EU Committee Issues Report On NSA Surveillance; Snowden To Testify 177
Qedward writes with word that the EU Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee published the draft of their report on the impact of dragnet surveillance by the NSA on EU citizens (PDF). Quoting CIO: "... Members of the European Parliament say that it is 'very doubtful that data collection of such magnitude is only guided by the fight against terrorism,' and that there may be other motives such as political and economic espionage. The document urges EU countries to take legal action against the breach of their sovereignty perpetrated through such mass surveillance programs."
The same committee voted today to allow Edward Snowden to testify before them in a special hearing.
Perhaps (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps the EU members will think that.
However, there is a major difference between say, Germany and America. The difference is, the German public will freak out and actually take to the streets.
I am reasonably sure that Germany would exit the EU if such a program was installed.
Same is true for France. They say that France is one of the few countries who does democracy right. The government is scared shitless of the people. Not the other way around like in the US where people fear their government. Hell, in France they will burn an entire city over a small issue.
Of course in England, they are even more willing to give up their rights than Americans.
Re:Where? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's worse than that. The EU is where the US gets its guns from, because the US is too incompetent to make its own guns any more. Most police departments use Glocks, which come from Austria, and the US military is going to use an H-K rifle from Germany for their next-generation assault rifle. The US military already uses the Beretta M-9 for its standard sidearm: Beretta is an Italian company. All the best guns come from the EU (or Switzerland, which is surrounded by the EU): FAL in Belgium with their P90 submachine gun and F2000 rifle (standard rifle used by many countries' armies including Pakistan), H-K in Germany with their MP5 submachine gun used by lots of militaries and police departments including probably every US SWAT team, Glock in Austria, SIG in Switzerland, HS in Croatia, Steyr in Britain, I'm sure there's lots more. The US gunmakers mostly only make historical replicas (e.g. Colt 45s from the 1800s) and copies of aging and obsolete guns like the 1911 and the AR-15. When they want something new and innovative, they import it from Europe and rebadge it (like the Springfield XD series, made by HS in Croatia).
Re:Perhaps (Score:5, Interesting)
I am reasonably sure that Germany would exit the EU if such a program was installed.
I did not say that the German government did not WANT to spy. Sure they do. All governments want to spy, be they western or not.
The point is, the population would freak out if it actually came out that the government was spying on every German and what they did.
Look, I will be the first to admit it. Germans are about the stingiest people I ever met. I have only lived here for about 5 years, but that much is clear. "Hey, why don't you have a clothes dryer?". response: "Why should I pay 200€ for what the sun does for free!" Classic German thinking. Save save save save. That is a good thing though.
Now, I know 3 different people who have canceled their family trips to the US over this matter. These are already paid for trip with no chance to get the money back.
The fact is, they are afraid of the US government. They are afraid that the TSA will confiscate their notebooks because the agent would like to have a new one. Or copy all their private information.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/18/tsa-to-download-your-itunes/ [washingtontimes.com]