the mafia. These are the people that should be taken down. Take the producers, not the consumers.

The police don't need suveillance of you and me in order to do their job. By accepting this transgression against your privacy, you lower the bar for future abuse of power. you are in fact opening a door that cannot be closed. You are being watched while walking down the street, you are being watched while in the store, while in the bank, on the buss, in the train, on the plane. Everywhere. You don't need to be watched while you're on your computer as well.

Crime will not be prevented by watching you and me. Claiming so, is nothing more than an insult to these children. The people engaging in these crimes, are way ahead of the police, way more technically advanced using proxy servers, fake IPs and so on. Anyone who's spent alot of time online knows that child pornograpy is not rampant on google. It's a very closed lid business, with very limited access, for very few people. I've seen every sick site out there, I've seen fucked up shit you cant even imagine. BUT I have never once seen child porn. Have you?
Tust me, that "Barely Legal Teen" is a 25 year old porn star with room for a double DP and more. Sporting pig tails and a pink plaid skirt, does not make you a 8 year old virgin.

You and I do not need or want to be afriad of being labeled as perverts, nor do we want to be afraid of using the internet, or our phone, in fear of doing something potentially illegal. You want to be able to wank off to your tentacle hentai porn and not be looking over your shoulder while doing so.
You want your freedom. You want your right to privacy. Remember that.
There is no NEED for this law. And the need can not and will not be created through mass propaganda that taps into constructed fear. In China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Burma and Belarus we label cencorship and internet surveillance as violating human rights , while here it's for "our own protection".
Not only does this law invade your privacy, it blurs the boundries between public and private spheres.
In the words of Michel Foucault surveillance creates a feeling of always being watched, thus enabling the public to self police. A terrifying dystopic future.

And who watches the watchmen?

" Nineteen Eighty-Four " anyone?

Listen: Your child is safe, your child is not in terrible, immediate danger of falling into the hands of the millions of pedophiles out there on the net. Beacuse there aren't millions of pedophiles on the net, or living next to you. You protect your child. Not the goverment. This is the goverment way of trying to create fear, a false need. Don't let them fool you.

This is not about protection, this is all about control.

We are sleepwalking into a surveillance Society.
And I ask you all to wake the fuck up.

Say no to techno- fascism.

Please stop by these links:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/resume.jsp?id=5275032&eventId=935334&backToCaller=NO&language=en

http://www.edri.org/issues/privacy/dataretention

http://stoppdld.no/