EU Debates Installing a Black Box On Your Computer

bs0d3 writes "EU MEP Tiziano Motti (Italy), wants everything you do online to be logged and saved, for the sake of the children. Like a black box installed on every computer. He proposes an early warning system of criminal activity, specifically whenever an image of sexually abused children is detected, an alarm, goes to the authorities to be able to see who uploaded it. Tiziano Motti was a politician who just over a year ago managed to get a majority of European Members of Parliament to support the proposal to expand the data storage directive to Google searches. The purpose was to protect children from pedophiles — the same excuse he is using now. His proposal involves a technology called Logbox. And just as with an aircraft's black box, Logbox is installed on computers, laptops, smartphones, and e-readers because yes, all that can be connected to the internet."

I bet..

[mvar]

... EU MEP Tiziano Motti (Italy) can't tell the difference between desktop PCs, laptops, smartphones and e-readers. Like most of the politicians anyway. Six or seven years ago in Greece some morons (a.k.a. the parliament majority) voted for a law to prohibit electronic gambling - On their way, they made Internet Cafés illegal as well as coin-up arcade games. It was fun to watch the police bust into Internet Cafés and arrest their owners just because they had 5-6 desktops PCs connected to the Internet.

Re:I bet..

[DZign]

Very true - half of the stupid proposals are just because mp's want to get their name out in the press and say 'look I did something this year'..
Sometimes they either hardly know anything about the technology, or they are just so narrow minded that they don't consider it can apply to much more than they think of.

The law was good for dealers in arcade machines/pinball machines who could suddenly get some good deals in Greece.. (you still can btw, just got a mail with someone from Greece offering me pinball machines for sale :-)

Re:Opposite Effect

[Yvanhoe]

Stop thinking that this has anything to do with porn. Stop thinking that the promoters of such laws care at all about pedophilia and fighting it. If they really cared, they would listen to the policemen and non-profits fighting it that censorship would be counter-productive.

They just hate internet. It is the #2 media behind TV and is still gaining importance. They want to be able to control it. They want to be able to shut down websites. They need to tackle protests.

The plan is simple : first, put a mechanism to fight against pedophilia. Then extend it to fight terrorism. Then, using the vague definitions of terrorism, use these tools to squash any kind of protest, because disturbing traffic is akin to terrorism.

Re:And who's gonna pay for that?

[Joce640k]

Yep. Somebody needs to ask him why there aren't video cameras in politician's houses/offices so we can watch them and prevent corruption.

Lead us by example!

For the children, catch all

[Gideon Wells]

Forgive me for being a bit rude, but I woke up to this article. Mr. Motti, considering the reputation your PM has been gathering I must say screw you.

I am at the point I am no longer phased by the phrase "think of the children". All of this to protect kids? Dear god, at this point you might as well just take all the kids away from their parents in the hospital and raise them completely isolated from adults. Maybe even other kids so they don't even know what kids look like to be turned on by them.

An image of a child being abused? I mean, obviously this guy has no clue about technology. Still, he did not research prior censorship attempts first? The whole Green Dam (or was it River) of China's blocking a website for showing too much skin was horribly broken. Should Europeans expect their equivalent of SWAT Teams to start charging in if they look up pig farming?

And... and... *double face palms and sighs* Why the hell are politicians so apt to look at 1984 and like books as guides rather than warnings?

Re:Mr Motti:

[Shisha]

Second that!

You'd think that Italian MEPs would have better things to worry about right now, like not being able to borrow money if it wasn't for ECB and possibly not being able to pay their debts.

But no, that c.nt wants to have a way to let the government to spy on everyone.

Re:PARENTS rape children, NOT strangers

[Lockyy]

Hey, don't forget. Porn of small breasted women is illegal in Australia because it's counted as child pornography...

Re:Salem

[Dunbal]

Sure. It's only recently that pedophilia has been demonized. It was actually a custom in ancient Greece and Rome. Having been a victim of rape myself at age 5, I can't say I stand up for pedophilia. However when I see people accusing each other for non sexual images of children (like the old Coppertone ad [wikimedia.org], for example), cartoon images (like say, Lisa Simpson), or for statutory rape when say an 18 year old goes out with a 17 year old, I just have to shake my head and conclude that people are over-reacting and not sane. There's a difference between feeling sexual attraction for a 16 year old girl in a tight bikini and raping a 4 year old child. If people can't see this then they are not much better.