<nettime> Lauren's Big Picture

[Bruce Sterling <bruces@well.com>]

Dot.Org-Dot.Com Internet A Non-Starter;
Dot.Mil-Dot.Com Internet, Business As Usual *8-/


Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 10:56:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com
Subject: The Big Picture?
Cc: lauren@pfir.org


          "You will say you lose your freedom.  Freedom is an illusion.
           All you lose is the emotion of pride."
                            -- Colossus
                               "Colossus: The Forbin Project" (1970)

          "There seems to be a definite pattern emerging."
                            -- The Psychiatrist (G. Wood)
                               "Harold and Maude" (1971)


 An interesting pattern does seem to be emerging.  I do not suggest that
it's the result of a conspiracy, but rather the result of long-term trends
that have been self-reinforcing.  Still, like the images in a kaleidoscope,
complex-appearing structures can seem to easily appear from independent
actions.

 We start with media consolidation on a grand scale.  The range of content
providers and distribution operations -- TV, cable, newspapers, magazine,
Internet, and so on, are primarily in the hands of a tiny cadre of gigantic
firms.  This consolidation seems likely to continue to even more intense
levels.

 Such concentration of media power provides the ability to present a highly
unified message both to the population at large and to Congress through
lobbyists.  A slogan like CNN's "America's New War" can be applied across a
range of related properties and environments, instead of merely being
sandwiched between "EnerX" commercials.

 Next step: Institute a mindset and legal structure that marginalizes all
rights to information except those of copyright holders (most of the
widely-used content will be under the control of those few media
conglomerates we discussed above, of course).  The Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) helps enormously at this stage to accomplish this goal.
Send violators to prison along with the rapists, murderers, and terrorists.
Finally, a way to fill those jail cells being emptied out in California from
the new "treat drug offenders rather than jail them" program.

 Gotta keep the momentum going.  Outlaw the sale or providing of
*everything* -- hardware, software, communications, impure thoughts, or what
have you --  relating to digital technologies that cannot be directly
controlled by those  concentrated media forces.  The SSSCA (Security Systems
Standards and  Certification Act) should do nicely.

To sweeten the deal, point out that since only SSSCA-approved security
systems would be legal, it could provide a dandy mechanism to make the use
of strong encryption in the private sector  illicit.  All that's needed is
to ensure that such strong crypto systems are  not compatible with the
SSSCA-approved mechanisms (or refuse to certify anything that contains those
undesirable systems).  The approved security system will of course contain
the appropriate backdoors for data access by the powers-that-be (and
sufficiently resourceful hackers).

The level of civil disobedience likely to result will probably be the
highest since prohibition, but hey, prohibition didn't have any nasty
side-effects that weren't trivial to control, right?

 And to tie this all up in a nice neat bow, be ready to take advantage of
any catastrophe, tragedy, or horror to assert your agenda while emotions run
high and knee-jerk reactions are the order of the day.

 Voila!  Mission accomplished.

 --Lauren--
 Lauren Weinstein
 lauren@pfir.org or lauren@vortex.com or lauren@privacyforum.org
 Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
 Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
 Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
 Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
 "Reality Reset" Columns - http://www.vortex.com/reality

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