India launches monitoring system to track all calls, texts, and online activity

Well, I'm in danger of crossing that "no-no" line, but I'm telling you, this kind of thing can happen easily in the so-called free world of the U.S, U.K, etc. It does not take much. It's technically possible, and financially possible, especially with "superpower" countries. "Remaining within the law" doesn't mean a lot when the ones who roll out such systems are the ones who can create and change the law.

 

There is nothing "reasonable" when it comes to "monitoring every piece of citizens' telecommunications", no matter how you look at it...

 

India is supposed to be the world's largest democracy, base on population. That the populace would stand by and let something like that loose on their society, leaves me with very an uneasy feeling about what could happen here.

 

Well, first, India (and for that matter most "democratic" nations) is not actually a technical democracy. Second, you have to understand that religion plays a major part in how India is governed. Third, believe it or not, the population of most stable countries, including the U.S have only a small amount of say in the running of the government and national matters. That's not a "government is evil" statement, either. There's good reason not to give over a massive amount of power to the people. It might be hard for some to understand, and some will undoubtedly consider the statement I'm about to make as BS, but abuse of power would be worse with populations in charge or that had the ability to make major decisions. I'm against this particular instance of monitoring wholeheartedly, but there's no guarantee that a new government or "the people" wouldn't do the same thing.

The Internet is a nightmare, in reality. For all the good it has done, it's made the security of both populations and nations much less secure and has done a number on proper, effective law enforcement. It's nearly impossible (if not totally impossible) to catch the bad guys on the Internet without monitoring, and the bad guys use the same Internet we all do. I know that's a bit "devils advocate" of me, but it's simply reality.