Europe to Track Phone and Internet Use of its Citizens
Europe has been known as the place where privacy is valued and defended that belief rigorously. Now, many individual countries are preparing legislation that would be more stringent in tracking individuals than the European Union directive already in place. In particular, Germany and The Netherlands have proposed the most invasive laws of their European counterparts.
In Germany, a proposal from the Ministry of Justice would essentially prohibit using false information to create an e-mail account, making the standard Internet practice of creating accounts with pseudonyms illegal.
A draft law in the Netherlands would likewise go further than the European Union requires, in this case by requiring phone companies to save records of a caller’s precise location during an entire mobile phone conversation.
Of course, there will be many who will find a way around this type of system but the question is, why is it that we need this type of tracking in order to feel safe? Why do we allow ourselves to be tracked? Why do we not realize that any data like this can be manipulated to say whatever the authorities want it to say. These draconian measures are completely unnecessary, yet, individual EU countries are still pushing these laws because their governments are starting to realize that those in dissent to what is happening in their respective countries are voicing their opinions and organizing online. These governments see their citizens as a threat and will do whatever it takes to track them and stop them. Claiming that it is to provide security is, yet again, a red herring.
The problem, as usual, is that this will not work. These legislative officials, sitting behind big desks with pretty views have no clue how easily this will be defeated. Encryption, proxies, and other ways not yet devised, will be used. What will happen is that honest, hardworking people, such as your grandma, me, you, your little cousin, and clueless people will be the only ones that are tracked. Those that know and understand the game will not. This will necessitate special task forces to be created to track those that would elude the law. Oh, wait. We already have this. So, why create this new law if it isn’t to keep track of ordinary citizens?
It has also been suggested that tracking emails would be done by requiring a person to register with something else that is trackable, such as a national ID card. However, it’s unknown if European law would apply to places such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and other providers who are based in the United States.
Jörg Hladjk, a privacy lawyer at Hunton & Williams, a Brussels law firm, said that might also mean that it could become illegal to pay cash for prepaid cellphone accounts. The billing information for regular cellphone subscriptions is already verified.
We aren’t any safer than we were pre-9/11 and we aren’t any more at risk. 9/11 was just the galvanizing force for governments to claim that we need more laws to protect people from terrorists. Then, when you are tracked a little bit more, they claim that the bad guys are doing something else and we must take a little bit more privacy so that you can be a little more secure. But it’s all a false sense of security. They know it. Your average citizen does not. In the five years since 9/11, there has been no definitive proof that we are safer, better off, or more secure than we were before.
As it stands now, it would be difficult to get this legislation passed. It violates several German and Dutch laws already in effect, as well as violating the European Convention on Human Rights. Most people do not support the current draft of the legislation but, it is only a matter of time before it is modified and the general population is convinced that this new law is vital to the safety and security of Europe. We must object to it now before it is, once again, too late.
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