Wired magazine co-founder interviewed on digital revolution, end of the mega-state

[GregSarnowski]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYqYowD9orM

Note: Wired was founded in 1993 but sold in 1997 to mass-media company Conde Nast.

Personally I think he might be overestimating the effects of this new paradigm. Maybe I'm a cynic but I tend to think the more things change the more they stay the same.

[enhanced_deficit]

This could go here I guess:

http://www.longisland.com/news/11-24-13/nsa-spyware-on-50000-computer-twitter-beefs-up-security.html

[Anti Federalist]

The digital database information revolution is the very thing the Mega State needed to survive and go to the next level.

Global government would not be possible without global surveillance.

[tangent4ronpaul]

As you read the next 2 articles, I'd like you to keep a couple of things in mind:

While Google, FB, Twitter and Yahoo have all recently enabled cryptography by default to protect users data in flight, and at least Google has encrypted their file systems (but still mines the data for ad words), this hasn't solved much.

While Google is talking about ending censorship within 10 years, worldwide, it is itself a driving force behind the US censorship effort under the pretext of "protecting the children", social networks, e-mail providers and search engines are using a worldwide Internet black list of sites to censor and a spying system that reports users for bad thoughts/bad queries. Like that isn't going to be misused :rolleyes: This black list is maintained and distributed by a psudo-gvmt organization under the direction of the DoJ.

You might recall the blacklists that were exposed by Wikileaks in 2008 or so. And the findings that in every single case, because the lists were secret, they were immediately put into use to stifle political descent.

It came out yesterday that NSA had placed malware in 50,000 computer systems worldwide. It had previously come out that they had broken into and could access and control the inner workings of places like Google. If you didn't get this before, let me spell it out for you:

NSA/5EYES CONTROL THE LARGEST BOTNET IN THE WORLD!!!
It consists of every major ISP, TELCO, social network, e-mail provider, etc worldwide...

So encrypting your data "in flight" and "at rest" might be a feel good move, but it doesn't do a lot of good. With that kind of access, it does not matter if your data is usually encrypted.

99.9% of the population think the NSA is spying on them. They are not. The FBI *IS* and they have their own little NSA at Quantico. Sen Feinstein is pushing a bill to give domestic law enforcement/DHS/etc. direct access to NSA databases. The NSA is pushing back. For some odd reason Congress has no interest in inquiring about the FBI's domestic surveillance. Their part of PRISM and requesting data from various companies. No it's all about restricting the NSA, who do not, except by accident, spy on Americans. (Well, mostly... there seem to be exceptions).


Google could end China's web censorship in 10 days – why doesn't it?
Google is too big for China to block. Just two simple steps and Eric Schmidt will have done something we can all celebrate
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/22/google-end-china-web-censorship-10-days

Google’s Schmidt predicts encryption will end censorship in a decade
http://rt.com/usa/google-schmidt-hopkins-encryption-097/

-t

[axiomata]

I was an early subscriber to Wired. There was so much to like about it and easily, in its prime, the best print magazine. But at some point, it lost its edge. A few pro-Iraq war articles, Arnold Schwarzenegger as the future of politics cover stories, and then to top it off, they went to a glossy cover like every other magazine and I didn't renew my subscription. Still do some good stuff (see NSA station in Utah reporting) but not as libertarian as I'd like.

[twomp]

The digital database information revolution is the very thing the Mega State needed to survive and go to the next level.

Global government would not be possible without global surveillance.

It's a double edged sword. The internet has made it possible for the government to watch us but it has also allowed us a way to connect with other people and allowed us to get and verify information for ourselves without having to rely on government media for news.

[Anti Federalist]

It's a double edged sword. The internet has made it possible for the government to watch us but it has also allowed us a way to connect with other people and allowed us to get and verify information for ourselves without having to rely on government media for news.

Hardly.

The government watching us over the internet is just one facet of much larger global surveillance/database grid.

A grid that would not be possible at all without the "digital revolution".

And without that grid, the mega state would not be able to survive.

To the exact contrary of this author's assertion, the digital matrix will nourish and grow the global mega state.

All things being equal, I'd prefer hand printed broadsheets and make the rest all go away.

In the main, it's not worth it.

[twomp]

Hardly.

The government watching us over the internet is just one facet of much larger global surveillance/database grid.

A grid that would not be possible at all without the "digital revolution".

And without that grid, the mega state would not be able to survive.

To the exact contrary of this author's assertion, the digital matrix will nourish and grow the global mega state.

All things being equal, I'd prefer hand printed broadsheets and make the rest all go away.

In the main, it's not worth it.

The internet didn't create government surveillance. Even if we were living in the stone age, they would still have people sitting in trees watching if they wanted. The only difference now is that we are able to figure out ourselves what they are up to instead of relying on information they give us.

[mczerone]

Hardly.

The government watching us over the internet is just one facet of much larger global surveillance/database grid.

A grid that would not be possible at all without the "digital revolution".

And without that grid, the mega state would not be able to survive.

To the exact contrary of this author's assertion, the digital matrix will nourish and grow the global mega state.

All things being equal, I'd prefer hand printed broadsheets and make the rest all go away.

In the main, it's not worth it.

Advertising, graphic design, and writing aside, lets look at the costs:

Cost of reaching 7 billion people with written pamphlets: @$.001/pamphlet = $7,000,000.

Cost of reaching 7 billion people with blogs, websites, etc: $10/month.

Now, why would we want to be limited to physical paper?

[Anti Federalist]

The internet didn't create government surveillance. Even if we were living in the stone age, they would still have people sitting in trees watching if they wanted. The only difference now is that we are able to figure out ourselves what they are up to instead of relying on information they give us.

Nope.

All it did is allow it all to be linked together, in real time, with real time enforcement.

Years ago, you could laugh it off.

Now, you're being tracked and monitored in real time, globally.

There is literally, not a square inch of Earth's surface to escape.

[Anti Federalist]

Advertising, graphic design, and writing aside, lets look at the costs:

Cost of reaching 7 billion people with written pamphlets: @$.001/pamphlet = $7,000,000.

Cost of reaching 7 billion people with blogs, websites, etc: $10/month.

Now, why would we want to be limited to physical paper?

If all the rest of the surveillance grid went away, if the satellites fell out of the sky, in exchange, I'd happily take that cost.

All the blogs in the world have not advanced freedom more than one copy of Common Sense.

Which, by the way, was one of the best selling books ever in the US.

People wanted to be informed about freedom and liberty.

Now, they could care less.

Which is, of course, only a continuation of the normal human condition.

[mczerone]

If all the rest of the surveillance grid went away, if the satellites fell out of the sky, in exchange, I'd happily take that cost.

All the blogs in the world have not advanced freedom more than one copy of Common Sense.

Which, by the way, was one of the best selling books ever in the US.

People wanted to be informed about freedom and liberty.

Now, they could care less.

Which is, of course, only a continuation of the normal human condition.

To be fair, a good portion of people then were sick and tired of British rule from the old country and there was a built-up need for discourses on authority, property, governance, etc.

Maybe what we need is a global mega-state that bumbles along and grows too tyrannical for people to stand.

[twomp]

If all the rest of the surveillance grid went away, if the satellites fell out of the sky, in exchange, I'd happily take that cost.

All the blogs in the world have not advanced freedom more than one copy of Common Sense.

Which, by the way, was one of the best selling books ever in the US.

People wanted to be informed about freedom and liberty.

Now, they could care less.

Which is, of course, only a continuation of the normal human condition.

You probably couldn't escape them if they were looking for you but you could crawl into a cave in some remote place and do your thing. The only issue is that since you are so disconnected, you probably wouldn't know if they were coming for you either. Actually, you wouldn't know anything that was happening.

I think the government would rather have that. An informed public is their worst fear.

[Anti Federalist]

An informed public is their worst fear.

Yes, you are so right.

50 years of the "information revolution" has resulted in the most brilliant and thoughtful electorate to ever grace planet earth.