Most people dismiss this notion, but the terrorist won The War on Terrorism on 9/11/2001. The non extremist governments engaged in The War on Terrorism are just winning battles at this point and a new article by Jeremy Kirk from IDG News Service is the latest evidence of this. The UK is pushing to pass a law requiring telecommunication companies to log and maintain all forms of communication. Does this remind anyone of the movie “V for Vendetta” or perhaps “Minority Report”?
It is disturbing when US citizens accept this type of governmental control. There is obviously not enough emphasis placed on US Government and History in high school and college. The US is unique and still a super power because it doesn’t follow what every other government does. This topic of government control and surveillance has been hotly discussed within our circle of colleagues. One side of the argument is that if you don’t have anything to hide you shouldn’t care if the government is collecting everything you do. The other side of course is vehemently opposed to this type of government abuse and would rather keep it overseas or across the borders if it is going to exist.
The financial strain this will put on the telecommunications industry in the UK will be immense. The cost will be passed on to the consumer to drive cost of living higher and the market to a weaker stature. The sad thing is a couple of red herrings will put this whole idea into a state of chaos because there just isn’t enough analysis available to cover everything. The time sensitive nature of digital communications couple with the overwhelming amount of data processed daily is against the UK.
The UK is getting itself into a dangerous area, not with its enemies but with its citizens.
