The newspapers, presenters on television and the radio, and the talk-back hosts are all attacking government measures to control money launderers and crime syndicates. They are all howling about the protection of privacy and human
rights, and the attack on freedom. They all completely ignore the real, not imagined, attack on ordinary people by the criminals and money launders. These are the real enemies of our way of life. In living in communities as we do, we, all of us, have to give up complete freedom to do as we like. The reward in safe community life far outweigh the loss of some 'freedoms”. We can, in our democratic system, have some control over any excesses of personal surveillance. The ballot box provides this. We have no control over criminals unless we get government to do this for us.
I can recall a well-known portrait showing a young woman on the steps of a guillotine scaffold, where she is to have her head chopped off. The words underneath say: 'O Freedom what crimes are committed in thy name”. Perhaps we could paraphrase this to read:
'O Freedom what crimes are permitted in thy name”.John

Mills, Mt. Maunganui.