Do we have a right to privacy on the Internet or should we not be worried unless we have something to hide. There are arguments for both cases however the erosion of our freedoms and privacy is a compelling one for me.
Why should I need to surf the web anonymously? That's what my wife thinks probably being very suspicious about my insistence on doing so, what have you got to hide, she says? For the record let me say that just because a person values their privacy doesn't automatically make them some sort of criminal. I mean how would you feel about having a CCTV camera in your living room? Surely if you've nothing to hide then you can have no objection and think of the crimes that would be prevented if we all had them fitted in our houses.
Ok so possibly an extreme example but it's not that far away from the truth, if you live in the UK we have more Cameras per head watching us than anywhere else in the world. Recently the European Union passed a directive (Directive 2006/24/EC) that stated that every ISP should keep a record of every single web page and email sent for two years. Further to this many countries are intending following the UK lead to store all this information on a central database and make it accessible to selected agencies.
That's right every web site you visit will be recorded for two years
So what's this information going to be used for? The people who approve of this will say it will be used to catch bad people on the net, trap pedophiles, fraudsters and terrorists. Well I'm afraid I don't think that's true, what I think we'll have is a huge amount of information on ordinary people ready to be misused, mislaid and lost. Just remember we live in a society where arbitrary decisions are made about our suitability all the time - someone who smokes is usually not allowed to foster children for example in the UK whereas drug using parents who abuse their children are actively supported to 'keep a family together'.
Life is rarely 'black and white' and information on a computer disk is almost always misleading. If you put your mind to it I'm sure you can think of a lots of cases where information like this can be misused and basically victimise and vilify people.
What might this information be used for
Well let's take a guess at what it might be used by the 'selected agencies' for ?
Police check web records of a neighbourhood where a sex crime has taken place
Military run checks on web and email record of prospective recruits
Adoption agency request records to check suitability of a family to adopt a child
Intelligence agencies run random sweeps looking for terrorist related activity
You live in the same world as me and I'm sure from that list your imagination will come up with the same horrible scenarios and miscarriages as I do.
What will all this data be used for?
Every time we use the internet we will effectively be under surveillance, by anyone that our governments deem should have access to this data. I am incredibly nervous about this in a free and open country like the United Kingdom but imagine what it would be like in somewhere with a less liberal outlook.
How do you think a Taliban fanatic would use this information for example. Throughout the ages people have died for freedoms that we know take for granted, yet gradually our own is being eroded by a supposed hunt for criminals. I want the bad guys caught as much as anyone but sacrificing our freedom and privacy is just too big a price to pay in my book. So alas my information will be unintelligible to the government, just as it is also protected from identity thieves, hackers and data pirates who dwell on the internet - I surf the web anonymously.
If you'd like to know how I keep my web surfing completely secure from, well everyone, you can find some information on this link.
New proxiesAnonymous Internet Surfing
Jim
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