What do you think about authorities monitoring all your Internet traffic?

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Permalink Reply by Vladimir on September 19, 2008 at 4:55am

Apart from the awfull feeling that government doesn't trust me, I have nothing to hide when it comes to visiting websites. So internet monitoring wouldn't bother me so much.
Phone calls however are something much more private!

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Permalink Reply by Tomas Nihlén on September 19, 2008 at 5:52am

Even if it means learning everything about your life online to see if you are a threat? And all your fellow citizens that might have a bigger reason to be concerned. One of the issues is that states exchange this information between countries on sort of an "intelligence market" so information can be traded with countries like Iran or China.

Not saying you should be affraid, just an issue worth thinking about since it concerns the whole society.

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Permalink Reply by Dale on September 19, 2008 at 5:20am

I would just change my browsing habits to screw with their data, big brother is only as good as the analysis algorithm

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Permalink Reply by Tomas Nihlén on September 19, 2008 at 5:53am

That's true, but it only works for web savvy people that know what they are doing. Most people aren't that tech savvy, and it will affect them the most.

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Permalink Reply by Tomas Nihlén on September 19, 2008 at 5:59am

If you like the documentary, help us digg it so more people can see it:
http://digg.com/political_opinion/Blogger_fight_against_Swedish_wir...

Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by tubejay on September 19, 2008 at 8:45am

sweden used to be so cool. just goes to show you that a stupid government can ruin everything.

as far as "they will be able to do social network analysis..." well, yeah... anyone can do that at any time. you don't need to be a government, as the viacom-gets-all-your-info thing proved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_Panopticon

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Permalink Reply by Tomas Nihlén on September 19, 2008 at 9:47am

That's true, but the Swedish organisation, the FRA, that is responsible for the wiretapping are according to rumors building one of the most powerful computers in the world to do it.. And they don't act under the same constrictions that commercial companies do. They can for instance use information in ways that is not legal for companies.

And in this case it wouldn't matter which government it was, since the last government started this and the current continued..

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Permalink Reply by tubejay on September 19, 2008 at 12:14pm

oh, i realize that it just gets worse and worse, but the way things are going, if a company can't screw you over legally, they just break the law anyway (microsoft,) or change the precident (viacom.) google and at&t probably outdo the cia on occasion. otherwise, why would the nsa need at&t's help? (and shame on you, at&t. see if i ever give you a penny.)

it's a good time to remind people that once you put something online, (and certainly by any conventional method...) it's as good as traced to you and placed in a dossier. people need to think about that a lot more. someday it's going to affect hireability, or worse. and if it's going to be fought, they need to know the full extent of the situation. i'm glad you're sharing it with us.

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Permalink Reply by Tomas Nihlén on September 19, 2008 at 12:22pm

You are absolutely right, and I agree. People need to be more aware of what can happen with the data they put out there about themselves.

But I think one difference is that some of the data you have control over in the sense that you willingly put it out there and must realize what can be done with it. For instance what about all those location services like dopplr and Plazes, and combine them with for instance Twitter and Jaiku, Flickr and a personal video blog. If you tell people were you are and what you are doing all the time, they know what you are doing, maybe even seen the inside of your apartment. Shouldn't people almost expect criminals to exploit this? I think people should be more careful about that stuff.

But when a state does this they have a whole different array of possibilities to put together data that would be impossible or extremely hard for other organizations. I think that's why people are so upset about this law when they at the same time put out big parts of their lives on the Net.

But like I said, I totally agree. And the recent study by Career Builder confirms that.

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Permalink Reply by Nqizitiv on September 20, 2008 at 8:04pm

Well done video. Ask Sara Palin, VP nominee USA how it feels to have your personal email invaded.
This law is wrong on so many levels. Our Patriot Act in the USA is a beginning for the same.

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Permalink Reply by Tomas Nihlén on September 21, 2008 at 1:51am

Thanks. :)

Some of the people I have talked to says it's The Patriot Act that indirectly has lead to this Swedish law and some other laws in this direction in other countries. The political climate changed.

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Permalink Reply by Bashar Al-Ba'noon on September 21, 2008 at 2:37am

Hate it indeed!

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