Every breath you take.........

"Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break, every step you take
I’ll be watching you......................"

Sting and the Police, 1983

This fairly breezy number sounds like a love ballad, but on closer scrutiny of the lyrics, you will realize its about a stalker.

Why should I bring up this topic today? Because I read this poll taken by Rediff, asking readers, if the Indian government should allow tap personal telephones to fight terrorism and other national security threats to which, not surprisingly, most readers responded "YES!".

I'm sorry but to me this is ridiculous. All these people sound like Zombies ...."National Security is more important than privacy,National Security is more important than privacy"..... repeat 100 times. Of course, I dont live in India and its worse in the US, but even if I did, why should I let Big Brother listen in on my personal calls? What is the governments' interest if I'm asking my friends their dinner plans or if I'm paying my credit card bill over the phone? Their efforts would be more fruitful, if the amount of time and resources they spent on listening in on my call to the local baniya ordering 10kg of rice, is directed somewhere else - perhaps shadowing the LET.

This reader says it best:

"The Government has no right to tap phones of ordinary citizens (even) if CBI, IB and RAW officials are working with highest integrity and unmost sincerity. An act of terror occurs only when there is a lapse of action by the concerned authorities to heed to the information provided by IB,CBI or Interpol............."

National Security is more important than privacy ..... my foot! The government is too lazy to do its job correctly and they take the easy way out hoping to get lucky.

Like this gentleman once said:
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
And a thing or two about democracy, he did know.

p.s. The year was 1983, at the height of the Cold War. Was Sting singing about stalking someone or was he talking about the Big Brother in the Western world patrolling its own citizens?