[privacy] U.S. at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to privacy

[Gregory Hicks <ghicks () cadence com>]

U.S. at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to privacy
January 3, 2008 - 9:44 A.M.
By Preston Gralla

http://blogs.computerworld.com/u_s_at_the_bottom_of_the_barrel_when_it_comes_to_privacy

The U.S. has one of the worst privacy records in the world, and is an
"endemic surveillance society," along with such countries as China and
Russia, according to the group Privacy International. And things are
only getting worse.

The group recently released its annual International Privacy Ranking,
and the results aren't pretty. Only a handful of countries were given
the worst ranking possible, "endemic surveillance societies." In the
U.S. privacy deteriorated over the last year; in 2006, we were an
"extensive surveillance society."

There are plenty of reasons for this ranking. Prominent among them are
government-sponsored Internet spying programs. For example, the group
cited "Congress-approved presidential program of spying on foreign
communications over U.S. networks."

The Democrats are as culpable as the Bush administration in this;
they've shown they're no friends of privacy. So don't expect things to
get any better.

The group cited the U.S. as being among the worst in the world for
privacy in multiple categories, including leadership, workplace
monitoring, data sharing, privacy enforcement, visual surveillance, and
many others.

By the way, to show just how bad things are in the U.S., even Bulgaria
is better than us when it comes to privacy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Gregory Hicks                        | Principal Systems Engineer
Cadence Design Systems               | Direct:   408.576.3609
2655 Seely Ave M/S 9A1
San Jose, CA 95134

I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes.  I will surely
learn a great deal today.

"A democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding on what to have for
lunch.  Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the results of the
decision."

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they
be properly armed." --Alexander Hamilton


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