Corporate Capture of the Net

Below is an excerpt retrieved from an article on May 3, 2002, that appeared in the March 2002 issue of the International Monitor:

The Business of the Watchers Privacy Protections Recede as the Purveyors
of Digital Security Technologies Capitalize on September 11
By Wayne Madsen, Multinational Monitor, March 2002, Volume 23, Number 3

In the wake of September 11, a wide array of corporations, with the active encouragement of the U.S. government, are developing new and extremely intrusive systems to capture personal data, biometric data and video information.

...Seizing on the heightened concern about security, the data and surveillance firms argue that their technologies can help ensure safety. Privacy advocates counter that the security benefits are overblown, that initial privacy safeguards applied to the new technologies will inevitably fail or quickly be removed.

Uncritical introduction of these technologies, they fear, will move society far along the path to a scenario reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, where Big Brother is everywhere, “where telescreens are installed in every room, every hallway, elevator, lift, every street, square, every possible place.”

Read the complete article:
Corporate Capture of the Internet