After Sunday‘s European elections, the EU is planning to reintroduce indiscriminate communications data retention without suspicion and force manufacturers to allow law enforcement access to digital devices such as smartphones and cars.
Specifically, according to the 42-point surveillance plan, manufacturers are to be legally obliged to make digital devices such as smartphones, smart homes, IoT devices, and cars monitorable at all times (“access by design”). Messenger services that were previously securely encrypted are to be forced to allow for interception.
The secure encryption of metadata and subscriber data is to be prohibited. Where requested by the police, GPS location tracking should be activated by service providers (“tracking switch”).
The EU Commission has already contributed specific proposals to the surveillance plan, according to two presentations obtained by the Pirates.
As someone who sees these articles, who should I not vote for? Is there some ranking for 'most asshole-ish politician' regarding the EU? I know every politician has somewhat dirt on them but I'd love to know what to avoid since apparently some of those turds are worse than others.
It depends on the country you live in. You will have to research that. As a rule of thumb, it is conservative/ right wing parties pushing for heavier surveillance of citizens.
As it stands right now, the Eu parliament (which consists of people who we vote in to office), is the government body which opposes these measures. But there are only a few member countries left in the parliament which do that, so our votes are important!
My experience is totally different, although of course I don't know the situation in whatever country you're from.
Arguably, the main reason for surveillance (being able to read your communication) is to be able to censor you (prevent you from posting/saying things somebody else doesn't like) or even punish you for something you say.
And I don't see how can anyone argue that it is not the left that wants to censor everything and punish people for things they say :)
If somebody wants to actually try arguing it, please answer the following question (in parentheses I'll leave the suggested answer 😉, but let me know if yours are different)
When the left punishes you, it's social ostracism, which can be brutal in its own right. But.
When the right punishes you, it's your time they take away, not your opportunities. Labor prisons, monopolies you're stuck paying for, lower quality larger profit less oversight (for the loyal, the disloyal are taken for helicopter rides or foreign treatment.
At least with a loss of opportunities, you still have your life and other guaranteed freedoms to find a different opportunity.
When the left punishes you (without them even admitting or realizing it), your country is getting turned into a mass prison and your family, your friends, and you are then slaughtered in a war, all to the applause of the left, praising your dictatorial government for being heroes.
And then, when you try to show people what's happening in your own country, the atrocities your own government is committing upon you, the left tries to silence you until you get slaughtered, or until it becomes irrelevant and everybody moves on and forgets about it.
That's how the left punishes you.
Please tell me, and every other Ukrainian, how our life and "other guaranteed freedoms" is going? How we are able to leave the country if we want to, how we are not kidnapped from the streets (and soon will be from our homes) and sent to die? Please tell me more about it.
I'm sorry I'm maybe spoiled with the horror stories and familial PTSD of their right wing junta governments indiscriminately popping protesters in the street, curfews, and torture of the innocents.
I'm sorry that your current reality is an aggression into your homeland and that they're calling on you against your will. That sure sucks. But even if goes against your wishes, peace doesn't exist there (presumably you're talking from the Ukraine) and liberties are the first thing to go when shit gets real. No one pretended during the world war that they were a free and fair democracy with all cards on the table, every country has a wartime powers act if they modeled it after Greco-Roman representative democracy.
Good luck with the ruskies, hope they die 2 per 1 shot at your country's hands for what they're doing. Stay tough or whatever bro, or sorry you feel that way, whichever works for you.
It sure does :(
I am from Ukraine, but thankfully I am not in Ukraine, as I managed to escape it before the war started when it was still possible.
Peace was always possible, but Zelensky and his regime does not want it, because war is what allows him to stay in power and steal millions/billions of dollars.
Zelensky does pretend that Ukraine is free and fair democracy though, and is lying to everyone's faces that Ukraine is a democratic country that "doesn't chase people with sticks to the frontlines". He is a pathological liar, and unfortunately many people believe him.
The problem is not with "ruskies", the problem is with Zelensky. Just 1 shot would be enough, and it can't come soon enough. We can deal with Russia later.