Here We Go… Hi Big Brother!

In a state of surveillance

We are about to enter into a state where every digital step you take is recorded. At the end of March, the Government will introduce the most draconian law in the history of personal privacy in Ireland: 24-hour internet monitoring. A log will be made of everyone’s internet activity and every email sent and received. Greetings from the State of surveillance.

By the end of March 2008, the Irish Government will begin mass digital surveillance, noting when we log on and log off the internet, as well as every email we send and who we send it to. We have entered into a new democratic state where our entire digital footprint is recorded and stored for up to two years by our internet service providers (ISPs).

Legal professionals suggest the move equates to the mass digital surveillance of the entire people of Ireland and may leave the Government to weather a brewing legal storm over the issues of human rights and privacy.

The Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005 implies that personal data would only ever be accessed in the situation of fighting terrorist offences.

But this is not the case: presently your stored telecommunications data may be accessed in the investigation of any crime, be it serious or trivial, in relation to a terrorist offence or not at all.

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From independant.ie