Big Brother

I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but our basic rights are being snipped away a little at a time. In Australia the law enforcement agencys want to keep a database of the iris scans for every person in Australia, whether they have committed a crime or not(http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/moroneys-big-brother-laws/2007/07/22/1185042950373.html). In late 2005 in Europe there was a proposal to the EU that would allow them to track EVERY electronic communication. In fact it seems to be also used to drive smaller ISP's out of business to allow the governments to more closely control things (http://wiki.ffii.org/DataRetPr051205En). I also heard in passing, on the radio this week, that there are laws being bandied about in Congress that would limit the liabilty of people who have turned others in for suspected terrorist activities. If you think your neighbor is hidding a terrorist cell in his living room, or maybe has a cache of guns in the backyard or even if you dont like the look he gave you as he went into his house you can feel a little easier about telling everyone that he has terrorist tendencies.

I do not think we need more freedom's to talk bad about each other. Just look at the anonymity problems of chat rooms and chat boards. You disagree with someone and LOOK OUT, the flames come out and this person could say things to you over the web that he would not say to your face or even think about otherwise. You give folks a little protection from lawsuits when they make false charges and we wont have to worry about Big Brother, we will be getting thrown under the bus by Big Neighbor.