Oct 11 is international day of protest against surveillance
That’s the title of my Slaw post today. It reads:
Boing Boing has a recent post that refers to a day of protest being organized in the EU. Some excerpts:
An international protest against undue surveillance is being held next month on the 11th of October. It is ‘a broad movement of campaigners and organizations is calling on everybody to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and businesses’. We need to get this on the radar for the elections in the USA this year, the EU parliamentary elections next year and many more.
People who constantly feel watched and under surveillance cannot freely and courageously stand up for their rights and for a just society. Mass surveillance is thereby threatening the fabric of a democratic and open society. Mass surveillance is also endangering the work and commitment of civil society organizations.
My personal view is that most so called security measures, including CCTV is security theatre that does not have any significant effect on actual security. For those that say “if you are doing nothing wrong, what’s the problem”, take a look at this Washington Post article.
I look forward to the results of the Federal Privacy Commissioner’s research into public surveillance techniques and technology
I agree with the sentiments expressed in this article. It is troubling the way in which businesses and governments are stockpiling seemingly inoccuous bits of information about citizens. From where are driving to what books we are buying. People should be able to go, read and say and just be without the threat of it coming back to haunt them.As information is aggregated a person can become an open book
I don’t understand the “if your not doing anything wrong, why do you care” school of thought and find it frightening. What’s moral today may not be considered moral tomorrow, governments change, society change, people change. McCarthy would have had a field day had these technologies been around during his time.
Comment by H. Alison — September 10, 2008 @ 5:31 pm