One has to wonder WYF is going on with the USA and EU countries moving towards an agreement to share data in what are supposedly criminal and terrorist cases. However, included in the data to potentially be shared is information on individuals' sexual orientation. While I know the Christianists would gladly categorize all LGBT individuals as some sort of terrorists, one would have thought the governments of modern democracies would be beyond such thinking. Not according to a Washington Post story. Meanwhile, in Iran, legislation may be coming that would establish a basis for arresting and/or executing bloggers for "establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy." First some highlights from the WP story (note that the EU is more concerned about people's privacy than the Chimperator's minions):
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The United States is negotiating deals with European countries to exchange fingerprint and DNA data in criminal and terrorist cases, and in some circumstances to transfer data on race or ethnic origin, political and religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. . . . Senior Bush administration officials said the data exchange is crucial for spotting dangerous people before they enter the United States and for furthering criminal and terrorist investigations.
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But European privacy officials are concerned that the emerging bilateral pacts will not adequately protect people's privacy. And U.S. privacy advocates are concerned about the potential transfer of sensitive information on U.S. citizens to Europe. The bilateral pacts augment the airline passenger record agreement reached last year with the E.U., which requires airlines flying here from abroad to transfer data on passengers to U.S. security agencies. They also complement a series of bilateral agreements to exchange screening data on known or suspected terrorists, which exclude data on race, religious beliefs and other sensitive items.
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But some European lawmakers fear that, taken together, the accords will lead to a far-reaching exchange of personal data without appropriate safeguards and that eventually the United States will seek access to Europe-wide databases. . . . But Schaar, who is independent from the government, said he found no "clear rules on purpose limitation" or on the storage period. "First," he said, "which data are of concern is not really completely clear. Second, who are the competent authorities on the U.S. side? Third, and most important, there is a lack of independent supervision in the United States over data protection." In European states, independent privacy commissions safeguard the privacy rights of citizens, he said.*
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Switching to Iran, the way things are headed can only be viewed as a blueprint that Daddy Dobson and other Christo-fascists would love to emulate. That way yours truly and many other bloggers who discuss their inconvenient lies and efforts to subvert the U. S. Constitution could be dealt with. Here are some story highlights on this development:
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On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death.
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If the Iranian parliament approves this draft bill, bloggers fear they could be legally executed as criminals. No one has defined what it means to “disturb mental security in society”. Such discussion concerning blogs has not been unique to Iran. It shows that many authorities do not only wish to filter blogs, but also to eliminate bloggers!
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Nikahang, a leading Iranian online cartoonist and blogger, says [Fa]: if this draft bill becomes law, everything will be based on interpretation and a simple blogger will be considered a center to destroy people’s religion! What can I say? Only people who disturb people’s mental security could support such a thing.
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Fundamentalist religion - whether Islamic or Christian - continues to show itself as a principal enemy of democracy, personal liberty, and modernity. Would that more Americans would wake up to the evil that the James Dobsons and Don Wildmons of the nation and world represent.
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