I as a blogger and citizen of the European Union am disgusted and ashamed to have to report that today, the EU has passed legislation requiring all participating countries to log all internet traffic for a period of up to 24 months:
EU justice and interior ministers have sealed a landmark data-retention law, forcing telephone operators and internet service providers to store data in the fight against terrorism and organised crime.
The data retention directive was approved by ministers in Brussels on Tuesday (21 February), putting an end to a heated debate in and outside EU institutions for over a year and a half.
The directive aims at tracking down terrorists, paedophiles and criminal gangs, but civil liberties campaigners have argued it damages basic privacy rights and breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.
According to the directive, member states will have to store citizens’ phone call data for six to 24 months, but the deal does not stipulate a maximum time period, cooling anger among member states who want longer storage periods.
The data would only detail the caller and receiver’s numbers, not the actual conversations themselves, while so-called failed calls – calls that do not get through – will not be covered.
EU countries have 18 months to implement the rules, which already have the backing of the European Parliament.
“This is a wonderful example of how co-operation between the council [member states], the commission and the parliament can work,” Austrian justice minister Karin Gastinger, hosting the ministers’ meeting, said.
This means that every website you go to, every file you download, everything you do on the internet will be logged if you’re a citizen of the EU. I don’t have to explain to you, dear reader, the consequences of this. 1984 is indeed a typo.
What sickens me most is that this is not in the news, and few people except for computer nerds and privacy advocates even know this is going on. Indeed, since 9-11 goverments all over have used fear and ignorance to pass these sort of laws. This however, is the culmination of the control our so called leaders desperately want.
No longer can we as Europeans ridicule Americans because of their Patriot Act. Where once the free world started where Amerca’s borders ended, now we too are being shrouded in darkness. The situation we are in is pitiful, just pitiful.
In case you are wondering what you can do to protect yourself? Install tor, at least that way the fuckers won’t be able to see what you’re doing. For more information click on the banner above and let us pray that one day we will all come to our senses.
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