Us Brits are a bit confused about America today. We still hear the buzzwords like democracy and slogans like land of the free and constitutional rights and we see The Shrub defending freedom and human rights and then we find an interesting article on Wired News: Big Brother Tries to Muscle ISPs which throws us into a state of unbelievable confusion.

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court Friday to restore its ability to compel Internet service providers to turn over information about their customers or subscribers as part of its fight against terrorism.

OK – I can concede that there may be a time when this may seem necessary. But this isn’t really the curious bit. The really Kremlin circa 1968 bit is the NSL. The National Security Letter. This is what gets sent to the ISP demanding they turn over their data. And they are not allowed to tell anyone they have received it! Which means, in effect, they can’t take it to a court for a good public fight.

Except someone did. Who can’t be named. But they won, which is why the Shrub and the KGB – whoops sorry – the FBI – are so upset. So you can see why us Brits, and the rest of the world, are so confused.