Just like Europe

In my SD-Union/Tribune this morning I found the headline "FBI admits 4th year of privacy abuses" (it's an AP story so I'm sure you can find it online somewheres). I didn't finish the whole article but it got me to thinking about another article I read online somewhere where different EU specialists were arguing about which of the EU countries had the most spied-on populace.

Over the years I've come to realize how truly big Big Brother has become in many of the economically powerful EU nations. By comparison, here in America our privacy is much less invaded. And when the FBI has to 'admit' that "oops, we spied on you more than usual again last year.... our bad!" you know things are changing.

I haven't read this anywhere, and I'm sure that no one with authority would admit that it's true, but I have a feeling that our government agency, and the White House probably are looking to Europe as an example of how spying on your populace works, how the citizens of those countries haven't yet revolted and how it has led to more controlled borders, etc. So having evidence that it works, they feel it's time to implement it here at home.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist. But I am afraid that having that kind of power consolidated, that is to control the information of a citizenry, could more easily fall into the hands of a bad leader elected by that apathetic citizenry. It's a scary thought and is not beyond the realm of possibility even for a country like the US. Maybe the benefits outweigh the potential risks, I'm willing to accept that possibility, but I'd like to see the data from those EU countries who've implemented state-wide RFID, or who've got face detecting cameras on every major street corner, etc.

But that's a digression. What I meant to write was: Why are government sectors looking to Europe for techniques to establish surveillance but ignoring the slew of other good ideas that we might borrow?