Category Archives: Dark Future

What's the Dog-Ear?

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Because my anglophone readers will wonder: The dog-ear in the upper-right corner is a protest against a new data-retention law our government passed on November 9th: Basically, they decided that all communication connection data must be retained for six months. This includes phones, mobiles, email, text messages, and so on. And in the case of mobile phones, they will also log the location. This is being done regardless of suspicions of crime. Germany is now a surveillance state.

A lot of people will say: **But I have nothing to hide!** However, this is incorrect. **Everybody** has **something** to hide. Obviously, most people do not commit crimes, but is that really all there is in one’s life? Maybe someone cheated on his husband or wife, or likes to smoke pot. What about watching porn movies – or calling phone sex lines? A lot of people do that, and few of them would admit to it in public. Using your company phone to make private calls? It’s all documented now. Maybe you like to appear as a rough-tough macho in public, but enjoy folk music in private. Maybe you got really drunk at your last birthday party and made a scene – something you may not wish to become publicly known.

And then there are all the possibilities of misunderstandings, when these huge databases will be searched and used.

Finally, we should have no illusions that this will be the last law of this kind. Banking confidentiality is already history. Our biometric data – photos, fingerprints – are being entered in government databases. The police has started to automatically ID cars. And our interior minister Schäuble has a whole bag full of other ideas. This must not happen.

It saddens me to no end that Germany, the one nation that you would think should know better than this, has implemented this horrible law. There are only two hopes now; our President may refuse to sign it, or the superior court could stop the law. And the dog-ear links to just that initiative.

I hope this clears things up.

We have not learned from history

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Dear World,

the German government has gone crazy. More specifically, the interior minister, Wolfgang Schäuble has gone out of control. For months he has been making more and more demands for stricter and stricter laws to fight the “threat of terrorism”. Our government wants to:

* **Use [evidence obtained by torture](http://www.tagesschau.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID5045872_REF1,00.html)**: While he says that German law enforcement may not torture or encourage others to torture, it would “not be responsible” not to use information obtained by such means.
* **[Build databases about potential terrorists](http://www.sueddeutsche.de/deutschland/artikel/633/83550/)** which are to include such data as religion or professional training.
* **Expand video surveillance**: “At train stations, airports, big streets and places video surveillance is feasible and expedient”.
* Use the **army as a security force inside the country**. This was planned for the soccer world cup but not implemented until the G8 meeting at Heiligendamm.
* **[Shoot down hijacked airplanes](http://www.tagesschau.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID6256592_TYP6_THE_NAV_REF1_BAB,00.html)** – which was actually determined to be illegal by the constitutional court. This doesn’t stop them from saying “we’ll do it anyway”.
* **[Make conspiracy a crime](http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/92400)** and ban so-called “Gefährdern” (dangerous individuals) from using Internet and mobile phones. He also considers the **[killing of suspects](http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/92400)** to be in no violation with basic law: At most it would be a “legal problem”.
* **[Search private PCs via a government trojan horse](http://nrrd.de/dasbuch/hadez/1984_zeitgeist_german_chancellor_merkel_wants_push_tough_anti_terror_legislation_online_seize_)** – in secret, of course, without any oversight.
* **Retain all connection logs of personal communications** – telephone calls, text messages, email and so on – for six months, regardless of any suspicions of criminal activity. This law was passed on November 9th, 2007, but has yet to be ratified by the Bundesrat and signed by our president.
* Introduce **biometric passports and ID cards**, which include fingerprints saved on an RFID chips, and keep all the **biometric data in a central database**. Biometric passports have been implemented as of Niovember 2007; the central database and the biometric ID cards are still planned.

Germany is **the** country which should really know better than this. Of all the people in the world, we should be the ones who learned from history. Unfortunately, we haven’t: Not only do our politicians kick our fundamental laws with their feet, the reaction of the German people is to shrug their shoulders and to vote for them again. “I have nothing to hide”, they say and look the other way.

I now know what it must have felt like, back in the early 30s. Of course we won’t get another Nazi regime. Death camps are really bad for PR. Instead we’ll get something more similar to the East German regime: A surveillance and police state. But unlike East Germany, where the system was dictated by the Russians, we’re doing it to ourselves this time. And similar to the Nazi regime, I am pretty sure everybody will claim “we didn’t know anything” afterwards.

Normally, I’d hope for the free, western world to come to our aid. Failing that, I’d pack my things and move out of the country. But what free western world? Those who should be the shining beacon of freedom and democracy are doing even worse things to their own countries. It is a sad state of affairs when China is a shining ray of hope – while China is a dictatorship, conditions there are improving. Everybody else seems to be hell-bent on making things as bad as possible as quickly as feasible.

Medienecho zur Demonstration

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Am Tag danach: Hier die Artikel zur [gestrigen Demonstration](/2007/11/06/demonstration-gegen-vorratsdatenspeicherung).

* ZDF: [Heftige Proteste gegen Überwachungspläne](http://www.zdf.de/ZDFheute/inhalt/1/0,3672,7122145,00.html)
* Spiegel: [Tausende protestieren gegen Datenspeicherung](http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/tech/0,1518,515806,00.html)
* Tagesschau: [Tausende protestieren gegen Überwachungspläne](http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/datenschutzdemonstration2.html)
* Yahoo (via AFP): [10.000 Menschen demonstrieren gegen Vorratsdatenspeicherung](http://de.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTTkqEcTFHPLYA7gk4CQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBjdmNoOTVjBHBvcwMyBHNlYwNzcg–/SIG=13fkljpi2/EXP=1194509060/**http%3a//de.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071106/twl-d-inneres-sicherheit-datenschutz-jus-4bdc673.html) und [Tausende protestieren bundesweit gegen Vorratsdatenspeicherung](http://de.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTTkqEcTFHPLYA8Qk4CQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBjcXBoZjEwBHBvcwMzBHNlYwNzcg–/SIG=13fr185mm/EXP=1194509060/**http%3a//de.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071106/tts-d-inneres-sicherheit-datenschutz-jus-c1b2fc3.html)
* Yahoo (via AP): [Tausende protestieren gegen schärfere Kommunikationsüberwachung](http://de.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTTkqEcTFHPLYABgo4CQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBkYTNuNGk0BHBvcwMxMARzZWMDc3I-/SIG=13e3dsmvm/EXP=1194509060/**http%3a//de.news.yahoo.com/ap/20071106/tde-tausende-protestieren-gegen-schrfere-61556ad.html)

Mehr habe ich nicht gefunden. Recht schwach.

Demonstration gegen Vorratsdatenspeicherung

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Ich war heute auf der [Demonstration](http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/content/view/150/55/lang,de/) gegen die [Vorratsdatenspeicherung](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorratsdatenspeicherung) in Frankfurt. Was soll ich sagen – strömender Regen. Ca 650 Teilnehmer (laut Veranstalter, ist sicher aufgerundet kommt aber ungefähr hin). Mäßige Sprecher – Insbesondere der Kerl von der Piratenpartei muss das Sprechen in der Öffentlichkeit noch üben.

Die Teilnehmer schienen meist sehr jung. Das sah ich mit gemischten Gefühlen – zum einen ist es schön, dass es auch noch jugendliche gibt die sich für Politik interessieren. Auf der anderen Seite befürchte ich dass es bei diesen Leuten einfach die jugendliche Rebellenphase ist. Klar, es waren auch einige in meinem Alter oder älter da – aber einfach nicht genug. Ich hätte mir eine insgesamt bessere Teilnahme gewünscht. Aber angesichts des sehr schlechten Termins und des sehr schlechten Wetters ist bei einem für den Normalbürger so unzugängliches Thema wohl nicht mehr zu machen.

Letzlich war auch die Botschaft der Demo leider nicht eindeutig. Es wurde zu sehr das Thema “Krieg” mit hineingemischt; vor allem auch durch einen Neokommunisten am Ende der Veranstaltung. Das ist auch ein wichtiges Thema, passte aber nicht in die Veranstaltung.

Zusammenfassend bin ich froh dass es die Demo gab (Danke an die Orga) und ich bin erst recht froh dass ich hingegangen bin. Ich wäre auch bei der nächsten wieder dabei. Und dass es weitergehen muss dürfte klar sein: Wenn unsere Regierung aufgrund von 30 Kleinst-Demos ihre Meinung ändert fresse ich den metaphorischen Besen.

Scavengers

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On my way to the supermarket today I saw three persons scavenging public garbage cans for bottles that have a deposit on them. The supermarket is about five minutes away, so that is actually a lot. I am not sure what to think about this. One the one hand, it’s nice that the bottles are valuable enough that people will rather save them from the garbage and turn them in. This is, after all, the intention of the deposits.

On the other hand it’s kind of worrying that people in our society are desperate enough to do this. Each bottle is worth maybe 15 cents or so. I seriously doubt that you can earn enough by collecting them to reach the level of income even the worst-paid jobs provide.

Of course maybe these people just take advantage of every cent they can get, even if they don’t “really” need it. But I somehow have doubts about that.

Schäuble's Wet Dream

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Leave it to China to show us what our future holds:

>SHENZHEN, China– At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.
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>Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.
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>Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s controversial “one child” policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.

This is absolutely horrible. And the worst part is that our own Government – and the American government, and especially the British government – are clearly going in that direction as well. This kind of abuse has to be stopped before it even gets that far. To quote The Prisoner: I am not a number, I am a free man!

NATO conducted terrorism against its own civilians

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When you hear all the current talk about how “islamsits” threaten us by means of “terrorism”, you should be aware that NATO – and thus directly or own, freedom-loving and democratically elected governments, seem to have a history of stirring up trouble at home by conducting terror against their own citizens: It is known as project “Gladio“.

According to Ganser, the secret army was behind waves of attacks in Italy in the 1970s. In Spain, it worked with Franco and may have supported over a 1000 attacks. In Germany, it had standing plans to murder leaders of the Social Democrat party in case of a Soviet invasion. It carried out terrorist actions against President de Gaulle and the Algerian peace plan in France. It seems to have been involved in the assassination of Amilcar Cabral and Eduardo Mondlane, prominent leaders in African liberation in the Portugese colonies. It was involved in the coup against Greek Prime Minister Papandreou and fomented terrorism against the Kurds in Turkey.

This was no accident either, but deliberate policy:

As one of Gladio’s operatives said, “You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security.”

This reminds me of something Hermann Göring said. Göring was undoubtedly an evil man, but just because he committed crimes against humanity doesn’t mean he was not an intelligent man. He said:

Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. …Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

This is something that every citizen, no matter in what country, should be aware of. Always question the motives of your government. Always ask questions. Never trust those who ask for new powers. If they say it’s for your own good… it’s probably not.

Yangtze river dolphin is extinct

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The Yangtze river dolphin is [now extinct](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6935343.stm). I really wish the Chinese people had learned from the mistakes we have made in the past, and attempted to steer their boom in ecologically sound ways; but I guess greed is very human. As one of the consequences, the “baiji” is now extinct.

>”The Yangtze river dolphin was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago,” Dr Turvey explained.
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>”This extinction represents the disappearance of a complete branch of the evolutionary tree of life and emphasises that we have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet.”

You may recall the Yangtze river dolphin was one of the animals that Douglas Adams sought out for his book “Last Chance to See”. Last Chance to See is a wonderful book, and I think it was Adam’s finest work. It certainly seemed to be one he cared about a great deal, and in some small way it’s maybe good for him that he doesn’t have to hear the sad news. If you haven’t read the book, you should do so. You won’t regret it – it has a strong ecological message, but it’s also a really great travelogue full of the trademark Adams humor.

Bush Executive Order: Dispossessing War Protesters

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President Bush has [made it legal](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-3.html) to dispossess any person that:

>(i) [...] have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of:
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>(A) [threaten] the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq; or
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>(B) [undermine] efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people;

It is absolutely trivial to show that opponents of the war in Iraq – for example, the representatives who [voted to pull the American troops from Iraq](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6896789.stm) – violate some or all of those, especially (B).

This is a grim day, and I surely hope that the Americans will not stand for this.