ATTEMPTS TO HELP

Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have joined forces in a human rights attempt. Called The Global Initiative,they are trying to limit the data that should be shared with governments as in China. Another speaker, Mike Posner from Human Rights First, believes this to be an important step. Might it be possible to stem the tide the Bush Administration has started here in the USA to turn us into a living model of what was pictured in the novel 1984?

"The initiative states that privacy is "a human right and guarantor of human dignity," and the agreement commits the companies to try to resist overly broad demands for restrictions on freedom of speech and the privacy of users.

They will also assess the human rights climate in a country before concluding business deals and make sure their employees and partners follow suit." Maggie Shiels, Technology Reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley)

It distresses me that the phone companies, who have been allowing calls to be listened into by the Bush Administration have been given a free pass. Their monopolistic deals with the government were worth more than standing up for and respecting the Constitution and people's rights to privacy. This information was out there a couple of years ago but the media did not play it up much and people were passive about raising their voices in an outcry.

"The Bill of Rights is the common name for Amendments 1 through 9 (the 10th Amendment is usually included under the heading of "Bill of Rights," since it was ratified with the other nine, but it does not technically recognize any rights)." (U.S. Constitution online)
Since I am not a Constitutional scholar, I find it tedious to try to guess what our forefathers meant. I think the basic intentions should be rewritten into a new document that fits our world today, though I must commend the original writers for a document that has lasted surprisingly well for over two hundred years. No technology has lasted so long with so few modifications other than, perhaps, the human body...and even it can be changed rather easily. As a result, human longevity has, however, with better understanding of the brain, genetics, dna, body chemistry and all the other things we are finding out in addition to homosexuality, mixed racial births, marriage as no longer needing to be forever, the growing number of people who no longer can take religion on 'faith', and all the other prickly posits of our society...somehow the fight for reality and living in the 21st C and not back in the Garden of Eden has to happen. One might suppose more people would want it to happen, but, sadly, that does not seem to be the case.