Re: <nettime> NSA-spying-on-Europe outrage somewhat disingenuous

["Patrice Riemens" <patrice@xs4all.nl>]

Hi Marko,

re:

> john,

<...>

> it is most probably unconstitutional in most legal systems where it
> is happening (well, the german constitutional court is not of my
> opinion, so the argument is quickly thinner...)

I am not sure if a 1984 case argument, in a different context - Cold
War, antagonism between *states*, FRG paranoia about the GDR, etc.
would still stand, in 2013. So I believe (and would hope), that if a
similar case would come up again in 2013, the German Constitutional
Court would statute differently. It would be a different court anyway,
and besides, there has been something what the Dutch call 'progressive
realisation' in between: the legal protection of human/ individual
rights has been substantially beefed over the past twenty years.

This has been argued, among others, by Saskia Sassen, and it brings us
to a problem that has puzzled me ever since hearing/reading her about
it: If so, how comes that over the past twenty years, violations of
the same human rights & fundamental liberties appear to have increased
and/or have become more blatant - 'Prism' being the latest and most
publicized example (rightly so or not).

Now I found an answer in the vol 30/no1 (2013) issue of 2600 -
The Hackers Quarterly, in an article by 'D.B.LeConte-Spink' about
extra-legal harassment. sHe writes, after asking what "the driver
is for this uptick in extra-legal tactics": "Ironically enough,
evidence suggests that the rise of extra-legal tactics is directly -
and negatively - correlated with overall increase in formal, legal
protection offered to dissidents, minorities, and activists worldwide.
<... some examples given ...>. However, the more that courts actually
embody a respect for the evenhanded application of the rule of law
(and for genuine diversity in human affairs), the more that opponents
of exactly these trends are forced to seek extra-legal tools to attack
activists, dissidents, and minorities. So, in this sense, the success
of legal campaigns for formal equality of treatment under law lead
indirectly to extra-legal harassment."

* The whole article - 6 1/2 tightly printed pages - is very worthwhile
and I'd advise you to read it - for which you'd have to obtain a copy
of 2600, what I surely enjoin you to do! ;-) * An interesting aside
to the above I found here, looking in vain for a digital version:
http://cultureghost.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=320)

Cheers from Oslo, again,
p+5-3D!



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