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"Yesterday, you were defending thieves; today, you're defending terrorists." With these words, uttered early this morning, the leader of Poland's ruling conservative party silenced the parliamentary opposition. Not five minutes later, Poland had a new counterterrorism law — the terms of which go beyond what most of the democratic world has thus far seen.
The bill establishes a battery of eyebrow-raising security regulations that limit freedom of assembly in vaguely defined crisis situations and allow for the arbitrary detention and surveillance of foreign citizens. In the digital realm, it gives the country's powerful intelligence service, the Internal Security Agency (ABW), the mandate to block websites deemed a threat to national security. When a (vaguely defined) state of emergency is declared, the new regulations also enable the police to disable all telecommunications (an equally vague term that could refer to anything from phone lines to internet access) in a given area. The law also grants intelligence operatives unencumbered access to key data on Polish citizens — all this in a country that hasn't seen a major act of terrorism since 1939.
[...] A common thread runs through both the Polish bill and some recent legislation in other countries: ambiguity. In a newly published report on freedom of expression in the digital age, David Kaye, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, decries vague laws on digital issues as gateways to abuse. Poland's new bill is a case in point. It extends the definition of "terrorist acts" to any real or planned criminal activity, punishable by more than three years in prison, that is devised with the intention of spreading fear, disrupting the activity of the Polish government, or compelling it to act on a given issue.
Source: Foreign Policy
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday June 15 2016, @04:32AM
Expect a quantum leap in mesh networking and covert encryption technologies to come from Poland/Russia - in the hands of a pissed off populace.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by mtrycz on Wednesday June 15 2016, @09:22AM
Poles are actually quite math and it savvy, and somewhat hackey so I'd love to see some of it.
Talking with my dad through skype tho, a pole living in poland (N=1), it does look like the general sentiment is actually with the government, which is riding on the general anti-immigration/anti-refugees/anti-islam atmosphere. A great opportunity for them to pass surveillance laws.
The big background here is "we've been always left alone to our fate by everybody else, so now everybody else can fuck off" kind of thing.
I didn't get the details yet, but TFS looks scary as hell. "... devised with the intention compelling the government to act on a given issue" - they're basically putting a ban on civil activism.
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(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday June 15 2016, @02:04PM
The big background here is "we've been always left alone to our fate by everybody else, so now everybody else can fuck off" kind of thing.
Hmm. Sounds kind of accurate, unfortunately.
Interesting historical footnote: the Poles were the ones who first cracked Enigma.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday June 15 2016, @02:06PM
Not surprised given Poland's history of foreign influence and rule. After a hundred years of foreign rule they regained their independence after WW1 only to lose it after WW2 to the Russians. Now that they again have their independence after decades of oppressive foreign rule, they arent going to let it go. And they certainly arent going to let Germany tell them what to do either. Especially when it comes to taking in thousands of foreigners who don't share anything culturally. And when it comes to culture and Religion, it is still very strong among the Poles.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Wednesday June 15 2016, @02:27PM
It's just lies and statistics, tho.
The polish government(s) will happily comply with US/NATO directives, and given its strategic position between "Europe" and Russia, US/NATO will happily pump cash to keep it that way.
Let's just hope people can keep memory of the past. Revenge is exactly the sentiment upon which the third reich built upon. These laws are scarier than the KGB (even tho the effects aren't seen, yet), and it being "homemade" doesn't make it any better.
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(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 15 2016, @06:33PM
it does look like the general sentiment is actually with the government
This is the elephant in the room. There might be some pissed off people, but they are far outnumbered.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..