[IP] Re: France Announces Massive Internet Surveillance by ISPs

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

________________________________________
From: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu [Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:19 AM
To: David Farber
Cc: ip@v2.listbox.com
Subject: Re: [IP] France Announces Massive Internet Surveillance by ISPs

On Monday, November 26, 2007 9:36 PM, Steven Heath said:
> If the comparison was on the centralising of power or absolutism under
> Louis XIV and the power held by Cardinal Richelieu and then Cardinal
> Mazarin then it would actually be related to the county he is railing
> on about. Not only that but  think near perfect alignment to the focus
> of his post, the control of the state outside of the existing laws and
> system.
>
> If one is going to talk about the laws and events in another country
> one should at least use examples that are from that country, and not
> its 'arch enemy' for hundreds of years.

On the other hand, the fact that he used British examples (which are probably
a bit more well-known in the US due to some shared ancient history), and that
you were able to come up with corresponding French examples indicates something:

The fact that *both* England and France have had these issues, and currently
the US seems to be heading in the same direction (National Security Letters,
the NSA data-hoovering, suspension of habeus corpus for anybody the President
deems an "enemy of the state^W^W^Wcombatant", kangaroo military courts), it's
fairly safe to conclude that *any* country that implements a de-facto court
"operating outside the normal bounds of the conventional legal system" (as
Lauren phrased it) is destined to soon go down the tubes.

> If one is going to talk about the laws and events in another country
> one should at least use examples that are from that country, and not
> its 'arch enemy' for hundreds of years.

If nothing else, the fact that the centuries-hated British had their Star
Chamber debacle would seem to be a good reason for the French *not* to do it,
just so they can gloat that they aren't as stupid as those guys across the
Channel. ;)


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