IN EXCHANGE, THEY WILL GUARANTEE SEXUAL PRIVACY

EU's Big Brother plan (Andy Clark, Radio Netherlands, November 6th, 2005)

The EU is proposing to keep details of phone calls made, emails sent and websites surfed by all 450 million European Union citizens . This is in a bid to combat serious crime and terrorism.

The information would be stored for between six months and a year - although some EU countries want to be able to keep the records for longer.

This is essential in the fight against terrorism, claim the backers of the scheme, saying it will provide vital information for police and security services attempting to prevent terrorist attacks and solve serious crimes.

The opponents say the plans are an intrusion into the right to privacy, that the value of keeping such data is not proven and that any such system would be open to abuse.

Terrorism is just the excuse for what the combination of European statism and the computer made inevitable.