Monitoring The Internet And Avoiding It

There is a lot of discussion in the UK on the matter of governmental monitoring of the internet. By monitoring it is meant that the government impose legal obligations on website owners to store certain information about the activity of its visitors and members which can subsequently be accessed by government agencies, without a court order,  to better manage and suppress terrorists and any other undesirable activity in the national interest.

Because of long term and continued Islamic terrorism the world has changed. Major western nations are prioritizing national security over individual human rights. The balance has swung away from individual human rights. Islamic terrorism is religious terrorism committed by fundamentalist Muslims for the purpose of achieving political/religious ends. It is an abuse of their religion. Their activities have changed the world for the worst.

The big hurdle is, therefore, human rights. Privacy is being compromised. It really does alter the dynamics between state and individual. However, a much bigger hurdle to this proposal is that the United States has already killed the idea.

The Tor Network is available for free download. It is a "technological tool" that the US Department of State has helped to develop. It is backed by the US Government. The Tor Project is software run by a not-for-profit organization in Massachusetts.

The software maintains the privacy of internet users. It was designed to assist people in countries where there is a dictatorship to allow them to communicate to organise to bring down the dictatorship. The United States wanted that and so assisted in its development. In assisting people seeking human rights it may have assisted people who want to suppress human rights. It just depends how you use it.

It is the kind of software that could be used to bypass attempts by the UK government to monitor terrorist communications. The Tor Project is already used by people involved in activities such as drug, gun an illegal passport trading.