Re: <nettime> Echelon exists. Now it's official!

[Sean Cubitt <seanc@waikato.ac.nz>]

>
>Echelon computers can store millions of records on individuals,
>intercepting faxes, phone calls, and emails. The report was prompted by
>claims that the US and other nations was using Echelon to spy on European
companies on behalf of American firms.

Excellent. Privacy -- in any case a privilege of a small minority of the
European middle classes for a brief perod of a hundred and fifty years --
is now over. The Private Self is no longer a political category.

What is even more remarkable is that Echelon no longer respects private
property. The private individual was never an essential element of
capitalism. Now we learn that capital does not need private intellectual
property either.

Nettimers should welcome and encourage the development of such progressive
technologies.

sean


-- 
Sean Cubitt
Screen and Media Studies,
Akoranga Whakaata Pürongo
University of Waikato,
Private Bag 3105,
Hamilton,
New Zealand
T: Dept: +64 (0)7 838 4543
T: Direct: +64 (0)7 856 2289 ext 8604
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http://www.waikato.ac.nz/film
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/digita
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/people/sean/welcome.html






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