But this new power isn't one of George Bush's attacks on the Constitution, on American civil liberties, on humanity as a whole, etc. etc. etc. No, this power comes from our European betters.
THE Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant.
The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups and opposition MPs. They described it as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which drives “a coach and horses” through privacy laws.
The hacking is known as “remote searching”...
Under the Brussels edict, police across the EU have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a rarely used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private property. The strategy will allow French, German and other EU forces to ask British officers to hack into someone’s UK computer and pass over any material gleaned.
A remote search can be granted if a senior officer says he “believes” that it is “proportionate” and necessary to prevent or detect serious crime — defined as any offence attracting a jail sentence of more than three years.
If you believe that civil liberties are a cornerstone of our American way of life, and you support Democrats and other leftists, I wonder how you can believe that giving more power to government is a good thing. Do you think that incoming President Hopenchange would like this kind of power? Of course he would. George Bush would have, too.
People in power like power. What was it that Webster said?
“Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.”
A benevolent dictator is still a dictator.
Some people think Europe has all the answers we need. I'm not so sure.
Wasn't it just last year that we heard the big hue and cry about the alleged tapping of cell phone calls to known terror nations? Wasn't that supposed to be so invasive and wrong? And wasn't it just the past couple of months that we learned that German police have indulged in torture? Aren't Europeans supposed to be better and smarter and nicer than Americans? After all, the supported Obama.
ReplyDeleteOh!