FIO Strike Raises Civil Liberty Fears | EVE Online

FIO Strike Raises Civil Liberty Fears

2004-06-27 - Von Svarthol

Today the Gallente Federation Civil Liberties Union (GFCLU) made a formal statement and petition to the Federation for greater transparency of Federal Intelligence Office (FIO) operations and greater government oversight of the shadowy organization. An excerpt from the statement reads as follows:

"While we applaud and support the efforts of the FIO to combat terrorism, we must not let ourselves turn into that which we fight. The FIO's interception of private communications allowed them to thwart this latest terrorist attack in Sharuveil, but to what extent are they monitoring the communications of our citizens at other times? What other activities might the FIO be doing in the name of the Gallentean people that we are not aware of? We must not sacrifice the fundamental rights of privacy and freedom of information for the sake of fighting terrorists.

In its current state of reporting only to the President, the FIO is in effect a private military force under the sole control of our head of state. Such concentration of power is dangerous and an open invitation to abuse. While we understand the necessity of some degree of secrecy in intelligence operations, the GFCLU requests the FIO to begin informing the people's representatives in the Senate of its activities."