US Becoming More Like China?

[Eric J in MN]

Big Brother in China:

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has recorded details of more than 96 percent of its population on a police database, state media reported on Friday, supplementing Internet and other state-sanctioned surveillance.

Since the 2003 launch of its "Gold Shield Program," the Public Security Bureau had collected information on about 1.25 billion of the country's 1.3 billion people.

"It has helped police uncover many criminal cases," Liu Shuo, a police official, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as telling a news conference on Thursday, adding that over 20 percent of criminal cases last year were solved with help from the database.

The database is just one way in which China keeps tabs on its citizens.

An estimated 30,000 Web police monitor the surfing habits of China's 110 million internet users, and restrict access to Web sites and blogs posting sensitive material, including topics related to democracy or independence for Tibet and Taiwan.

Big Brother in the US:

Meanwhile a retired AT&T telecommunications technician named Mark Klein has reportedly given a sworn statement that AT&T has been working with the National Security Agency to spy on Americans.

Klein gave the statement as part of a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against several major telecommunications companies. Klein reportedly also disclosed several internal AT&T documents that showed AT&T put a "dragnet surveillance" in place to help the NSA. Klein's statement and the documents have been put under seal.

According to attorneys at EFF, the leaked AT&T documents supports the group's claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment. EFF's staff attorney Kurt Opsahl said "Mark Klein is a true American hero. He has bravely come forward with information critical for proving AT&T's involvement with the government's invasive surveillance program."

EFF has more on the illegal spying in the US.

Please join EFF (if you're not already a member.)

[cpamomfromtexas]

1. I've always said there's not a dime's worth of difference

to the regular guy between "capitalism" and "you plug in any other form of 'ism here", the people at the top have it all and given enough time, the people at the bottom, have so little.

Do tell me, what's the difference? It just goes by a different name.

[acmejack]

2. As much as they can be.

China just admits to it...