Shortly before this edition of The Budapest Times went to press, János Hajdu, the head of Hungary’s counter-terrorist unit TEK, confirmed that his team had apprehended two groups – altogether six people – who were in possession of automatic weapons, explosives and ammunition. A group of four was captured travelling in a car towards Budapest. According to Hajdu, these people had international links and explosives were found in the car. This doesn’t mean that they were suicide bombers planning an attack against the Hungarian capital, but it does mean that this is not a Paris, London or Madrid problem, it is our problem as well. In wake of the recent attacks security was increased throughout Europe and countries all over the continent are planning to establish stricter surveillance laws. A lot of people immediately became scared of Big Brother and as usual started quoting Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” It’s a butchered quote by the way (it’s a lot more about money than liberty), but let’s stick with it for argument’s sake. I’m constantly amazed how people still have no idea that there are a number of large corporations who know everything about you. I mean everything. If you don’t sign out of Facebook every time, Zuckerberg knows that you secretly want to kill your boss. Sergey Brin and Larry Page (the Google guys) know when you’re ordering that D-83 Swedish Sure-Grip Suck Machine (a quote from “Naked Gun 2” in case you were wondering if it exists) and UPC or Telekom know when you’re downloading god-knows-what from the internet. They know even if you’re using the incognito mode on your browser. Ever wonder how those ads you see on various websites could be so custom-tailored to your needs? That’s how. These corporations know everything about you and they pretty much can do anything with the data. Don’t believe me? Just read the fine print in the Terms. Think about this for a second and then decide whether it is worth to give up your liberty to the state (as well), which at least you can hold accountable every four years.
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