Open Ballot: Big Brother

America's National Security Agency has come under fire for demanding data from many phone and web-based companies. This side of the pond, things aren't much better. Though the "Snooper's Charter" looks like it won't come through, EU law still requires all communication providers (e.g. ISPs and telephone companies) to:

- trace and identify the source of a communication;
- trace and identify the destination of a communication;
- identify the date, time and duration of a communication;
- identify the type of communication;
- identify the communication device;
- identify the location of mobile communication equipment.

- for all communications and store this for up to two years so they can make it available to national authorities. What the national authorities do with it is up to them.

It seems that many of us are living under the spectre of massive state surveillance. So, dear readers/listeners, what to you think of this? Let us know in the comments and we'll read them out in our upcoming podcast.

Do you think:

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear

It's OK, Obama said: "no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing but protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient." and he seems like a stand-up chap.
We need to give the state power to protect us. As Theresa May said: "... we can absolutely say for certain is that, if the Communications Data Bill [aka snooper's charter], with the safeguards that were agreed in the last session of Parliament, was introduced, then it would be very likely to prevent some attacks of this kind [the Woolwich murder] in the future."
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
It's an Orwellian nightmare: "Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself." from 1984
It's time to arm ourselves for a fight. Since we can no longer rely on the law to protect us, we need to use free and open source software to create secure online systems that big brother can't casually tap into.