back to article Privacy chief warns EU on terror laws

Europe's data protection chief has warned Portuguese ministers that fundamental rights to freedom are being abused in the name of security. Portugal takes over the rotating EU Presidency on 1st July. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has told the Portuguese ministers for justice and the interior that anti-terror …

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  1. Campbell

    Rubbish

    If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear.

    Therefore I say to the privacy nuts, what are you hding, what nefarious activities are you up to, surfing porn perhaps, bomb making sites? Why are you so scared, as is evident in your loud shouting about privacy.

    I fucking resent that, you bums are endangering my ife with your PC and Human Rights, what about my rights to life and liberty, hell even security in my own home? Screw the terroriust, criminals and assholes who have CHOOSEN or are about to CHOSE to break the law and need to hide behind privacy and other idiot laws.

    Anyway, the ONLY place, indeed activity, that privacy MUST be assured is in the crapper, wouldn't want anyone to see your wee twinky now would ya?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey cowbell

    If you want to live in an open prison, that's up to you - I hear they run courses on English grammar.

    But the rest of us don't want to be spied on *just for the sake of it*.

    In other words, we don't agree with the massive data gathering campaign by government and commercial entities, for no justifiable reason.

    What happened to the old attitude we had towards the IRA ?

    We will not change our ways because that's what they want.

    There is more Terror generated by the media than by any terrorist, and that is why the laws are being written - not to actually defend us, but to appear to be doing something and in the meantime, let's gets some juicy data about peoples private lives.

  3. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Well, Mr. Campbell

    What am I up to ? Nothing worse than you, only I don't think it's any of your business to know. And I have a right to keep that information from you, until the day information nazis like you take over the government. That day, you'll probably be right - because I'll be preparing a revolt.

    Even the paranoid are right sometimes, but the paranoid who trample over everybody else's life and privacy are usually right more often than the armchair dictators.

  4. Graham Marsden

    Rubbish?

    Campbell:

    You trot out the tired old mantra of "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" but clearly you haven't actually *thought* for a minute about what you're saying.

    Does the expression "Presumed innocent unless proven guilty" not mean anything to you? It requires that if you are arrested for a crime it is up to the State to *prove* your guilt, you do not have to prove your innocence. Yet you are willing to sweep that right away because, somehow (gods alone know how) it will make you "safer".

    If you have nothing to hide, would you be happy to give the Police the key to your house and let them wander round and just check? After all, you have nothing to fear, do you?

    Or try asking the people arrested under Operation Ore and accused of being paedophiles because they were the victims of Identity Theft. I bet *they* thought they had nothing to hide, yet they were forced into the position of having to prove that they *hadn't* downloaded kiddie porn.

    Why am I so scared? Because if you take a look at history you'll see just how the lack of privacy can be abused. Take a look at what the Stasi got up to in Easter Germany, for instance and ask yourself if you *really* want that sort of thing to happen in our "free" country putting *everyone* under suspicion.

    You are endangering *everybody's* liberties with your glib and short-sighted arguments and I "fucking resent that".

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Campbell

    Campbell, if you have nothing to hide (and therefore nothing to fear), please post the following:

    Your full name and address.

    A copy of your most recent payslip.

    A full frontal nude photo of your wife.

    The pin number for your ATM card and full bank details.

    A full schedule of where you'll be over the coming month (you may exclude anticipated toilet breaks as a compromise to your opinion that "the ONLY place...that privacy MUST be assured is in the crapper,".

    If you don't post all this data then I can only assume you are some kind of international terrorist.

    Ta

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dios los cría, Dios los junta.

    Campbell writes

    “The ONLY place, indeed activity, that privacy MUST be assured is in the crapper”

    That would pretty much ensure that your rights to free speech are ensured, given that what you write emanates from the “crapper” But what about the rest of us?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What terrorist threat?

    What terrorist threat do we face?

    We have some anger over the lies told that got us into a war with Iraq, but Blair will leave soon and the rest of those liars will be out of power soon enough too. That will fix that.

    No big threat there.

    We have some minor problems with minor regional groups. Like the Basque separatists, as always.

    No big threat there either.

    'Cyber terrorist threats', is a joke, nobody really dies in Halo online.

    No big threat there.

    We have 'terrorists are radicalizing people on the internet', but that's really just Bush pissed off at losing the last election and blaming the net for it.

    We don't have people cowering in mortal fear of their lives, and don't face a huge risk to life and limb.

    It seems to me, Bush Blair Reid play up the threats we face because it plays to their agenda. But we're kicking out Blair and Reid at the end of this month because of all the crap they've pulled.

    Blair & Reid aren't leaving because they want to, they're leaving because the Brits got angry enough to vote against the labour party. They don't speak with the authority of Britain, they speak *against* the authority of Britain.

    It's all just a bunch of phony rhetoric to panic us into giving up our rights.

  8. Campbell

    Title

    Tut, tut, personal attacks and slanging, says a lot about your character and mindset.

    We shall see, when your lives or those of your loved ones or immdediate communities are destoyed by murders, rapists, paedophiles, terrorists or whatever all because data that would have prevented the actions of those above was not allowed to be collected let alone used..

    Of course you won't need to apologise what it happens, I'll understand.

  9. Nick Ryan Silver badge

    Title

    The Dutch collected census data right before WWII. They annotated who were Jewish. The local populace objected and the government insisted they would never abuse that data.

    Only a couple of words to add to this:

    "Anne Frank"

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Campbell I need to see your twinky

    "If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear."

    If you have something to hide then you have something to fear.

    Why do you hide your twinky? Are you a rapist, or a child molestor, is there some distinguishing mark on your twinky perhaps?

    "Therefore I say to the privacy nuts, what are you hding, what nefarious activities are you up to, surfing porn perhaps, bomb making sites? Why are you so scared, as is evident in your loud shouting about privacy."

    Erm, dude, those things are all legal, here go look.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ied

    "I fucking resent that, you bums are endangering my ife with your PC and Human Rights, what about my rights to life and liberty, hell even security in my own home?"

    Well f*ck you, your choices don't overrule my choices. If you want to give away all your info, that's up to you. Why the hell should your bad choices apply to me?

    I don't trust Blair and Bush to protect my interests any more than they told me the truth about Iraq. You trust them, well you're a gullible patsy. They're protecting you from non existent WMDs.

    My life is none of those lying toe-rags business, and it's none of yours. If you think giving up your privacy is somehow necessary to protect your life, you are an idiot.

  11. Adrian

    Clueless

    "If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear."

    I have to laugh everytime I hear this old chesnut trotted out. EVERYONE has something to hide, and not because of criminal intent.

    I run a business, do I want to share my business plans, client lists and client deals with everyone? Of course not.

    The vast majority of the anti-terror measures that have been introduced are pointless and don't make us one bit safer. E.g. Flying into the US has since 9/11 become a major pain, with all the checks. Will this security keep the terrorists out? Not at all. The US has 12,000Km or border and 20,000Km coastline, how are you going to protect that? You can't.

    Secondly, do I trust the government with all this information, No not at all. They have proved time and again to be totally incompetant with handling large database projects, not just the design and implementation, but also the security and integrity of the data. God help the USA if someone called 'John Smith' finds their way on the no fly list..

    There is no 100% security and there is always a risk that you find yourself in the wrong place and the wrong time. The liklihood that this happens is very very low.

    I am not afraid of terrorists, and I don't intend to change my lifestyle one bit, because of a very small number of nutjobs. The attempt of our governments to scare us into believing that we are all risk and the measures they want to introduce are necessary, is simply an excuse to become more authoritarian and less democratic. This type of FUD must be resisted; vote these governments out.

    One final point; recently in the UK, the security services bugged the phone of some Pakistani guys with some dodgy contacts in Pakistan, who came up with the scheme to bring liquid explosive on to aircraft. Well the scheme was hair-brained, with zero chance of them being able to do the DIY chemistry on the aircraft. The result: now we have all the stupid restrictions on liquids and are we anyway safer because of them? No.

    Incidentally, have any of these 'bombers' been charged with anything yet?

  12. Dan

    Privacy

    Sometime, at some point, it may become necessary to do something illegal to just to keep your other freedoms. When you give privacy, you might as well give up your other freedoms, because you won't have any means left to defend them. If it ever becomes necessary to resist the government, lack of privacy means you'll never get more than 1-2 disidents which are quickly removed or isolated. As soon as someone does speak out, everyone else just makes themselves scarce, if they think the government will know where they are.

    Feel free to give up your freedoms Campbell, but you have no right to give up mine.

  13. Graham Marsden

    "When", Campbell? Or just "if"?

    "when your lives or those of your loved ones or immdediate communities are destoyed by murders, rapists, paedophiles, terrorists or whatever all because data that would have prevented the actions of those above was not allowed to be collected let alone used..."

    Ah, let's spread the good old FUD around!

    But, wait a moment...

    "[...] voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

    Herman Goering

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Campbell

    Your obsessive need for privacy within the confines of your crapper are of no interest to the people posting on this site. I'm certain that John Reid will be happy to include a special exemption clause in his next draconian piece of legislation that will cater for the needs of closet wankers like yourself. That is, of course, after he has passed the relevant info along to one or more of the government's stakeholder companys so that they can deluge you with appropriate offers.

    If you have nothing to hide you've been lobotomized.

  15. Brennan Young

    Don't feed the troll

    Campbell is playing the 'total awareness' card a bit too faithfully. I call "troll".

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