When I was growing up, our family spent summers in a cottage on a lake about 50 miles north of Milwaukee. Whenever anyone wanted to make a phone call, you first had to lift the receiver and find out whether you could access a dial tone.

As often as not, we would instead hear neighbors chatting on what was called "the party line." It was a wonderful way to learn good manners. Except in a dire emergency, you would never disturb the conversation of those already on the line…let alone dream of eavesdropping.

The golden rule prevailed. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And I knew my parents did not want anyone else listening in on their private business.

Here we are, more than 40 years, later and we’re discovering just how little privacy any of us really has. Information released earlier this year on the Echelon system revealed Big Brother’s poor phone etiquette. Not only is he listening in. He’s keeping recorded notes. And doing so in the most arcane of ways.

Until now, the citizens of both Britain and the United States had felt protected by privacy laws that would prevent their governments from monitoring private phone conversations without court orders. But security agencies of the two nations got around that little proviso by agreeing to monitor all conversations of each other’s citizens…and report on any suspicious activity.

Now, the need for even that pretense appears to be falling. The "mother country" is taking the lead, this time. The British Government is pondering whether to abandon relying solely on its joint shell game with the US and publicly eavesdrop on all the phone calls and Internet messages of its own people. English authorities claim they need the sweeping totalitarian powers to deal with terrorists, drug dealers, cyber criminals and pedophiles. None of us care to speak in defense of these societal dregs.

Still, we can’t help but believe that in this case, the cure is worse than the illness.

Whether the Echelon system would continue as a bilateral program for keeping US citizens in line is not, at this point, clear.

But you’d better well believe that the British pilot program would soon inspire "knock-off" projects throughout the rest of the so-called civilized world. Already, New Zealand is considering implementing portions of the proposed British monitoring program, to keep tabs on its own people.

Can America be far behind?

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