| "Article 8 – Right to respect for private and family life 1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. 2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others." (The US has similar wording split between amendments 1 and 4). The word "necessary" is where all the argument rests, as well as "in accordance with the law". Proportionality and transparency must be taken into account. Generally pure speech acts are not in themselves illegal, and we want to be very careful about creating offences which could make engaging in unconventional politics illegal. In some ways the "report terrorist button" could be the most reasonable implementation of this. Leave private correspondence alone, but if someone sees threatening content there should be a mechanism for turning that in to evidence which could result in the poster being banned from the service. Evidence is important. Legal processes generate evidence which can be used in trials. Secret services generate "intelligence" which is classified and cannot be used in public trials, resulting in pressure for secret trials. Edit: getting downvoted for citing ECHR? I knew it was unpopular ... |