4 ms·

What would go wrong in society if the internet and phone system were totally un-tappable by government and people could easily communicate in complete secrecy?

• kijinbear 16y ago
  Proposals like this can win votes from law-enforcement circles. After all, warrantless disclosures and always-ready surveillance equipment would allow cops to gain information about a person with just one phone call. They hate having to follow procedure, especially if that procedure involves waiting for a judge to issue an order. There's also the more dramatic explanation about how this all boils down to a power struggle between the haves and the have-nots, but I prefer the making-cops-happier explanation. There are plenty of good cops in every country, but law enforcement has a lot of solidarity built into its ranks, so police-related groups can sway many votes. Harper would do anything for a few thousand extra votes.
  • adestefan 16y ago
    It's also an issue of costs. If the government can hold up device/protocol X and say your equipment must interact with X, then it makes legal surveillance cheaper.
  • caf 16y ago
    Well, those into the more dramatic explanation might well observe that the cops are the haves' hired muscle... ...just sayin' ;)
• mseebach 16y ago
  > What would go wrong in society if the internet and phone system were totally un-tappable by government and people could easily communicate in complete secrecy? Uhm, terrorism? I'm not saying it's a good excuse, but it seems to have been the primary driver of, well, pretty much everything for the past decade. > ... against the people's wishes. Not so much, no. You'll be surprised/scared to learn how widespread the "if you haven't done anything wrong, you've got nothing to hide" line of thinking is outside our circles.