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Europeans point of view: Am I the only one who feels that the US is taking over the Internet and all of our privacy with it?
by iM8t 13y ago
Europeans point of view:
Am I the only one who feels that the US is taking over the Internet and all of our privacy with it?
- keyme 13y agoTaking over? You should probably realize by now that what you see in the media about classified government ops is just the tip of the iceberg. Considering the inherently insecure nature of computer systems, and the heavy reliance of security mechanisms on trusted authorities, you need to realized that, in fact, you've lost any privacy online a long time ago.
- unknownian 13y agoI'm sorry but this sounded like it just came out of r/circlejerk. Unfortunately satire and reality mix here.
- ghostdiver 13y agoEuropeans point of view: European bureaucrats are not any better, think about David Cameron idea of Porngate
- pygy_ 13y agoAFAIK, the European parliament is so far reasonable regarding the Internet and privacy. However, the Commission (the executive branch, and especially the Trade Commisioner, Karel De Gucht) has been pushing hard for ACTA, going as far as lying, several times, to the Parliament. When the Parliament rejected ACTA, De Gucht said he would look for other means to bypass the decision.
- Sprint 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Retention_Directive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Retention_Directive
- ghostdiver 13y agoYet, in EU, when you use prepaid cellphone, you can be eavesdropped for no reason, only because it is prepaid cellphone.
- pygy_ 13y agoI didn't know that. It plugs a hole in the targeted surveillance programs, at the expense of all prepaid users. The target demographics for prepaid is mostly kids and teens, poor people, and people concerned about their privacy, split between sensitized geeks, unfaithful lovers and criminals. For the first two demographics cheap monthly plans are now emerging (in France, Free offers two hours of talk and infinite SMS for 2€ per month and unlimited talk, SMS and 3GB of data for 20€ per month). It sucks for the last three. On a slightly related topic, in demonstrations, people caught without a cell phone during an ID check often end up arrested for "administrative reasons".
- redblacktree 13y ago> On a slightly related topic, in demonstrations, people caught without a cell phone during an ID check often end up arrested for "administrative reasons". So the likely reason for this is so that they can get an accounting of who was there, right? Where are you referring to?
- pygy_ 13y agoI guess it's because no cell phone means no mean to track you remotely, which can otherwise be done, even if your phone is turned off. It is definitely taken as suspicious. Source: an alter-globalist activist acquaintance who demonstrates (peacefully) every other day.
- ahel 13y agoThank you, I didn't know it. Any source for this claim (so I could dig deeper)?
- chopin 13y agoCitation, please?
- stefanix 13y agoFunny, I just realized that I never think of the UK when reading about Europe. In a surveillance context it certainly feels closer to the US. And then I watched this far to often a couple of years ago ... in a desperate wish to find some humanizing qualities ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdlT7v476qY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdlT7v476qY
- pygy_ 13y ago> ... I never think of the UK when reading about Europe. Neither do most UK dwellers. Except when it suits them, off course.
- JulianMorrison 13y agoIt's not just that they're stealing everyone's privacy. They're acting like "it's foreigners, so we don't have to care" - even the latests attempts to rein in NSA make no effort to cut back its international misbehavior. Basically, I think most civilized people have been operating on the premise that democratic western states are behaving in a vaguely civilized way towards people in other such states. But it's clear that America at least is behaving like the purest sociopath, where "friends" just means "easier to manipulate". They are breaking the unspoken international social contract, and it is going to have worse repercussions than they yet understand.
- duaneb 13y ago> America The American government, you mean.
- JulianMorrison 13y agoAre you so sure the government is opposed to the public in this?
- duaneb 13y agoNo, but I think it's foolish to assume it isn't.
- return0 13y agoFor us foreigners, knowing that America has strong democratic roots, it is obvious (and worrying) that the majority of american citizens actually agree with that.
- duaneb 13y agoWell, as a republic, the government is usually about 2 years out of sync with the public: we won't actually get a chance to yell at them until next election.
- crocowhile 13y ago
- andrewcooke 13y agoyou're from latvia? i suspect it seems worse to you at the moment because of the extradition case. and in many ways the uk is as bad (or worse, at least the americans are in trouble for spying on americans) (and they're vaguely european). but yes.
- n09n 13y agoWhat do you mean by the US taking over the internet? In a lot of ways, the US has always controlled the internet.