Internet Privacy.

[Combwork]

I put the following on AK, but maybe its true home should be here.

Once again I'm getting offers to update Adobe Flash Player. These appear on the initial screen before I go onto the internet using Firefox 3.5 Beta 4.

I've read a lot recently about governments trying to check where people go on the internet, not just known questionable sites but browsing history via Google.

I reckon my political beliefs, sexual proclivities, debate about capital punishment etc. and whether or not I should have the right to carry a gun (I live in Scotland so I don't have that right. It's still a debating point though) are private.

My question is are automatic updates to Adobe Flash Player, Firefox etc to the users benefit, or to make it easier for authorities to snoop around and see what people are up to? I've been told there are flag words that automatically draw attention but that's always seemed completely pointless. Unless whoever (if anyone) have monitoring abilities that continuously monitor context of all emails sent by anyone, substituting one word that could draw attention with something that sounds innocent would seem to make universal monitoring pointless.

It's a matter of privacy. Reading other peoples emails is the same as opening other peoples letters; in general it's wrong.
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