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[privacy] The Economist: Learning to Live With Big Brother
From: "Paul Ferguson" <fergdawg () netzero net>
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 18:18:48 GMT
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Via The Economist (hat-tip: Bruce Schneier). [snip] It used to be easy to tell whether you were in a free country or a dictatorship. In an old-time police state, the goons are everywhere, both in person and through a web of informers that penetrates every workplace, community and family. They glean whatever they can about your political views, if you are careless enough to express them in public, and your personal foibles. What they fail to pick up in the café or canteen, they learn by reading your letters or tapping your phone. The knowledge thus amassed is then stored on millions of yellowing pieces of paper, typed or handwritten; from an old-time dictator's viewpoint, exclusive access to these files is at least as powerful an instrument of fear as any torture chamber. Only when a regime falls will the files either be destroyed, or thrown open so people can see which of their friends was an informer. [snip] Much more here: http://economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9867324 - - ferg -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Desktop 9.6.3 (Build 3017) wj8DBQFHAouFq1pz9mNUZTMRAiOUAKDmPzvgG34uYyubYhqsVC9yWM/N1QCgzBSk izKeMqYw88tcHrNqTO/RAaU= =h93P -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson Engineering Architecture for the Internet fergdawg(at)netzero.net ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/
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