Will EU citizens visiting the United States now be forced to accept government snooping into their sex lives as part of the bargain?

According to an article that appeared yesterday Sept. 6 in the Amsterdam daily Het Parool, the new anti-terrorism treaty between the United States and the European Union requires EU countries to inform US authorities of the sexual preference of airline passengers flying to America.

"Why should the Americans be collecting data about people's sex lives in the name of combating terrorism?" asks Frank Van Dalen, chairman of the Dutch homophile rights organization COC. "Basic civil rights are being trampled on here." COC is urging the Tweede Kamer (the Dutch lower house of parliament) to reject the treaty.

Further information from the article (which is in Dutch) is provided in English below the fold.

It sounded convincing. "Flanders has unilaterally declared its independence," was Belgian TV's prime time announcement. But the special broadcast was a staged deception. However, it was so perfectly done that many Belgians took it at face value.

My friend The Blind Owl asked me to post this on her behalf, as she  is was not yet a Kossack. (Update: Latest word from her is that she successfully registered her own dKos screen name a few hours ago.)

As a blind voter, I have always been concerned about verifiability. I have never known for sure if the person assisting me was actually carrying out my wishes. In instances where I was able to get assistance from a friend who had a similar schedule, that was not a real problem—although that has not often been the case, since I needed to vote early in order to arrive at work on time.

I have often been forced to rely on poll officials to assist me in the voting process. I am not saying they were all dishonest; many have been very accommodating and have probably been honest, although I’ll never know for certain. Unlike people with other disabilities, who can watch what their assistants are doing, blind people must rely completely on our assistants and have absolutely no way to verify how our ballots have been cast.