Individual privacy under threat in Europe and U.S., report says

The International Herald Tribune has an article entitled Individual privacy under threat in Europe and U.S.

Individual privacy is under threat in the United States and across the European Union as governments introduce sweeping surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and controlling borders, an international rights group has said in a report.

The United States ranks low on the privacy scale:

Both Britain and the United States fell into the lowest-performing group of "endemic surveillance societies."

I always contend that the word privacy needs to be substituted with the word freedom.

I am not against the U.S. listening to overseas calls on suspected terrorists, but such measures are not the only ones implemented. So-called "conservatives" constantly push for national id cards, REAL ID, prolific use of biometrics, and the spread of CCTV. I encourage all Americans to read the 4th Amendment and think about why it was written.

The article notes that...

concern about terrorism, immigration and border security was driving the spread of identity and fingerprinting systems, often without regard to individual privacy.

For more from this article, click here. It tries to end on a positive note.

(Hat Tip to Drudge)