woensdag 5 maart 2008

Safety Measures

This morning I went to get myself a new identity card. The one I have right now is about the expire and as you might know, if you're caught without one you are bound to pay 33 euros. Which I think is ridiculous. I'm really fed up with all these new privacy-invading rules and regulations. I think that western governments are taking things to far. It seems like the war on terrorism is THE perfect excuse to slowly change society. Ever since 9-11 they have been forcing a gigantic amount of new measures down our throats. Sure what happened that day was a horrible tragedy and ofcourse people have been affraid of violent extremists ever since. But when our liberties are slowly taken away, with privacy being one of the greatest liberties we have, the western world's population will transform into a fear striken deathly scared mass of following sheep who are too afraid to speak up or think for themselves. All in the name of safety and security. Because we do want to be safe right? And we don't want terrorists in our midst now do we? And if you're doing nothing wrong, you certainly won't have anything to hide, so who cares if the government knows everything there is to know about you. Or at least that's how they want you to think. Because seriously, how is me walking around with an identity card preventing an extremist in Pakistan from boarding a plane with a bombstrap? How is prohibiting mother's to take their babies food on a plane preventing a new catastrophe? It simply isn't. Terrorists will still make plans. And execute them. Extremists will still be able to recrute idiots who are willing to die for a noble cause.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's this huge conspiracy going on, and I believe a 1984-esque society is still years away, pun intended, but that doesn't mean that we should ignore the first warning signs. Or that we should just accept and approve of everything they ask us to do in the name of safety. I could never articulate my point as well as Bruce Schneier did in his essay 'the eternal value of privacy', so I'm sharing it with you: http://www.schneier.com/essay-114.html
I realise this post is a bit of a mess but what I'm trying to say is that it could never hurt to be critical even if you don't know how to change anything.
I'm leaving you now with this quote from Benjamin Franklin that sums it all up perfectly:
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."

3 opmerkingen:

María zei

The worst part comes at airports, in my opinion. They treat us like automatons, especially in the US. Their attitude towards people is humiliating most of the times. They openly laugh at you, and you can't do nothing!

Anoniem zei

O agree!

Anoniem zei

I totally agree with you. I like to feel free, and not compulsed to carry things with me that other people decide. I'm glad my country hasn't enforced such a thing as compulsory identity cards yet, but when I lived in Germany, which also has that law, I chose to ignore it because I hated the idea of it.