After the dramatic events of September the 11th in America, governments would like to introduce increased domestic surveillance drawing inspiration from the Echelon system (worldwide interception system of telecommunication networks) or from the Carnivore programme, its Internet counterpart (Carnivore was a spying programme enabling e-mails interception from Internet Service Providers).

The question of spying and the dangers of certain restrictions to transparency of information are hidden behind a "crusade against terrorism" alleged as a pretext to pass new media laws limiting press freedom, although freedom of information laws were initially conceived to preserve democracy - and not to restrict it.

Human deficiencies in analysis of collected information explain why we did not perceive preparatory actions of the events of September the 11th . Technical capacities of such interception systems still remain very high, and it would not be wise to underestimate them. US and EU governments are defining now a new legal frame which might promote confidential data exchanges between different "Echelon initiatives" in European countries and in the US, jeopardizing people’s right to privacy.

Organizer, Internet Society geneva: http://www.isocgva.ch
More information on: http://www.addyourevent.com

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