"Governments in Asia and across the world are using the Coronavirus crisis to curtail civil liberties, extend surveillance to an unprecedented degree and seeking to limit freedom of the press, alarming press and civil rights protection organizations." https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/covid-19-excuse-to-crack-down-on

Journalists have been reported missing/attacked in Ghana, Iran, Ethiopia, Croatia, Somalia, Chechnya, Libya, Zimbabwe, Jordan, El Salvador, Ukraine, Zambia and Croatia, per CPJ and Reporters Without Borders. Newspapers have been suspended in Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Jordan and Iran.

In China, #LiZehua and #ChenQiushi are missing after reporting on the initial coronavirus outbreak. In US, Trump Trump has (how fittingly) attacked the Voice of America. Barr asked Congress to craft legislation to suspend habeas corpus.

The House probably won't even to look at it, but still: If you re-elect this government and a GOP Congress, goodbye habeas corpus.

Duterte, unsatisfied by the emergency powers he's been granted to combat the virus, threatened a takeover by the military and police--

and proposed his usual all-purpose solution for quarantine-violators: shoot them. Thai authorities are using their “anti-fake news” laws to prosecute people who criticize the government’s response to the virus.

(This is happening in many countries.) Cambodia has begun arresting people who express concerns about the virus on social media. "Governments across the world are using the crisis to extend electronic surveillance through the use of cellphones," they add.

"Austria, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany are all reportedly gathering aggregated, purportedly anonymized location data on cellphones from telecom companies in an effort to track the virus."

NB: This may well be the least awful solution we've got for now--but let's not forget that it's AWFUL, even if it's less awful than the alternatives.

Ecuador and Israel aren't even anonymizing the data--they're sending advisory texts including personal details of infected patients. I understand where this impulse comes from in Israel: everyone's *livid* with the ultra-orthodox, who refuse to obey social distancing guidelines.

Between that and refusing to serve in the army, people have just had it with them.

But it's still wrong.

A lot of these measures are awful, but still less awful than anything else we can think in the face of a lethal epidemic.

But we need to remember: THIS IS AWFUL. These governments need to be watched like hawks, and they can't have these powers forever.

They need to be granted for finite periods of time, with BRIGHT RED sunset clauses, and no one should get used to them.

And some are just unacceptable, ever, no matter what--like Duterte, who someone should just shoot.