phone lookups

[Bettina Jodda (Twister)]

Hi

On Monday 24 June 2002 16:48, David Hansen wrote:
> On 24 Jun 2002 at 16:23, Bettina Jodda (Twister) wrote:

> > I am legally obliged to carry my ID-card with me to be able to prove
> > my identity any time.
>
> Identity cards do not prove identity.

:-)
Seems to have slipped the minds of our politicians...

> They can be forged for a start.
> Germany will have many people who are good at forging such things,
> for historical reasons.
>
> Identity cards are simply a way of making life more difficult for the
> law abiding.

Wenn, I guess this is way politicians in Germany are trying to get
biometrics into the identity-card. They are not sure whether to use 
retina-scans or fingerprints but as a result of the events of the 
11th...(bla...) I am pretty sure one of the suggestions will be justified.

When you look at the recent forthcomings regarding German law you see a "red 
thread" I think:

a)Censorship:
 the authorities are now (after the events in Erfurt) authorised to put 
video-games etc. on the index (so they can not be sold etc) without 
publishing the list of the games which are on the index (so you do not know 
whether something is on the index or not)

b)Surveillance:
After the EU Parliament has given the frame decision, Germany has suggested 
Data Retention as a means for fighting criminals and for avoiding terrorism
(see the Europol list on stop1984 about which data shall be stored)

CCTV which is not a major problem as it is in the UK, is being introduced as a 
measure against almost anything, starting from "securing jewish cemetaries" 
and ending at "avoiding trouble makers on busses" etc

c)Internet-Pages can be put on an "index" as well (I rather doubt there is any 
way to put an internet-page on an index than installing blocking or filtering 
systems by the provider)

d) To avoid "forged" or "faked" identitity cards, biometrics shall be 
introduced

etc. etc.

It seems like after the events of September 11th...anyone has lost his 
awareness regarding the privacy and the danger of losing it.

Having searched for German newsmagazines which have mentiones the EU frame 
decision regarding Data Retention, I hardly found anything.
Biometrics etc. are only mentioned as a "good way to fight terrorism"...

It worries me to no end that it seems like people will not only end up in 
"cages" but will rather appreciate this.

Twister