Room 101

Trading freedom for security has been a usual issue during the last decades, but since 9/11 it seems that the balance between both ideas has been broken and all the weight is starting to go just to one side. What governments claim to be just an initiative to make the life of the citizens more secure is starting to become a repression of the individual by a more powerful state. We, as citizen, can´t permit the birth of a development of society based on fear, as fear is the freedom killer.

As the newest way of communication, Internet has been the subject of the most advanced ways of control. Servers all around the world save the web pages we visit, companies are able to check all our received and sent emails, what we download and so on. In one hand, it makes easier to track and hunt dangerous delinquents as child pornographers or terrorists. In the other hand, the price to pays is too high. With these methods governments are suggesting that all society is suspect of some kind of crime. Not only that, thanks to this massive spying all our information is used by companies to make a market survey never seen before.

But the Net is not the only place where this abuse takes place. Our phone calls and SMS messages are being watched. With the help of street cameras all our live is being constantly monitored. Authorities will say that this kind of security prevents the crime and makes our cities safer. These laws destroy the presumption of innocence, making us all potential criminals. Our movements, our most personal thoughts and feelings are being made public.

Is the injustice better than the potential danger? My answer is no. We can´t sell our privacy so cheap and just for a temporary security that will lead to uncertain consequences. As I said before, we can´t let the fear dominate our lives, because if it does, we will lose the match and there will be no return. There will be always threatens and dangers waiting for us out there, no matter the security. And if we give up our freedom for that theoretical security, maybe we will be save from those terrorists and criminals, just to realize the arrival of the new bigger threaten: the omnipotent state that has all the privileges but none of the obligations associated to them.