US and UK rank lowest for privacy among democratic nations

[Ddrak]

Interesting data

According to that study, the level of privacy in the US and UK are about the same as in China, Thailand or Malaysia. I won't pretend Australia is much better for that matter.

Dd

[Garrdor]

O RLY?

[Finglefinn]

Wow, that's a great website.

[Garrdor]

HAY - edit back ur avatar... Dingle-Berry-Finn

[Flunkie]

Well I think the data is pretty conclusive. You can't have total privacy and prosperity. Who knew?

[Ddrak]

Well I think the data is pretty conclusive. You can't have total privacy and prosperity. Who knew?

Given the current state of the US dollar, I'd disagree.

I think it's all just knee-jerk stuff and the followup political capitalization on imaginary all-powerful movie-script terrorists (as opposed to the mostly incompetent real ones). There's a definite correlation between those nations that have been most actively targetted and erosion of privacy. It will probably switch back in a decade or two after the inevitable government excesses get exposed.

Dd

[Kulaf]

LOL

Lumping the US and UK in the same category is a joke. Anyone who doesn't think there is more surveillance in the UK by an order of magnitude over the US is sadly mistaken.

[Ddrak]

It's not just surveillance that they look at though - it's all aspects of government and corporate access to private data. The US is heads and shoulders above the UK in other areas.

Dd

[Kulaf]

Look at the data again Dd......VS for both countries is a 1. Clearly that is BS.

[Arathena]

Look at the data again Dd......VS for both countries is a 1. Clearly that is BS.

Visual surveillance
* To what extent are there CCTV installations in the public and private sectors?
* Are these regulated?
* What is the nature of the policy debate, if any?

My company has not less than 50 CCTV circuits at the location I work at. The local gas station has cameras blatantly installed in the store and on the pumps. The local Burger King and McDicks have security cameras. There is absolutely zero legislation that I am aware of regulating these, or how the information from them can be shared. There is no debate. That, should rate a 1. Britain is a special case, in only that the ratings cannot go below 1, as their proactive big-brother program should cause them to rate somewhere down around a negative 5.

[Rsak]

No a 1 means they are leading in bad practice. If UK is much worse then anyone else then they should not be sharing a category with anyone else since they are leading the bad practice and no one else is.

[Arathena]

No a 1 means they are leading in bad practice. If UK is much worse then anyone else then they should not be sharing a category with anyone else since they are leading the bad practice and no one else is.

1: Extensive Surviellance / Leading in bad practice. Fight the semantics all you want, but there are a LOT of 1s on the chart. They can't all be leading, and very few of them deserve 'upgrades' that make them look better than they are. A student with a 50% grade at the end of the year gets the same F as the student with the 0. Shitty is shitty, no matter how bad the neighbor is.

The reflexive answer should not be 'Lolololololol, ratingz suxxors, and USAz sucks less dan others you fail3d!!!1!' , it should be: 'What should our priorities be regarding privacy?' and 'What do they see here that's actually a threat to individuals in our society?'

I don't really give a shit what we look like next to our neighbors, but if the foundation is rotting, it doesn't do us well to ignore it. .

[Arkaron]

There is absolutely zero legislation that I am aware of regulating these, or how the information from them can be shared.

I'm not sure, but if I remember right, the last time I worked where cameras were installed that they couldn't be placed in areas where employees could "have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

That being said, we were always kind of waiting for the ultra slimy CEO to get caught with his dick in his hand.

[Rsak]

I just think it doesn't support your study if you contradict your own grading rules. It doesn't help that it is a biased study that lack of privacy is inherently a bad thing.

I think that the best situation is that we live in a world where countries can decide on their own what levels of surveillance or lack of privacy they can bear. And until we are living in a totalitarian society without the flexibility to change then I do not fear for the foundation.