Date Wed 12 January 2005 Tags rants

Well, until just now I was caught in the misbelief that we’re living in a western-style democracy. After watching the news today, this has suddenly changed, to my surprise. :O

Bremen’s senator of the interior is in trouble for authorizing the use of emetics by the police on someone suspected of dealing with drugs. The (foreign) suspect died in the aftermath. (Emetics are, by LEO’s definition, drugs that makes you throw up.) (Google News)

Honestly, I don’t care what the laws in this regard are. I believe that this is torture, and regardless of whether it is common practice or not, it needs to stop at once. I understand that it may be necessary for the police to restrict one’s freedom to move about temporarily and within reasonable limits, but strapping someone to a bed and making him swallow things against his will definitely goes way too far. (Especially if the bed looks like the ones they use for executions. But that is somewhat beside the point.)

But don’t feel relieved if you’re from the US, you got your share of bad news, too. A New York judge ruled today that police don’t need a judge’s assent to slap a GPS tracker on somebody’s vehicle. What is privacy, then, if they can track your every move? Oh, you’re British? Don’t worry, you’re rights are also being violated.

Are citizen’s rights being trampled on increasingly in recent times, just because new (and yet unregulated) technology makes this possible? Something needs to change. Fast. At least if we like our freedoms the way they are right now.