Once privacy is lost...

If anybody actually believed that added surveillance powers in the name of fighting terrorism would be limited to terrorism concerns, this should put to rest any doubt about how much the scope may expand:

The music and film industries are demanding that the European parliament extends (sic) the scope of proposed anti-terror laws to help them prosecute illegal downloaders. In an open letter to MEPs, companies including Sony BMG, Disney and EMI have asked to be given access to communications data - records of phone calls, emails and internet surfing - in order to take legal action against pirates and filesharers. Current proposals restrict use of such information to cases of terrorism and organised crime...

If the demands were met by European legislators, it would open use of such private information across any number of criminal cases. "Even the Bush administration is not proposing such a ludicrous policy, despite lobbying from Hollywood," said Gus Hosein, a senior fellow at Privacy International.

Fortunately, it doesn't look like the governments involved have been overly receptive to the argument yet. But the industry groups' claim highlights that any added surveillance is bound to have many more uses than originally anticipated.

Once the equipment is in place, it only takes one misguided policy decision to eviscerate privacy in ways that protect only corporate interests rather than national security. And even if there's a genuine basis for added surveillance (which itself is far from clear), that risk has to be part of the discussion of whether that surveillance is a good idea.