Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
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Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#2The US has a huge influence over other free nations, and has especially since WW2. They mimic the US, they take cues from the US in terms of what behavior is acceptable, they often expect the US to lead by example.
In the two centuries prior to WW2, Europe was dominated by dictators and monarchies. Afterward, the entire region was remodeled on American style government representation, modern central banking, market economies and so on.
Behaviorally for example, they followed the US into a global war on drugs that has been an epic failure, and fortunately they're going to follow the US back out of it too.
They followed the US into a global war on terrorism, that mostly consists of cracking down on domestic freedom in the false name of security.
The US isn't responsible for what France is doing, but the US is leading the so called free world down the wrong path.
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#3The US has a huge influence over other free nations, and has especially since WW2. They mimic the US, they take cues from the US in terms of what behavior is acceptable, they often expect the US to lead by example. In the two centuries prior to WW2, Europe was dominated by dictators and monarchies. Afterward, the entire region was remodeled on American style government representation, modern central banking, market e…
"The US isn't responsible for what France is doing"
I hate this soft-pedalling. You should go all the way with anti-Americanism. Otherwise its just mealy mouthy.
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#4The US has a huge influence over other free nations, and has especially since WW2. They mimic the US, they take cues from the US in terms of what behavior is acceptable, they often expect the US to lead by example. In the two centuries prior to WW2, Europe was dominated by dictators and monarchies. Afterward, the entire region was remodeled on American style government representation, modern central banking, market e…
"The US isn't responsible for what France is doing" I hate this soft-pedalling. You should go all the way with anti-Americanism. Otherwise its just mealy mouthy.
I'm the opposite of anti-American, and I don't appreciate the insult.
What I said is factually correct.
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#5Note that the nyt photo is misleading. The hémicycle was 3/4 empty when the law was voted. vote by pricuration.
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#6The US has a huge influence over other free nations, and has especially since WW2. They mimic the US, they take cues from the US in terms of what behavior is acceptable, they often expect the US to lead by example. In the two centuries prior to WW2, Europe was dominated by dictators and monarchies. Afterward, the entire region was remodeled on American style government representation, modern central banking, market e…
> Behaviorally for example, they followed the US into a global war on drugs that has been an epic failure, and fortunately they're going to follow the US back out of it too.
I noticed that popular US fictions show cannabis in a very good light. For instance, Sergent Baptista in Dexter smokes a joint in his car after work, and it's cool. Or Brody's teenage daughter in Homeland smoke weed with her friend, and although it's frowned upon, it's apparently not that big of a deal. And the list goes on...
Eventually, I believe these fictions will lead to a better acceptation, and possibly legalization of cannabis in other countries (such as France) which are still very much opposed to it.
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#7The US has a huge influence over other free nations, and has especially since WW2. They mimic the US, they take cues from the US in terms of what behavior is acceptable, they often expect the US to lead by example. In the two centuries prior to WW2, Europe was dominated by dictators and monarchies. Afterward, the entire region was remodeled on American style government representation, modern central banking, market e…
> Behaviorally for example, they followed the US into a global war on drugs that has been an epic failure, and fortunately they're going to follow the US back out of it too. I noticed that popular US fictions show cannabis in a very good light. For instance, Sergent Baptista in Dexter smokes a joint in his car after work, and it's cool. Or Brody's teenage daughter in Homeland smoke weed with her friend, and although…
The US will federally legalize marijuana in the next 10 to 20 years, that's almost a guarantee at this point.
That'll tear down a lot of the global war on drugs, including a lot of financial & trade pressure systems that have been put into place to enforce it.
As that happens - and we're already seeing it now - more countries will feel free to liberalize on drug policies, no longer fearing US reprisal or group-pressure tactics. France will be surrounded by countries that legalize or at least de-criminalize marijuana heavily, and they'll follow suit (they'll practically have to, whether they get out in front of it, or are dragged that direction by cultural forces greater than their own politics).
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#8Talking to friends lived or are still living in France, here are just some of the problems I heard:
- in Paris, it's common to get robbed, and sometimes beaten up if you are not careful, and cops can do nothing. This is from a guy who went to school in Paris, I can't imagine what's it like to be a girl.
- some of the non-French speaking neighbourhoods are quite dangerous, even cops would avoid going there for their own safety.
- many people don't have ID, or use fake ID, so it's easy for criminals to get away.
Those lawmakers might be inspired by their American counterparts, but they definitely have some level of local support.
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#9I'm wondering, is it possible to circumvent the surveillance, still enjoy a good internet experience, while not devoting too much resources?
I suppose it starts with a VPN service. I use VPNs occasionally, but never in a systematic way. How convenient are they in term of reliability and performance? then, what about gmail? are there other email providers that offer better privacy guarantees and offer a comparable service?
Re: Lawmakers in France Move to Vastly Expand Surveillance
#10The US has a huge influence over other free nations, and has especially since WW2. They mimic the US, they take cues from the US in terms of what behavior is acceptable, they often expect the US to lead by example. In the two centuries prior to WW2, Europe was dominated by dictators and monarchies. Afterward, the entire region was remodeled on American style government representation, modern central banking, market e…
Afterward, the entire region was remodeled on American style government representation, modern central banking, market economies and so on.
No, not really. The dominant form of government in Europe is the parliamentary republic (several at the backdrop of constitutional/ceremonial monarchies), compared to the more unique federalist model of the United States where there is a strict separation between the union and localities, and the President being the head executive as opposed to a Prime Minister.
Europe was also quicker to apply mixed market principles and has generally been higher on the dirigisme aspect (even though the US is hardly some paragon of non-interventionism itself).
Central banking was initially a European (British, I think?) invention.