America, Land of the Free? Privacy International (PI) disagrees, ranking the US far down the totem pole on their annual privacy protection rankings list.

PI’s study was released last Saturday and is certainly sobering; it’s clear how the US compares to other countries when it comes to privacy – dismally. Of the 47 countries on the list, only 6 countries come between the US and last place. Malaysia, China and Russia scored lowest with Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore faring scarce better.

The study’s findings are chilling. According to PI, 2007’s rankings "indicate an overall worsening of privacy protection across the world, reflecting an increase in surveillance and a declining performance of privacy safeguards."

Immigration concerns and border policing has also led countries to swiftly embark on identification systems, often blatantly disregarding private citizens’ concerns about privacy.

In the interests of national security, modern governments, not limited to the US, have run roughshod over citizens’ privacy rights. Benjamin Franklin was famous for saying "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither". Were his words idealistic notions against a necessary evil or a chilling portent of worse things to come? Must there really be a sacrifice of one for the other? As governments crack down on bloggers, censor the Internet and harass search engines for user records, the Web may no longer prove only a help to the persecuted or voiceless but also a danger and a threat.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm under Security.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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