AfterDawn: News

America's privacy situation worsens

According to Privacy International's latest National Privacy Ranking for 2007, the US, Russia, China and a few southeast Asian countries are ranked at the bottom in protecting their citizens' privacy.

The London-based human rights watchdog group assesses and ranks 14 criteria for its report: "Constitutional protection, statutory protection, privacy enforcement, identity cards and biometrics, data sharing, visual surveillance, communication interception, communication data retention, government access to data, workplace monitoring, surveillance of medical, financial and movement, border and trans-border issues, leadership, and democratic safeguards."



In general, the year's result showed a worsening of worldwide privacy standards, "with an overall increase in surveillance attributable to border control and immigration issues."

The US was the worst ranking country in "the democratic world" in terms of "statutory protections" and "privacy enforcement." Basically, that ranking means that laws protecting Americans' medical, workplace, and financial records from government and corporate surveillance are lacking and the group suggests that a regulatory body governing infractions of these rights needs to be implemented.

Ranking best according to the report was Greece, Romania and Canada.

Source:
betanews

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 6 Jan 2008 18:40

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• 17 comments

• pcrazy99

  I'm not surprised the U.S. is ranked at the bottom. Most of the sheep here seem to think "I have nothing to hide". They tend to look the other way when new legislation is passed to ensure "Homeland Security". Sometimes I feel like the U.S. Government is watching me more then the terrorists.

  6.1.2008 22:06 #1

• vinny13

  Who knew that crossing the border from Canada to the US was like falling off a cliff :S

  6.1.2008 22:29 #2

• Pop_Smith

  Quote:Who knew that crossing the border from Canada to the US was like falling off a cliff :SWouldn't it be the other way around? I would think you would fall of a cliff (at least when it comes to your privacy) by going to Canada, because if you disappear you "fall of a cliff". :P

  6.1.2008 22:38 #3

• vinny13

  I mean as in standards. We're right beside each other, but yet us Canadians have higher standards in many things from safety in cars to electrical wires. We have a lesser-corrupt goverment). We care less about the silly things and more about what's important. We're not threatened by any other countries...
  
  I kind of find that odd :S

  6.1.2008 22:45 #4

• Chavo

  I like Canadian women.

  6.1.2008 23:02 #5

• 7thsinger

  Originally posted by Chavo: I like Canadian women.Lol.
  
  I like Canadian Bacon.

  6.1.2008 23:24 #6

• gozilla

  man, i though the U.K would be up there, considering the amount of surveillance they have in London. You'd be hard pressed to get away with chucking a fart without someone seeing it.

  6.1.2008 23:25 #7

• elfman12

  Privacy International = zero cred. (or at least very, very low...)
  
  http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/privacy-in...ll-credibility/

  7.1.2008 01:33 #8

• dvdlover7

  no wonder u.s ranking bottom list due to thing happened on 9/11,
  
  i'm more like Zech' Republic girls,,,hehehehe

  7.1.2008 01:50 #9

• lawndog

  lol ironiy. The government and lawyers hack into our comps to see whos downloading and uploading. And now I bet they are wondering whywe are ranked lowest in privacy. How about stay outta my trash can, and protect me instead. The police are supposed to protect and serve, not infect and serve.
  Ok made sense in my head??????
  LD

  7.1.2008 01:59 #10

• cousinkix

  How ironic, that this activist group is based in a country; where the media eavesdrops on celebrities and listens to the "private" phone conversations of the British Royal Family. They broadcast this BS on TV too. A lot of this garbage is rebroadcast on trashy Amerikan news programs
  
  All they need much of the time is a full coverage police scanner radio that picks up the complete 800-900 mhz band. These have been illegal since 1992 in the USA. Wanna make some dirty money? Buy them in Canada, smuggle them across the border and raise the price.
  
  Or sell them on EBAY. There is a market for these radios and the buyers know which ones they want.
  
  On the other hand, nothing happened to the criminals who released the phone conversations of Alec Baldwin and Duane "the Dog" Chapman even though laws were broken. It is illegal to record telephone calls in Hawaii and Massachusetts without the permission of every party involved in the conversation...

  7.1.2008 03:38 #11

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by dvdlover7: no wonder u.s ranking bottom list due to thing happened on 9/11,
  
  i'm more like Zech' Republic girls,,,heheheheyou was being spied on before 9/11, that incident was just the catalyst for the destruction of USA citizens liberties and shredding of your constitution!
  
  The Patriot Act = Dictatorship Rule Book!
  
  Remember the burning of the Reichstag!
  
  Quote:
  http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0403a.asp
  
  On February 27, the telephone rang with an emergency message: “The Reichstag is on fire!”
  
  This is the beginning of the Communist revolution! We must not wait a minute. We will show no mercy. Every Communist official must be shot, where he is found. Every Communist deputy must this very day be strung up.
  
  The day after the fire, the Prussian government announced that it had found communist publications stating,
  
  Government buildings, museums, mansions and essential plants were to be burned down... . Women and children were to be sent in front of terrorist groups.... The burning of the Reichstag was to be the signal for a bloody insurrection and civil war.... It has been ascertained that today was to have seen throughout Germany terrorist acts against individual persons, against private property, and against the life and limb of the peaceful population, and also the beginning of general civil war.
  
  So how was Goering so certain that the fire had been set by communist terrorists? Arrested on the spot was a Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe. Most historians now believe that van der Lubbe was actually duped by the Nazis into setting the fire and probably was even assisted by them, without his realizing it.
  
  Why would Hitler and his associates turn a blind eye to an impending terrorist attack on their national congressional building or actually assist with such a horrific deed? Because they knew what government officials have known throughout history — that during extreme national emergencies, people are most scared and thus much more willing to surrender their liberties in return for “security.” And that’s exactly what happened during the Reichstag terrorist crisis.
  
  
  The day after the fire, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to issue a decree entitled, “For the Protection of the People and the State.” Justified as a “defensive measure against Communist acts of violence endangering the state,” the decree suspended the constitutional guarantees pertaining to civil liberties:
  
  Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications; and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.
  
  THE NEW CENSUS: An All-Out Assault On Your Privacy "The American Community Survey."
  
  Originally posted by above link: This new "census" form is 24-pages long, and demands that you lay bare every detail of your life, including how much you earn, what your home is worth, details of your health, when you leave for work, previous addresses, pregnancies, monies received from government, and on and on.
  
  I say demand because you can be fined up to $1,000 for each of the 72 questions you don�t answer or which you answer "incorrectly."WTF ARE FREE SPEECH ZONES USA?
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/
  
  Operation Northwoods:
  
  - In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in US cities to create public support for a war against Cuba - http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/Sca...0NORTHWOODS.pdf
  
  1975, a report entitled, "Oil Fields as Military Objectives: A Feasibility Study," was produced for the Committee on Foreign Relations:
  
  http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/Petroleum/fields.htm
  
  http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/
  
  Originally posted by link above: Oil
  - Global conventional oil production is on the brink of terminal decline (unconventional oil is more expensive to produce, but large amounts of it exist in South America and Canada) - The rate of oil discovery has been falling since the 1960's - The vast majority of the world's remaining conventional reserves are located in the Middle East and Central Asia - Over 60% of oil consumed by the US is imported - By 2015 the UK too, will be importing over 50% of its oil requirements - According to independant Geologist Dr Colin Campbell, the global decline will start by 2010 "It starts with a price shock due to control of the market by a few countries, and it is followed by the onset of physical shortage, which just gets worse and worse and worse" [BBC]
  
  
  Afghan Pipelines
  
  - Afghanistan is located in a prime position for the transportation of the vast amounts of cheap oil & gas from the Caspian Basin - A UNOCAL-led consortium competing with Argentinian firm Bridas, proposed to build pipelines through Afghanistan years ago [BBC] - In 1997 Taliban officials visited UNOCAL HQ in Texas to discuss the agreement [BBC] - Negotiations between UNOCAL and the Taliban were conducted by Enron through Saudi intelligence [JohnLoftus] - Confronted with the Taliban's refusal to accept US conditions, the US told them: "either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs" [AsiaTimes] - FBI Counter-Terrorism Chief John O'Neill resigned from the FBI in disgust, stating that he was ordered not to investigate Saudi / al-Qaeda connections because of the Enron pipeline deal (O'Neill died at the World Trade Center on 9/11) [JohnLoftus] - The US installed Afghan leader Sir Hamid Karzai [BBC] , a former UNOCAL consultant [AsiaTimes] - A pipeline agreement has now been signed [BBC] - This pipeline may have saved Enron from collapse by providing cheap gas to one of its 'loss making' power stations in India [CorpWatch] - The invasion of Afghanistan was planned before Sept 11 [BBC] - Taliban leaders & al-Qaeda fighters were flown to safety with secret US approval during the war [NewYorker] - Opium production has increased by 1400% [BBC] - Who benefits from the Afghan opium trade? [GlobalResearch]
  
  
  
  Iraq
  
  - Under former CIA 'hitman' Saddam Hussein, Iraq was the first OPEC member to start trading oil for euros instead of US dollars, thus threatening the strength of the US petro-dollar [Observer] - By changing Iraq's regime and removing the country from OPEC, this will loosen the stranglehold that OPEC has on world oil prices - The elusive weapons of mass destruction were sold to Hussein by Western companies right up until the late eighties [Times] [SundayHerald] - Iraq has vast and easily accessible conventional oil reserves, the second largest in the world [BBC] - The US now appears to be building permanent bases in Iraq [BBC]
  
  

  Tor: anonymity online HIDE your IP from the spies, post and browse anonymously! http://www.torproject.org/
  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  7.1.2008 04:17 #12

• tefarko

  
  

  7.1.2008 11:13 #13

• spydah

  Originally posted by tefarko:
  
  I swear that pic of Osama looks like Buraka Obama lol. But back to the subject. The US only secures the real problems we dont know about until they happen. They release fake reports to the public or partial truths as a means of control to keep people scared of their neighbor. Just think about it everyday you walk, drive, catch public transportation or whatever and you look at people with some level of a stereotype or with some level of caution. Its what they have trained people to do everyday of their lives to be afraid for paranoid of everything or person. This is what 911 represents and also as a means to hit with the ole bate and switch with whats really going on in our government.

  7.1.2008 11:28 #14

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by tefarko:
  
  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c...rticle/ShowFull
  
  Originally posted by above link: US support for Israel was a "major cause" (the 9-11 Commission report stated this was the main reason for the attack) of the 9-11 attacks, according to University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer and Harvard Professor Stephen Walt, who appeared at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last week to promote their book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.so you have the USA supplying millions of dollars worth of FREE weapons to Israel to slaughter palastinions in their genocide to clear the occupied state, it's not surprising ppl aren't happy with you! would you attack cuba if they were supplying FREE weapons to mexico to slaughter Americans?
  
  "one man's terrorist, is another man's freedom fighter"
  

  Tor: anonymity online HIDE your IP from the spies, post and browse anonymously! http://www.torproject.org/
  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  7.1.2008 12:39 #15

• DVDBack23

  Quote:Originally posted by tefarko:
  
  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c...rticle/ShowFull
  
  Originally posted by above link: US support for Israel was a "major cause" (the 9-11 Commission report stated this was the main reason for the attack) of the 9-11 attacks, according to University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer and Harvard Professor Stephen Walt, who appeared at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last week to promote their book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.so you have the USA supplying millions of dollars worth of FREE weapons to Israel to slaughter palastinions in their genocide to clear the occupied state, it's not surprising ppl aren't happy with you! would you attack another country supplying arms for FREE paid for by a 3rd party from the tax from citizens to murder your family and friends?
  
  "one man's terrorist, is another man's freedom fighter"You have no idea what you are talking about. Get this back ON TOPIC or I am closing the thread.

  7.1.2008 12:53 #16

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by DVDBack23:
  You have no idea what you are talking about. Get this back ON TOPIC or I am closing the thread.9/11 is the reason that the American government are using to worsens Americans privacy and is very relevant to this thread and Americas support for Israel is well documented but kept from the American public by the Pro Government Media!
  
  In the official American 9/11 report Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's main motivation behind the attack was Americas continued support for Israel this is in black and white freely available to anyone that can read! (click me and download the pdf 9/11 report, its very heavy reading but i can help *5.2 The Planes Operation report page 154 about half way down "U.S. Support for Israel"* )
  
  Report download page: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/index.htm
  
  
  
  There was the public 9/11 commission on c-span stating that the main reason for the 9/11 attacks was the continued support for Israel in their quest to cleans the occupied state "Palestine" C-Span video can be found on youtube and here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1bm2GPoFfg&feature=user
  
  
  Israel Violates UN Security Council, Occupying Syria's Land with NOAM CHOMSKY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vj45865jpE
  
  
  Analysis: New US-Israeli arms deal (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6949904.stm
  Originally posted by bbc link: Thursday, 16 August 2007, 16:02 GMT 17:02 UK
  This new agreement sets increased levels of US military aid for Israel over the coming decade.
  
  In broad terms, Israel will receive a total of some $30bn (£14.8bn) in military aid, a significant increase over $24bn (£12bn) it received over the past 10 years.
  
  US ARMS AID TO ISRAEL
  $30bn over 10 years
  1st payment of $2.55bn in 2008
  Annual payments rising to $3.1bn by 2011
  26.3% can be spent in Israel
  Rest must be spent on US arms
  Military AID is free weapons, 30 billion $ worth for Israel on top of the $24 billion America has already given, to continue, to illegally occupy Palestine and slaughter its inhabitants paid for by the American tax $!
  
  

  Tor: anonymity online HIDE your IP from the spies, post and browse anonymously! http://www.torproject.org/
  
  
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  7.1.2008 13:27 #17