In 2013, the world was shocked to learn about PRISM: a massive, intrusive domestic and international spying program by the US Deep State.
That Washington spooks were spying on a bunch of foreigners might not have bothered Americans as much as it did their ostensible allies whose phones were being tapped, but domestic spying was another matter.
Americans were alarmed to learn that the NSA was spying on their voice calls, text messages, video calls, emails, internet searches, and private messages shared via Big Tech companies like Microsoft, Apple, Verizon, Yahoo, AT&T, Google. Worse, the spooks lied about it: Former National Intelligence Director James Clapper openly perjured himself, when he told a Senate committee that the NSA did not collect any type of data on hundreds of millions of Americans. “That was a lie and Clapper knew it when he said it.”
(If it’s any consolation, Clapper later clarified that his direct lie was “the least untruthful” statement he could make. So, there you go: he lied, but he could have lied worse.)
If that’s what the bastards get up to when open-slather spying on private communications is against the law, what will they do when they’re allowed to do what was once blatantly illegal? Europe is about to find out.
A German member of the European Parliament is warning against EU plans to adopt new, wide-ranging mass surveillance rules that he says would seriously jeopardize citizens’ right to privacy by forcing tech companies to give access to encrypted messages to the authorities.
And that is what the laws now in the works in Brussels – that are supposed to replace temporary rules adopted in July – are designed to do, by ordering messaging and video chat providers like WhatsApp and Skype to put tech in place that would provide access to people’s private communications and, thanks to an automated system, monitor chats in real time and report suspicious content.
It’s no coincidence that Belgium is the frog in the pot for such laws. After all, Brussels’ Molenbeek district is the epicentre of Islamic terrorism in Europe. But the laws go far beyond keeping an ear on known jihadis: they want to spy on everyone, any time at all.
In a statement, MEP Patrick Breyer said that the EU commission must understand that it cannot give itself the right to intrusive surveillance of digital communication of every citizen, and do it without “specific suspicion.” He also believes EU’s policy on this issue is not only illegal and irresponsible – but also effective.
Like something out of an episode of the Stephen Fry comedy, Absolute Power, promoters of the law are shamelessly exploiting paranoia over child abuse. Anyone who objects is ruthlessly demonised as some kind of “paedophile sympathiser”.
Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld shed light on how dissenters on this issue are treated, revealing that they are made to feel like they are not committed to combating child abuse because they have questions critical of the proposed laws.
A number of other MEPs are opposed to the idea and speak about that openly, with some comparing the EU’s model of mass online surveillance to what is happening in China.
Reclaim The Net
Still, I’m sure it’s all part of “building back better”, or something.
Anyway, what have you got to worry about? If you haven’t got anything to hide, why would you be worried about government spooks rummaging through your digital undies drawer?
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