Z:gnu-www-ja-digital-inclusion-in-freedom--738a28-The European Union mandates ke/en

The European Union mandates keeping records of all phone calls and email for periods up to two years. The stated purpose of this surveillance is to &ldquo;prevent terrorism.&rdquo; Bush's illegal surveillance of phone calls also cited this purpose. Non-state-sponsored terrorism is a real danger in a few countries, but the magnitude is often exaggerated; more people died in the US in September 2001 from car accidents than from terrorism, but we have no Global War on Accidents. By contrast, the practice of labeling political opposition as &ldquo;terrorists,&rdquo; and using supposed &ldquo;anti-terror&rdquo; laws to infiltrate and sabotage their activities, threatens democracy everywhere. For instance, the US Joint Terrorism Task Force infiltrated a wide range of political opposition groups.4