Get off of oil dependence. Get out of the Middle East and let them blow each other up. Anyone that expresses hostility towards the country they live in should be escorted to the border and tossed out. We don't need to be in the way of that mess. Then we won't have the scapegoat for their hostilities. Then we won't have (as much) terrorism to deal with and less of a need to react like a caffeine junky everytime there's a sqeak in the floor board of world affairs. Yeah, I'm on crack. Problems exist to create solutions. Solutions need problems. We are seeing the realization of this and it's good for business, sucks for consumers.

Privacy in the name of terrorism.. how sad! We are losing our rights on everything, because they can impose any rule they want. I don't like it one bit.. it really sucks.

- Josh

...this from the guy who uses his full name for his username.

Not that your point isn't valid. I'm just saying...

The EU seems more and more like a clown organization every day. I don't understand why any countries would want to be part of it.

*Sigh* Yeah, I read this...you guys know what my reaction to this is without me saying anything else...

You smacked your head a bunch of times and started laughing really loud while you rolled around on the ground foaming at the mouth until someone gave you your pills and strapped you to your chair?

...I stand corrected. MOST of you guys know what my reaction to this is without me saying anything else :)

Kidding of course

You know you laughed.

heh

What an incredible loss of privacy to be given for such an unmotivated reason.

They claim that this data would be stored so it would be able to assist in avoiding terrorism...

How? Will someone or something review whom and where I called and how long?

This my ladies and gentlemen, is total and utter bullkacka. Yet another fine example while politicians should be kept as far away from technology as possible - UNTILL they fully comprehend it's nature.

This will only serve to anger the general public, for a while. And then it will settle and everyone will have lost some freedom - for a false sense of security. It is happening everywhere.

Mind you, I am not concerned that they can actually see whom I contacted - frankly I don't care if they can. It's more that the reason why, is total bullkaka.

Think of it in this way:
How will a communicationlog prevent a terrorist from bombing any place? The only thing it will give you is a source and destination of communication.

Terrorists nowadays work in cells. Individual self-contained groups that communicate directly. No communication is ever sent anywhere, and if so - it is as short as possible - and most of the time cryptic.

In essence - this will allow them to track whom you contacted before you bombed some place. Want to bet it will lead to a place OUT of the EU, which does not have this ridiculous law? So what will it tell you? Nothing.

And another thing, who will pay for the storage and processing power in order to store all of this information? What's that? The consumer? Yes, raise the prices yet again... Thank you!

Just my 2 cents :)

What he said - good points made well. All I can say is that you can help protect your privacy by using email encryption and VoIP calling (as long as it's VoIP to VoIP, eg. Skype to Skype which is encrypted to 256bit AES standard. VoIP to Landline is actually easier to intercept and record).

Pretty good guide on email ancryption at http://www.e-ignite.co.uk for anyone who's interested.

This smells of adverse-propaganda to achieve a goal. The EU has pushed this through saying "look at the terrible terrorist threat. Give up your right to personal privacy and you'll be safe" - this is nonsense. As an individual, you have privacy rights that you should be able to enforce. In the majority of cases you can, but this EU law has just removed your right to privacy in any form of digital communication. It is wrong.

Many thanks for your post (and the link, I will read up on that :) )

I for one, now feel highly motivated to take up my rights as an individual in regards of privacy and freedom of speech. This law is morally wrong.

Eventhough this law has been passed, I wouldn't be too surprised if some 'culprit' will at least lenghten the implementation of it. And if anyone knows or finds one - tell them they have my vote/support/sympathy whatever they need or want.

what I'm curious about is why all the stink about the eu doing this? and I bet every one of you speaking up are americans... ok, where where you when the patriot act was made into law - a law that basically shredded ALL freedoms liberty and rights to privacy? where were your voices then? ok, I can overlook the first time, but then, a few years later along came the patriot act II and IT was signed into law... guess what it did? it took away even more freedoms, allowing unwarranted invasions of privacy into communications for one thing... communications including telephone and internet. hmmmm sounds to me like the EU is just following suit a few years after the US already did it.

Actually, I'm from the UK.

The US Patriot Act is a farce - it is a total invasion of personal privacy brought about solely by the US government's scare-mongering about terrorism. "Let us spy on everything you do and terrorist's won't attack you." Rubbish!

The EU has probably passed this law because the Americans got away with it which is a really sad state of affairs. If the law was used entirely to prosecute terrorists, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it, but there are legal seminars currently run in the US that tell prosecutors how to use the Patriot Act to prosecute people for other crimes. It is wrong, and I'm saddeded to see the EU stoop to the same human-rights lows as the US has.

Valid points you make in regards to the Patriot act... It is as much if not more of an invasion to privacy then this data retention law.

Both of which, I disapprove.

Oh, and I am from the Netherlands :)

This also came about from Google's Desktop Search program and its methods of storing personal data on its server.

IMO: Internet Search Giants have been doing this for years and due to the recent Google mess, it has come to the attention of a lot of people. It is about time!

I feel that any government that feels anyone is a risk towards their country, needs to seek the proper orders from their respective courts and should be allowed(per order) to maintain contact with, search homes, look through records, mail, phone, etc to either confirm or deny thier suspicions. In the event that they do not find anything, all such data should be destroyed.

However, the storing of personal information for the sole purpose of 'we might want to look at it later" is bogus and a practice that is becoming acceptable by all nations wheter you like it or not. I have nothing to hide and would be willing to give any and all information to anyone to prove my innocence, but dislike the keeping of personal information of any kind by someone other than myself. I want to be able to decide when and where my information is to be given. Someone will always find information to twist or abuse to their benefit. It is only making it available to those that will exploit it more easily, and push those criminals that maybe on the edge of doing something, but lack either motivation or know how in doing so.

I do stand for the Patriot Acts in what they were intended to do in conception, but not what the watered-down, over-exploited, and lawyer-screwed mess they have become.

ATHOME
"A Concerned Earthian Living in Michigan"