Protecting speech on the global data networks attracts an increasing attention. The efforts and the corresponding abilities of governmental authorities, corporations and copyright enforcement agencies are countered by similar efforts and abilities of researchers and engineers to provide means for anonymous and uncensored communication, as Freenet, Free Haven and Publius. All three of them show a similar design. Content is split up and spread on several servers. When a file is requested, the pieces are reassembled. This design makes it difficult to censor content. All of these systems are not commercial products.
The most advanced system seems to be Publius. Because of being designed by researchers and engineers at the prestigious
For more information on Publius, see John Schwartz, Online and Unidentifiable? in: The Washington Post, June 30, 2000,
Freenet web site:
Free Haven web site:
Publius web site:
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There is no society - in the past or in the present - free of censorship, the enforced restriction of speech. It is not restricted to authoritarian regimes. Democratic societies too aim at the control of the publication and distribution of information in order to prevent unwanted expressions. In every society some expressions, ideas or opinions are feared. Censored are books, magazines, films and videos, and computer games, e.g.
In defence of its monopoly of truth, the Catholic Church published a blacklist of books not allowed to be read: the Index librorum prohibitorum. As indicated by the fact that every declaration of human rights - including the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights and the
To a high degree the Protestant Reformation was made possible by the invention of the printing press. Now those who were capable of writing and reading no longer needed to rely on the priests to know what is written in the Bible. They could compare the Bible with the sermons of the priests. This may be one of the reasons why especially in countries with a strong Protestant or otherwise anti-catholic tradition (with the exception of Germany), free speech is held in such high esteem.
There seems to be no alternative: free speech without restriction or censorship. But censorship is not the only kind of restriction of speech. Speech codes as politically correct speech are restrictions, sometimes similar to censorship; copyright, accessibility and affordability of means of communication are other ones. Because of such restrictions different to censorship, we cannot think coherently about free speech independently of issues about social justice. Many campaigns for free speech, the right of free expression are backed by the concept of free speech as unconstrained speech. That is perfectly well understood under the auspices of regimes prominently, which try to silence their critics and restrict access to their publications. But the concept of free speech should not solely focus on such constrains. Thinking of free speech as unconstrained speech, we tend to forget to take into account - to campaign against - these other restrictions. Additionally, free expression understood in that way offers no clue how to practice this freedom of expression and what free speech is good for.
In liberal democratic societies censorship is not justified by recurring to absolute truth. Its necessity is argued by referring to personal integrity. Some kind of expression might do harm to individuals, especially to children, by traumatize them or by disintegrating personal morality. Some published information, such as the names of rape victims, might infringe some people's right on privacy or some, as others say, such as pornographic images or literature, e.g., infringes some people's right on equality (how?).
For more information on the history of censorship see
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According to a still widely held conviction, the global data networks constitute the long desired arena for uncensorable expression. This much is true: Because of the Net it has become increasingly difficult to sustain cultural and legal standards. Geographical proximity and territorial boundaries prove to be less relevant, when it does not affect a document's availability if it is stored on your desktop or on a host some thousand kilometers away. There is no international agreement on non-prohibited contents, so human rights organizations and nazi groups alike can bypass restrictions. No single authority or organization can impose its rules and standards on all others. This is why the Net is public space, a political arena where free expression is possible.
This freedom is conditioned by the design of the Net. But the Net's design is not a given, as
When the World Wide Web was introduced, soon small independent media and human rights organizations began to use this platform for drawing worldwide attention to their publications and causes. It seemed to be the dawning of a new era with authoritarian regimes and multinational media corporations on the looser side. But now the Net's design is changing according to their needs.
"In every context that it can, the entertaining industry is trying to force the Internet into its own business model: the perfect control of content. From music (fighting MP3) and film (fighting the portability of DVD) to television, the industry is resisting the Net's original design. It was about the free flow of content; Hollywood wants perfect control instead" (Lawrence Lessig,
In the United States, Hollywood and
For small independent media it will become very hard to be heard, especially for those offering streaming video and music. Increasingly faster data transmissions just apply to download capacities; upload capacities are much - on the average about eight times - lower than download capacities. As an AT&T executive said in response to criticism: "We haven't built a 56 billion dollar cable network to have the blood sucked from our veins" (
Consumers, not producers are preferred.
For corporations what remains to be done to control the Net is mainly to cope with the fact that because of the Net it has become increasingly difficult to sustain cultural and legal standards. On Nov 11, 1995 the German prosecuting attorney's office searched Compuserve Germany, the branch of an international Internet service provider, because the company was suspected of having offered access to child pornography. Consequently Compuserve blocked access to more than 200
Also in 1995, as an attack on US Vice-President Al Gore's intention to supply all public schools with Internet access, Republican Senator Charles Grassley warned of the lurking dangers for children on the Net. By referring to a Time magazine cover story by Philip Elmer-Dewitt from July 3 on pornography on the Net, he pointed out that 83,5% of all images online are pornographic. But Elmer-Dewitt was wrong. Obviously unaware of the difference between
Almost inevitably anxieties accompany the introduction of new technologies. In the 19th century it was said that traveling by train is bad for health. The debate produced by Time magazine's cover story and Senator Grassley's attack caused the impression that the Net has multiplied possible dangers for children. The global communication networks seem to be a inexhaustible source of mushrooming child pornography. Later would-be bomb recipes found on the Net added to already prevailing anxieties. As even in industrialized countries most people still have little or no first-hand experience with the Net, anxieties about child pornography or terrorist attacks can be stirred up and employed easily.
A similar and related debate is going on about the glorification of violence and erotic depictions in media. Pointing to a "toxic popular culture" shaped by media that "distort children's view of reality and even undermine their character growth", US right-wing social welfare organizations and think tanks call for strong media censorship. (See An Appeal to Hollywood,
The intentions for stimulating a debate on child pornography on the Net were manifold: Inter alia, it served the Republican Party to attack Democrat Al Gore's initiative to supply all public schools with Internet access; additionally, the big media corporations realized that because of the Net they might have to face new competitors and rushed to press for content regulation. Taking all these intentions together, we can say that this still ongoing debate constitutes the first and most well known attempt to impose content regulation on the Net. Consequently, at least in Western countries, governments and media corporations refer to child pornography for justifying legal requirement and the implementation of technologies for the surveillance and monitoring of individuals, the filtering, rating and blocking of content, and the prohibition of anonymous publishing on the Net.
In the name of "cleaning" the Net of child pornography, our basic rights are restricted. It is the insistence on unrestricted basic rights that needs to be justified, as it may seem.
Underlying the campaign to control the Net are several assumptions. Inter alia: The Net lacks control and needs to be made safe and secure; we may be exposed inadvertently to pornographic content; this content is harmful to children. Remarkably, racism seems to be not an issue.
The Net, especially the World Wide Web, is not like television (although it is to be feared this is what it might become like within the next years). Say, little Mary types "Barbie" in a search engine. Click
In reaction to these anxieties, but in absence of data how children use the Internet, the US government released the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in 1996. In consequence the
So, after the failing of the CDA the US government has shifted its responsibility to the industry by inviting corporations to taking on governmental tasks. Bearing in the mind the CompuServe case and its possible consequences, the industry welcomed this decision and was quick to call this newly assumed responsibility "self-regulation". Strictly speaking, "self-regulation" as meant by the industry does not amount to the regulation of the behaviour of corporations by themselves. On the opposite, "self-regulation" is to be understood as the regulation of users' behaviour by the rating, filtering and blocking of Internet content considered being inappropriate. The Internet industry tries to show that technical solutions are more favourable than legislation und wants to be sure, not being held responsible and liable for illegal, offensive or harmful content. A new CompuServe case and a new Communications Decency Act shall be averted.
In the Memorandum
In fact, the "self-regulation" of the Internet industry is privatized censorship performed by corporations and right-wing NGOs. Censorship has become a business. "Crucially, the lifting of restrictions on market competition hasn't advanced the cause of freedom of expression at all. On the contrary, the privatisation of cyberspace seems to be taking place alongside the introduction of heavy censorship." (
While trying to convince us that its technical solutions are appropriate alternatives to government regulation, the Internet industry cannot dispense of governmental backing to enforce the proposed measures. This adds to and enforces the censorship measures already undertaken by governments. We are encouraged to use today's information and communication technologies, while the flow of information is restricted.
According to a report by Reporters Sans Frontières, quoted by Leonard R. Sussman in his essay
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"Freedom of anonymous speech is an essential component of free speech."
Ian Goldberg/David Wagner,
Someone wants to hide one's identity, to remain anonymous, if s/he fears to be holding accountable for something, say, a publication, that is considered to be prohibited. Anonymous publishing has a long tradition in European history. Writers of erotic literature or pamphlets, e. g., preferred to use pseudonyms or publish anonymously. During the Enlightenment books as d'Alembert's and Diderot's famous Encyclopaedia were printed and distributed secretly. Today
The original design of the Net, as far as it is preserved, offers a relatively high degree of privacy, because due to the client-server model all what is known about you is a report of the machine from which information was, respectively is requested. But this design of the Net interferes with the wish of corporations to know you, even to know more about you than you want them to know. What is euphemistically called customer relationship management systems means the collection, compilation and analysis of personal information about you by others.
In 1997 America Online member Timothy McVeigh, a Navy employee, made his homosexuality publicly known in a short autobiographical sketch. Another Navy employee reading this sketch informed the Navy. America Online revealed McVeigh's identity to the Navy, who discharged McVeigh. As the consequence of a court ruling on that case, Timothy McVeigh was allowed to return to the Navy. Sometimes anonymity really matters.
On the Net you still have several possibilities to remain anonymous. You may visit web sites via an
In Germany, in 1515, printers had to swear not to print or distribute any publication bypassing the councilmen. Today repressive regimes, such as
Anonymity might be used for abuses, that is true, but "the burden of proof rests with those who would seek to limit it. (Rob Kling, Ya-ching Lee, Al Teich, Mark S. Frankel, Assessing Anonymous Communication on the Internet: Policy Deliberations, in: The Information Society, 1999).
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The World Wide Web is constituted by documents linked with other documents, thus allowing access to referred documents. Censorship affects hyperlinks as well. Say, you publish an essay on racist propaganda on the Net and make link references to neo-nazi web sites. It goes without saying that you do not endorse neo-nazi pamphlets. By linking to these web sites you want your readers to get an idea of what you are writing about. Linking does not necessarily mean approving. Is this not evident?
According to Swiss and German prosecuting attorneys you may have committed a crime without having illegal intentions. From his web site Thomas Stricker, director of the Institute of Computer Systems at the ETH Zurich, has linked to an anti-racist web site with links to racist content in order to draw the attention to the difficulties legal regulation of the Net has to face. Neglecting his intentions, Swiss authorities instituted a criminal action against Stricker.
Another case, reported by the Global Internet Liberty Campaign, proves that not just links to racist resources or to resources with links to such resources are under prosecution. The Motion Picture Association of America sued to prevent Internet users from linking to websites that have DeCSS, a program helping Linux users play DVDs on their computers. The trial is scheduled for December.
References:
Global Internet Liberty Campaign, Hollywood wants end to links, in: GILC Alert 4,4, April 24, 2000, http://www.gilc.org/alert/alert44.html
Wolfgang Näser, Allgemeines zum Thema "Homepage",
Florian Rötzer, Ab wann ist ein externer Link auf strafrechtlich relevante Inhalte selbst strafbar?, in:
Florian Rötzer, Strafverfahren gegen ETH-Professor wegen Links zu rassistischen Websites, in:
Florian Rötzer, Ab wievielen Zwischenschritten ist ein Link auf eine rechtswidrige Website strafbar, in:
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Until now it was not possible to find out the specific segmenting of intelligence budgets as far as the ECHELON project is concerned. Many experts agree that ECHELON specific costs are woven into the complex budgets of several intelligence units. Money comes also from the host countries and Partners in the UKUSA Agreement.
For further reading:
Refocus Intelligence Priorities:
>Approximately $27.6 Billion requested for 1999. The Congress has proposed an increase over the Clinton administration request. Almost all of this effort is devoted to exploiting the disciplines that were of primary importance during the Cold War: imagery intelligence [IMINT], signals intelligence [SIGINT], and human intelligence [HUMINT]. But with the end of the Cold War new disciplines, measurements and signature intelligence [MASINT] and open source intelligence [OSINT] are of far greater relevance to contemporary and emerging security concerns and intelligence needs, ranging from counter-proliferation activities to peace-keeping operations.<
Organization Annual Budget Staff
NRO 6,2 billion $ 1.700
NSA 3,6 billion $ 21.000 (- 40.000?)
CIA 3,1 billion $ 16.000
For comparison: CSE has only a $200-300 million dollar budget.
In 1988 Duncan Campbell wrote (
And another view on the relation between the several intelligence units as far as budget is concerned: "Spying Budget Is Made Public By Mistake", By Tim Weiner The New York Times, November 5 1994
>By mistake, a Congressional subcommittee has published an unusually detailed breakdown of the highly classified "black budget" for United States intelligence agencies. In previously defeating a bill that would have made this information public, the White House, CIA and Pentagon argued that revealing the secret budget would cause GRAVE DAMAGE to the NATIONAL SECURITY of the United States. $3.1 billion for the CIA $10.4 billion for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines special-operations units $13.2 billion for the NSA/NRO/DIA <
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The ECHELON project was designed and is coordinated by NSA to intercept ordinary e-mail, fax, telex and telephone communications throughout the global telecommunications networks. Its purpose is the surveillance of non-military targets, such as governments, organizations, businesses and individuals. The goal of the system is to intercept large quantities of communications and analyze the gathered data using sophisticated processing hard- and software to identify and extract messages of interest. The ECHELON processing equipment searches through huge amounts of intercepted communications for keywords. Those keywords contain concepts, names, locations, subjects, personal data of individuals,... The processing computers are known as ECHELON Dictionaries.
Without the investigative publications of James Bamford, Duncan Campbell, Nicky Hager, Jeffrey T. Richelson, William Burrows and others ECHELON would never have made its way to public notice and would have never led to alarming public opinion.
In 1948 the former alliance of USA, UK, Canada, Australia an New Zealand established in World War II was formalized into the UKUSA Signals and Intelligence agreement to aim primarily together against the former USSR, although reades of the agreement say, that it is definitely only signed by the United States and Britain. (Nicky Hager, Secret Power, New Zealand's role in the internatinal spy network, Craig Potton, 1996, p61)
The UKUSA nations also agreed to standardize their terminology, code words, intercept-handling procedures, and indoctrination oaths, for efficiency as well as security. NATO nations and other nations as Japan and Korea later signed on as third parties. Among the first and second parties there is a general agreement not to restrict data, but with the third parties the sharing is much less generous.
Now the functions have shifted to interception ranging from diplomatic communications, to industrial espionage. Keytargets are besides political and military intelligence, terrorism, weapons construction and proliferation and economic intelligence. Rumors are heard that the US intelligence agencies use their foreign stations also for monitoring their allies. It seems that the UKUSA alliance is maintaining around 120 known surveillance stations, some huge and some very small or even functioning fully automatically, but rumors go that the number of small SIGINT surveillance stations might also be as high as 4900.
UKUSA:
>UK-US SIGINT co-operation began in 1940, during World War II close intelligence relationships also between other countries of the Commonwealth and the United States were formed. New Zealand f.e. was involved in submarine operations and served as basis for American troops fighting against Japan in the pacific. In Spring 1941 four representatives (two from the Navy and two from the Army) delivered a model of the Japanese PURPLE machine--used by Japan to encipher diplomatic communications to British codebreakers at Bletchley Park. In return, the British gave the U.S. representatives an assortment of advanced cryptological equipment, including the Marconi-Adcock high-frequency direction finder. (see p312 in James Bamford, The Puzzle Palace, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1982). Meanwhile, it was agreed that the British would break Tokyo-London traffic while the Americans broke Tokyo-Washington traffic. The results of the U.S. codebreaking effort that were considered useful to Britain in its war with Germany were passed to London via the British ambassador in Washington.<
(Ronald Lewin, The American Magic: Codes, ciphers and the Defeat of Japan, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1982, p46)
>U.S. entry into the war expanded the exchange of intercepted military traffic because of necessary arrangements for a coordinated attack on diplomatic traffic. Britain's production of such intelligence was labeled ULTRA.<
(Ronald Lewin, The American Magic: Codes, ciphers and the Defeat of Japan, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1982, p47)
>Although ULTRA information was made available to U.S. and British military commanders via Special Liaison Units, the exact nature of its acquisition was initially obscured. It was not until April 1943 that the British revealed to U.S. military intelligence officials the secret--that Britain's codebreaking organization could break the ciphers produced by the German ENIGMA machine used for much of German military communications.< (James Bamford, The Puzzle Palace, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1982, p314)
UK-US SIGINT co-operation was formalized on 17 May 1943 with the conclusion of the still-secret, and possibly still-active, BRUSA COMINT agreement. The complete text of BRUSA, including its appendices, was released by the National Security Agency (NSA) in November 1995. Text and appendices are published in Cryptologia, "The BRUSA Agreement of May 17, 1943," 21, no. 1 (Jan. 1997): p30-38. That agreement led to extensive cooperation between the US Army's SIGINT Agency and the British Code and Cipher School.
>The BRUSA Agreement established high-level cooperation on SIGINT matters and covered the exchange of personnel, joint regulations for the handling of ULTRA material, and procedures for its distribution. The joint regulations included strict security provisions that applied to all British and U.S. recipients of ULTRA material.<(James Bamford, The Puzzle Palace, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1982, p315)
>Along with the increased cooperation between Britain and the United States, there was increased involvement by the Anglo-Saxon members of the British
Commonwealth--Canada, Australia, and New Zealand--in a wide variety of intelligence activities. U.S.-Canadian cooperation began in October 1941, when the Canadians offered the Federal Communications Commission free access to the product of Canadian monitoring activities. In return, the United States provided Canada with technical direction-finding data that were "invaluable for pinpointing the location of a transmitter." < (Bob Elliot, Scarlet to Green: Canadian Army Intelligence 1903-1963, Toronto, Canadian Military Intelligence Association, 1982, p461)
>Canadian DF stations subsequently made significant contributions to the Allied North Atlantic SIGINT/ocean surveillance network. The Canadian codebreaking agency was also successful in intercepting and decoding German espionage control messages to and from agents in South America, Canada, Hamburg and Lisbon. In addition, messages to and from the Vichy delegation in Ottawa were intercepted and decoded. Further, the peculiarities of radio wave propagation resulted in Canadian monitoring facilities being able to intercept military transmissions originating in Europe that were inaccessible to equipment based in Britain.< (F.H. Hinsley, E.E. Thomas, C.F.G. Ransom, and R.C. Knight, British Intelligence in the Second World War Volume 2, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981, p. 551ff)
>In addition to its UKUSA participation, Canada's SIGINT relationship to the United States is defined by the CANUS agreement. On September 15, 1950, Canada and the United States exchanged letters formally recognizing the "Security Agreement between Canada and the United States of America" (which was followed exactly two months later by the "Arrangement for Exchange of Information between the U.S., U.K. and Canada'').< (Jeffrey T. Richelson, The U.S. Intelligence Community, Westview Press, 4th ed., 1999, p273)
>It was with respect to Japan, however, that SIGINT cooperation among all five nations reached its highest level. Monitoring stations in Canada, particularly the major one at Halifax, gathered large quantities of coded Japanese transmissions. In April 1942, a combined Allied signals intelligence agency for the Pacific, the Central Bureau of the Allied Intelligence Bureau, was activated in Melbourne with a U.S. Chief and an Australian Deputy Chief.< (Jeffrey T. Richelson, The U.S. Intelligence Community, Westview Press, 4th ed., 1999, p267)
>The extent of cooperation is particularly highlighted in the case of Australian intercept stations. There was an Australian Air Force intercept station at Darwin, a U.S. Army radio intercept station in Townsville, a Royal Australian Navy monitoring station at Darwin, and a British post in Brisbane for the interception and distribution of Japanese radio communications. Additionally, a Canadian Special Wireless Group arrived in Australia on May 18, 1945 to take over the task of intercepting and analyzing Japanese military Morse code signals.< (Bob Elliot, Scarlet to Green: Canadian Army Intelligence 1903-1963, Toronto, Canadian Military Intelligence Association, 1982, p385)
>The intelligence relationship among Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States that was forged during World War II did not end with the war. Rather, it became formalized and grew stronger. In 1946 a US Liaison Office was set up in London and efforts for joint exchange operations in the beginning Cold War started. It was agreed that solved material was to be exchanged between the two countries.< (Ronald Clark, The Man Who Broke Purple, Boston, Little Brown, 1977, p208)
>1947 saw an event that set the stage for post-World War II signals intelligence cooperation: the formulation and acceptance of the UKUSA
Agreement, also known as the UK-USA Security Agreement or the "Secret Treaty." The primary aspect of the agreement was the division of SIGINT collection
responsibilities among the First Party (the United States) and the Second Parties (Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand.< (Jeffrey T. Richelson, The U.S. Intelligence Community, Westview Press, 4th ed., 1999, p267)
>The UKUSA relationship (and its SIGINT aspect) is more than an agreement to coordinate separately conducted intelligence activities and share the intelligence collected. Rather, the relationship is cemented by the presence of U.S. facilities on British, Canadian, and Australian territory and by joint operations within and outside UKUSA territory and, in the case of Australia, of U.K. and U.S. staff at all DSD facilities.< (Desmond Ball, A Suitable Peace of Real Estate: American Installations in Australia Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1980, p40)
>In addition to specifying SIGINT collection responsibilities, the Agreement also concerns access to the collected intelligence and security arrangements for the handling of data. Standardized code words (e.g., UMBRA for signals intelligence, VIPRA, TRINE), security agreements that all employees of the respective SIGINT agencies must sign, and procedures for storing and disseminating code word material are all part of the implementation of the Agreement.< (Duncan Campbell, "The Threat of the Electronic Spies," New Statesman, February 2, 1979)
The liaison and cooperation established with the BRUSA, UKUSA and CANUS Agreements during the 1940s were reinforced by William F. Friedman (the "dean of cryptology") during the 1950s and continued to solidify during the 1960s and 1970s.
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The end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin wall marked the end of a whole fictional genre: the spy novel. But as writers such as John Le Carre and Frederick Forsyth have since moved their field of interest to issues such as Islamic fundamentalism or ethnic separatist struggles against Western superpowers, the legacy of the spy network which was allegedly built for military operations only throughout the Cold War period, promises to outdo all fictional blue prints of espionage thrillers.
Over the past decades and especially throughout the 90s, a series of facts have surfaced, providing considerable evidence that a network of spy agencies, IT industries, governmental officials and research laboratories have developed a vast network which today serves mainly the purpose of industrial espionage. It's name is ECHELON, a highly automated global system and surveillance network for processing data retrieved through interception of communication traffic from all over the world. In the days of the cold war, ECHELON's primary purpose was to keep an eye/ear on the U.S.S.R. In the wake of the fall of the U.S.S.R. ECHELON is officially said to being used to fight terrorism and crimes, but it seems to be evident that the main focus lies in political and economic espionage.
A few people have played key roles in the uncovering of the mechanisms behind the closed doors of Western military operations. And still today, the evidence that has been brought into the sunlight has not forced any official body to give an official statement acknowledging or denying the existence of ECHELON.
ECHELON had been rumored to be in development since 1947, the result of the UKUSA treaty signed by the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Only in 1976 the British journalist Duncan Campbell published an article in London based magazine Time Out which was called 'The Eavesdroppers'. This article contained a detailed description of what the GCHQ was and did. Starting from this research, Campbell continued to publish many articles concerning illegal communication interception conducted by the secret services.
But these first suspicions and truths about the nature of the spy network raised little media attention across the world. It was only in 1996, when the New Zealand journalist Nicky Hager published his book 'Secret Power: New Zealand's Role In the International Spy Network' containing detailed notes of meetings and agreements of army officials and private industries, ECHELON began to raise interest and eyebrows of politicians mainly in Europe and the media, mostly in Europe and America.
However, the saga continues and until today, despite official reports, elaborate research and founded claims, the existence of ECHELON has maintained to be one of the secrets of Western superpowers. And on a European level, the subject matter seems to create a divide across most political parties and governments.
Even in 1998, the European Parliament keeps its head down. In the STOA report, Assessment of the Technologies of Political Control, Martin Bangemann sums up the fears and strategies of official bodies dealing with the subject in his closing statement: "I think that there is a difference between someone writing a book, or - if you allow me to say this - a member of parliament who voices a concern and a representative of an institution which can only act within a democratic system if he or she knows something for sure. That level of knowledge we do not have."
Campaigning for the disclosure of ECHELON has been coming a long way. Starting in the early 90s, mainly grassroots activists have been instrumental in raising the public awareness. The most prominent case today is still the American base in Menwith Hill, Yorkshire UK. The community around Menwith Hill, Yorkshire UK has played a central role in pushing for official enquiries concerning the activities of UK based American bases. As there seemed to be a very concrete threat, the "Provision of (...) hazardous storage buildings" [
The following report of World Information brings together various sources which on the whole indicate the extension and functioning of a network for industrial espionage under the cover of military and governmental operations which would seriously challenge any fictional writing of the cold war era.
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What: A highly automated global system and surveillance network for processing data retrieved through interception of communication traffic from all over the world. In the days of the cold war, ECHELON's primary purpose was to keep an eye/ear on the U.S.S.R. In the wake of the fall of the U.S.S.R. ECHELON is officially said to being used to fight terrorism ann crimes, but it seems to be evident that the main focus lies in political and economic espionage.
When: ECHELON had been rumored to be in development since 1947, the result of the UKUSA treaty signed by the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Who: It is coordinated by the NSA, with participation of the CIA, USAF, NSG, GCHQ, DSD, CSE, GCSB. It seems that NSA is the only "contractor" who has access to the whole of information, whereas the other participants only get a comparingly small portion of information.
Where: Headquarters of the ECHELON system are at Fort Meade in Maryland, which is the NSA Headquarter. The NSA operates many interception stations all over the world, with or without the knowledge of the host country.
How: Each station in the ECHELON network has computers that automatically search through millions of intercepted data for containing pre-programmed keywords or fax, telex and email addresses. Every word of every message is
automatically searched. Computers that can search for keywords have existed since at least the 1970s, but the ECHELON system has been designed to interconnect all these computers and allow the stations to function as components of an integrated whole.
The scale of the collection system was described by the former Director of the NSA, Vice Admiral William Studeman, in 1992 (http://www.menwithhill.com/find.html). At that time the NSA's collection system generated about 2 million intercepted messages per hour. Of these, all but about 13,000 an hour were discarded. Of these about 2,000 met forwarding criteria, of which some 20 are selected by analysts, who then write 2 reports for further distribution. Therefore, in 1992 MenwithHillSation was intercepting 17.5 billion messages a year. Of these some 17.5 million may have been studied for analysis.
How much: ECHELON justifies obviousely multi-billion dollar expenses. But no detailed figures are available yet.
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1948
Formalization of UKUSA agreement.
1949
Establishment of the Armed Forces Security Agency (AFSA) to direct communications intelligence and electronic intelligence activities of the military service signals units (ASA, NSG, AFSS)
1952
President Truman sent out a top secret memorandum to abolish the AFSA and to create the National Security Agency NSA. The main focuses lied on: control, coordination, collection and processing of Communication Intelligence. The NSA was considered to be within, but not a part of the Department of Defense. .(Jeffrey T. Richelson, The U.S. Intelligence Community, Westview Press, 4th ed., 1999, p 31)
1954
The WS-117L program (for the development of reconnaissance satellites for the AirForce an CIA) was approved by President Eisenhower. It also included the development of signal intercept equipment within the framework of the project Pioneer Ferret
1957
Official acknowledgement of NSA in the Government Organization Manual
1961
Establishment of the National Reconnaissance Office NRO as a joint Air Force and CIA operation. Ist existance was classified secret till 1992. Ist tasks werde focused on overseeing and funding the research and development of reconnaissance spacecraft and their sensors, procuring the space systems and their associated ground stations, determinig launch vehicle requirements, operating spacecraft and disseinating the data collected.(Jeffrey T. Richelson, The U.S. Intelligence Community, Westview Press, 4th ed., 1999, p 37)
1972
Scope of NSA's SIGINT activities was redefined in Communication Intelligence and Electronic Intelligence and Communication Security (In the 80s the term changed to Information Security).
Perry Fellwock, former NSA analyst, gives an interview for Ramparts on NSA electronic interception: http://jya.com/nsa-elint.htm
1976
Duncan Campbell published an article in Time Out called "The Eavesdroppers" which was a description of what GCHQ was and did. From that time on Campbell published many articles concerning illiegal communication interception done by the secret services.
1978/79
American Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a law that permits secret buggings and wiretaps of individuals suspected of being agents of a hostile foreign government or international terrorist organization. (http://www.nara.gov/fedreg/eos/e12139.html)
1982
David Burnham, The New York Times, writes:
Washington, Nov 6 --- A Federal appeals court has ruled that the National Security Agency may lawfully intercept messages between United States citizens and people overseas, even if there is no cause to believe they Americans are foreign agents, and then provide summaries of these messages to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.( http://www-douzzer.ai.mit.edu:8080/cm/cm1.html)
1983
James Bamford publishes The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America's Most Secret Agency.
1985
Jeffrey T. Richelson and Desmond Ball bring out The Ties That Bind: Intelligence Cooperation Between the UKUSA Countries
1987
William Burrows publishes Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security
1988
ECHELON (as terminus) was first revealed by Duncan Campbell in 1988 in a 'New Statesman' article.
1989
Jeffrey T. Richelson brings out The U.S. Intelligence Community
1992
Members of GCHQ became told the London Observer that the ECHELON dictionaries targeted Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Christian institutions and more.
June 1992: FBI produces paper "Law Enforcement REQUIREMENTS for the
surveillance of electronic communications"
1993
A presidential conference with Asian leaders was bugged by US intelligence agencies, as goes the rumour, and information was passed from the White House to big corporate donors.
A BBC documentary about NSA's Menwith Hill facility in England revealed that peace protestors had broken into the installation and stolen part of this glossary, known as "the Dictionary." The documentary alleged that Menwith Hill -- a sprawling installation covering 560 acres and employing more than 1,200 people -- was ECHELON's nerve center.
1994
Spyworld: Inside the Canadian and American Intelligence Establishments
By Mike Frost [NSA trained sigint person] and Michel Gratton
1996
Nicky Hager, Secret Power: New Zealand's Role In the International Spy Network
1997
Further reorganization of NSA INFOSEC activities: Two new groups were introduced. M Group, responsible for assess potential threats to and vulnerabilities of technologies and infrastructures such as telecom systems; W Group, deals with transnational threats.
1997
27 February: A special report by Statewatch published detailed plans for a joint plan drawn up by the Council of the European Union and the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to introduce a global system for the surveillance of telecommunications.
4 September: A judge has lambasted British Telecom for revealing detailed information about top secret high capacity cables feeding phone and other messages to and from a Yorkshire monitoring base. BT admitted this week that they have connected three digital optical fibre cables - capable of carrying more than 100,000 telephone calls at once - to the American intelligence base
at Menwith Hill, near Harrogate.
Media all over the world start covering ECHELON.
1998
European Parliament, STOA report, Assessment of the Technologies of Political Control: http://jya.com/stoa-atpc.htm
1999
World Information Org starts collecting the fragmented data about ECHELON.
2000
ECHELON is covered in gobal news channels and investigated by civil liberty groups as well as government councils throughout Europe.
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Other countries, that are said to be involved in ECHELON:
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Source:
Subsea Cables:
They provided the first major reliable high capacity international communications systems. Early systems (copper) were very limited in their broadband capacities, modern optical fibber systems can carry up to 5 Gigabit per second of digital information. In the days of copper cables the US started cable tapping operations with specially designed submarines, such as the US Submarine Halibut or USS Parche. Deep sea divers wrapped tapping coils around the cables and laid high capacity recording pods next to the cable in the sea of Okhotsk, USSR. Optical fibre cables do not leak radio signals and therefor cannot be tapped. It is said that there are experiments with optoelectronic repeaters, but their use as a tapping device is not yet officially possible.
The main method of transmitting large quantities of public, business and government communications is still the combination of subsea cables across the oceans and microwave networks over land. After the undersea cables emerge from the water they are very vulnerable to interception.
Microwave Radio:
It was introduced in the 1950 to provide high capacity inter-city communications for telephony, telegraphy and television. Microwave radio relay communications utilize low power transmitters and parabolic dish antennas. Relay stations are required every 30-50km in line of sight, usually form hilltop to hilltop. Microwave radio signals are not reflected from the ionosphere, so long distance relay links may require intermediate stations to receive and retransmit the signals. Satellites are also used as relay stations. The worldwide network of interception facilities is still mostly undocumented, because the facilities don't use large aerials and dishes, which are difficult to hide. Interception only requires a building situated along the microwave route or a cable running underground. One of the biggest stations in this context is Menwith Hill, UK.
High Frequency Radio:
Prior to 1960 the HF radio system was the most common means of telecommunication, especially for diplomatic and military purposes. High-frequency radio communication signals travel to receivers over the horizon by bouncing off the ionosphere. A powerful HF radio transmitter can transmit around the whole planet, which is why it is still widely used by military forces, ships and aircraft, as well as diplomatic communications, such as embassies. HF radio transmissions are very vulnerable to reception and interception. VHF and UHF are used extensively for tactical military communications within a country. COMINT (Communication Intelligence) Units mainly used either directional (such as Rhombic Arrays)or omnidirectional antenna arrays for HF radio interception.
The AN/AX-16 PUSHER is a 2-band Wullenweber Circularly Disposed Dipole Array HF/DF system collection system which is a miniaturized version of the Navy's AN/FRD-10 antenna. Used primarily in the United Kingdom where space is a premium, the outer ring of elements is about 400 feet in diameter, half the diameter of the AN/FRD-10.
The AN/FLR-9 circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA), popularly known as elephant cages, have a nominal range between 150 to 5000 kilometers and are omnidirectional in 3 band. They are used to locate and intercept signals ranging from low band, (submarine traffic) to the high band (radio, telephone). AN/FLR-9 antennas were installed at interception stations at: Augsburg, Germany; RAF Chicksands, UK;Clark AFB, Phillipines; Elmendorf AFB, AK; Menwith Hill, UK; Misawa AFB, Japan; San Vito dei Normanni AS, Italy
Communication Satellites:
Satellite Communication Systems allow the high speed transmission of telephone calls, television pictures and news around the globe. This use of satellites was established at the same time as the development of weather satellites - from the 1960's onwards. Groundstations located near to commercial Satellite sites (Inmarsat, Comsat, ..) are perfect for intercepting telecommunications. During the 1970s only two stations were required to monitor all the INTELSAT communications in the world. The GCHQ station in Morwenstow, UK for example is located near to the British Telecom site at Goonhilly, had 2 dishes pointed at the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean INTELSATs (now there are 9 dishes and is also monitoring regional satellites.)and the NSA station at Yakima Firing Center, USA monitored the Pacific INTELSAT. When visited in 1995 the Yakima station already had 5 dishes, pointing westwards over the Pacific Ocean and via INMARSAT2 (for mobile satellite communications), eastwards to the Atlantic INTELSATs. But satellite technology evolved very fast, and the changes in the satellite design forced the construction of at least 2 new stations: Sugar Grove (USA; NSA) and Hongkong (UK; GCHQ) in the late 1970s. By the time INTELSAT introduced the 7th generation of satellite in the mid 1990s, the UKUSA alliance was busy opening more satellite interception stations throughout the world. The most important ones were: Waihopai, NZ; Geraldton, Australia; and upgraded Menwith Hill, UK.
The UKUSA alliance launched especially designed COMINT satellites to provide permanent coverage of selected targets as overhead signals intelligence collectors that can tap directly into land-based telecommunications, but also tap into other satellites. Those spy satellites are developed to intercept communications from orbit above the earth. They move either in orbits that are changeable or are fixated above the equator in geostationary orbit. CANYON and RHYOLITE are the names of typical US spy satellites.
The National Security Agency operates a global network of ground stations for the interception of civil and military satellite communications traffic.
Bad Aibling, Germany, conducts satellite communications interception activities, and is also a downlink station for geostationary SIGINT satellites.
Menwith Hill, located 13 kilometers west of Harrogate, UK, collects against Russian satellite communications under Project MOONPENNY, and is also a
downlink station for geostationary SIGINT satellites, such as VORTEX.
Misawa Air Base, Misawa, Japan, satellite communications intercept activities include collecting against Russian Molniya, Raduga and Gorizont systems under
project LADYLOVE at a facility 6 kilometers northwest of the main airfield, known as the "Hill."
Rosman Communications Research Station, near Rosman, NC, had twelve antennas for satellite communications interception, for communications connectivity with other intelligence facilities, and possibly also for downlinks from geostationary SIGINT satellites. Rosman Research Station, operated by NASA in the 60s as a tracking station and more recently by the National Security Agency of the Department of Defense, will become an astronomy education and
research facility called Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI).
Additional COMSAT intercept activities are conducted at Geraldton, Australia, and Bude, in Corwall, UK. The Bad Aibling and Menwith Hill facilities are also used for downlink of high altitude SIGINT satellite product, as are facilities at Pine Gap, Australia, and Buckley Air National Guard Base, Colorado.
Other NSA facilities, including: Clark AFB, Philippines; Sinope, Turkey; Heraulion, Greece; Berlin, Germany; and Eielson AFB, AK, have closed, and others, such as San Vito dei Normani, Italy, have transfered to other agencies (in this case, to Air Force Space Command).
Internet:
Internet traffic can be accessed either from international communications links entering the United States, or when it reaches major Internet exchanges. Both methods have advantages. Access to communications systems is likely to be remain clandestine - whereas access to Internet exchanges might be more detectable but provides easier access to more data and simpler sorting methods. Although the quantities of data involved are immense, NSA is normally legally restricted to looking only at communications that start or finish in a foreign country. Unless special warrants are issued, all other data should normally be thrown away by machine before it can be examined or recorded.
Similar considerations affect the World Wide Web, most of which is openly accessible. Web sites are examined continuously by "search engines" which generate catalogues of their contents. "Alta Vista" and "Hotbot" are prominent public sites of this kind. NSA similarly employs computer "bots" (robots) to collect data of interest.
According to a former employee, NSA had by 1995 installed "sniffer" software to collect traffic such as e-mail, file transfers, "virtual private networks" operated over the internet, and some other messages at major Internet exchange points (IXPs). The first two such sites identified, FIX East and FIX West, are operated by US government agencies. They are closely linked to nearby commercial locations, MAE East and MAE West. Three other sites listed were Network Access Points originally developed by the US National Science Foundation to provide the US Internet with its initial "backbone".
Source:
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COMSAT Communications Satellite Cooperation
Until this decade the U.S.-based Comsat, Intelsat and Inmarsat organizations, in fact, shared nearly all international satellite traffic. So it was easy for NSA to eavesdropping on all communications to and from the United states. Less than 60 miles from Sugar Grove COMSAT runs a station in Etam, West Virginia, where more than half of the commercial, international satellite communication entering and leaving the US each day pass by. COMSAT provides international communications solutions via the global, 19-satellite INTELSAT system and 4-satellite Inmarsat satellite systems .
Through the INTELSAT system, COMSAT provides telecommunications, broadcast and digital networking services between the U.S. and the rest of the world. These services are used by Internet service providers, multinational corporations, telecommunications carriers and U.S. and foreign governments to extend their networks globally.
Inmarsat satellites lie in geostationary orbit 22,223 miles (35,786 km) out in space. Each satellite covers up to one third of the Earth's surface and is strategically positioned above one of the four ocean regions.
Calls are beamed up to the satellite and back down to Earth, where special gateway land earth stations re-route them through the appropriate local or international telephone network. COMSAT operates Earth Stations in each part of the world to route calls efficiently within each ocean region. Earth Stations are located in Santa Paula, California; Southbury, Connecticut; Ankara, Turkey; and Kuantan, Malaysia.
Sugar Grove Naval Communications Facility, near Sugar Grove, WV, may intercept Pacific INTELSAT/COMSAT satellite communications traffic routed through the COMSAT ground station at Etam, WV.
NSG station in Winter Harbor, Maine serves as an excellent platform from which to intercept signals to and from COMSATs Andover station, 125 miles to the west.
On the Westcost, COMSATs northern groundstation is situated in Brewster, near to Yakima, so from the Yakima Research Station the Pacific INTELSAT communications traffic can be intercepted.
The other west-coast station is in Jamesburg, California, not so far away from the Army Security Agency intercept station at Two Rock Ranch.
The international communications network with its limited gateways will probably always be easier to monitor than the large domestic networks like in the US. But the use of microwave and domestic satellites is increasing, and the construction of land lines is decreasing.
Sources:
STOA Report by Duncan Campbell: Interception Capabilities 2000
James Bamford, The Puzzle Palace, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1982,p222-228
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The US intelligence community includes not only government agencies but many very influential private contractors.
"Orbit of Influence: Spy Finance and the Black Budget," written by Robert Dreyfuss in the March-April 1996 issue of The American Prospect provides an excellent introduction to this hitherto under-appreciated subject.
Sources:
Involved corporations:
The following companies are said to be NSA and NRO contractors and main suppliers of the diverse technologies needed for a global surveillance system.
Lockheed Martin
Core Business Areas: Aeronautical Systems, Space Systems, Systems Integration, Technology Services
Related Non-core Busineess Areas: Global Telecommunications, Commercial IT, Government Services
Sales: $26.2 billion
Sales by customer in '98: U.S. Department of Defense - 54%, Commercial/government/NASA/other - 23%, International - 23%
Employees:Nearly 160,000 employees in the United States, and over 5,500 employees working internationally
Operations:939 facilities in 457 cities and 45 states throughout the U.S.; Internationally, business locations in 56 nations and territories
Headquarters:
Lockheed Martin Corporation
6801 Rockledge Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
USA
(It is said that Lockhead Martin receives ca. 3,5 billion $ from NRO budget and is well known as a powerful financier of congressional campaigns.)
TRW
TRW Inc. provides high-technology products and services to the automotive and space, defense & information systems markets. The financial results of the company's operations are reported in two core business segments: Automotive and Space, Defense & Information Systems.
Concerning Intelligence Systems TRW provides a broad range of intelligence collection processing,analysis and reporting systems to the United States government and allied nations. A prime supplier of critical systems and technology to the intelligence community, TRW has been a preferred supplier to this market for over 40 years. The company is applying its systems engineering skills to all phases of the intelligence business including a strong analysis and signal processing base, design, development, deployment and operations support of collection systems operations and full lifecycle support. TRW has a strong SIGINT base and significant IMINT and MASINT program skills as well.
TRW developed a constellation of satellites that provides near continuous tracking and communications service for up to 32 satellites simultaneously. Operating through a dedicated ground station, each Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) permits direct two-way communications between the shuttle or other user satellites and the ground. TRW provided seven TDRS satellites to NASA. The oldest, on orbit since 1983, is still functional; the total system operates at 99.97 percent reliability.
The Milstar communications network - a series of advanced satellites linked to group terminals - promises assured command and control to U.S. forces worldwide. TRW is providing the heart of the spaceborne segment: a low date rate payload offering secure, antijam, interoperable voice and data links; and the antenna and digital subsystem for the medium data rate payload, accommodating secure voice and data, imaging and targeting intelligence.
By combining forces with the information technology leader BDM, International, TRW has formed the new organization, TRW Systems & Information Technology Group. The Senior Executive and General Manager is Philip Odeen who has served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director of BDM International, Inc. since May 1992. Mr. Odeen was with Coopers & Lybrand, an international auditing and consulting company, as Vice Chairman, Management Consulting Services from 1991 to 1992, and as Managing Partner from 1978 to 1991. Mr. Odeen has served in a number of government positions, including Director, Program Analysis, National Security Council, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. He has also servered as the Chairman of the Defense Science Board's task force on privatization.
TRW developed and built RHYOLITE for NSA to eavesdrop electronically on foreign countries, especially the eastern Soviet Union, China and Soviet test ranges in the Pacific. Ist main target was TELINT (telemetry intelligence).But it also reached into the other countries' telecom systems. Each satellite carried antennas for sucking foreign microwave signals. (DB p184)
Rockwell
Rockwell is a world leader in electronic controls and communications. Rockwell has two primary businesses- Rockwell Automation and Avionics & Communications, which includes Rockwell Collins and Rockwell Electronic Commerce.
Annual Sales: $6.8 billion
World Headquarters: Milwaukee, WI
Employees: About 40,000
Rockwell Collins plays a major role in the manufacturing of satellite technologies.
Hughes
Hughes Space and Communications Company (HSC) has built nearly 40 percent of the world's commercial communications satellites in operation today.
These spacecraft routinely relay digital communications, telephone calls, video conferences, television news reports, facsimiles, television programming, mobile communications, and direct-to-home entertainment--truly global communications.
Hughes Network Systems Inc. provides telecommunications equipment, satellite ground-based equipment and satellite communications services. With an
estimated worldwide market share in excess of 60 percent, Hughes Network Systems is the world's leading supplier of satellite-based private business
networks, and is a leader in wireless telephone networks and digital cellular mobile systems.
PanAmSat Corporation operates a global network of 19 state-of-the-art satellites that provide broadcast and telecommunications services to hundreds of customers worldwide. PanAmSat's fleet includes the premier cable and broadcast television satellites in the United States, Latin America, the Indian subcontinent and Asia-Pacific. The company offers satellite platforms for direct-to-home television services in Latin America, South Africa, India, Taiwan, and specialized programming in the United States as well as live transmission services for news, sports and special events coverage worldwide. PanAmSat also provides global satellite-based telecommunications services and Internet access and plans to launch seven additional satellite by late 2000.
Hughes Electronics is a global company with 15,000 employees worldwide. The 1998 revenues of Hughes communications and space operations were
$5.96 billion with earnings of $272 million.
Boeing
The Boeing Company, after its merger in 1997 with McDonnell Douglas and acquisition in 1996 of the defense and space units of Rockwell International, became the largest aerospace company in the world. Its history mirrors the history of aviation. Boeing is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft, and the nation's largest NASA contractor. Company revenues for 1996 were $22.7 billion; for 1997 they were $45.8 billion, and for 1998 they reached $56.2 billion.
The company has an extensive global reach with customers in 145 countries, employees in more than 60 countries and operations in 27 states. Worldwide, Boeing and its subsidiaries employ more than 205,000 people -- with major operations in the Seattle-Puget Sound area of Washington state; Southern California; Wichita, Kan.; and St. Louis, Mo.
Boeing is organized into four major business segments: Commercial Airplanes, Space and Communications, Military Aircraft and Missiles, and Shared Services.
In the area of commercial space, Boeing teamed with Teledesic Corp. to create a satellite network that will serve as an "Internet-in-the-sky," by bringing affordable, fiber-quality access to the most remote reaches of the planet. Boeing revolutionized precision navigation by building the first 40 Global
Positioning System satellites and has a contract to build 33 next-generation Global Positioning Satellites. Boeing is teamed with partners from Russia, Ukraine and Norway on the Sea Launch joint venture which will launch satellites from a mobile platform in the Pacific Ocean. Boeing also makes the
Delta II and III expendable launch vehicles and is developing the Delta IV.
E-Systems
General Dynamics
General Dynamics is a leader in supplying sophisticated defense systems to the United States and its allies, and in providing advanced business aircraft to corporate, government and individual owners. The company is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, and employs approximately 44,000 people in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
General Dynamics has four main business segments. Marine Systems designs and builds submarines, surface combatants, auxiliary ships and large commercial vessels. Combat Systems supplies land and amphibious combat machines and systems, including armored vehicles, power trains, turrets, munitions and gun systems. Information Systems and Technology produces signal and information processors and battlespace information management systems, while incorporating the use of commercial technologies for military applications. Aerospace designs manufactures and provides services for large cabin and ultra-long range business aircraft.
UNISYS CORPORATION
Unisys has more than 33,000 employees and applies information technology in 100 countries. Unisys products range from global information services including systems integration, outsourcing, "repeatable" application solutions, consulting, network integration, remote network management, and multivendor maintenance and support, coupled with enterprise-class servers and associated middleware, to software and storage.
Repeatable solutions are focused on key vertical markets including financial services, transportation, telecommunications, government, publishing and other commercial markets. Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area, Unisys had 1998 annual revenue of $7.2 billion.
Wang - Getronics
Wang merged with Getronics and is now one of the world's top five Information and Communications Technology companies business solutions. The Getronics family has branches in 44 countries, that also includes GetronicsWang (US) and GetronicsOlivetti (Italy and Japan).
PRC
PRC Inc., a subsidiary of Litton Industries, Inc., has more than 5,300
employees in 80 offices worldwide. Litton PRC is a provider of information technology and systems-based solutions for the public sector and an integrator in the design, development and management of standards-based open systems.
The company's core capabilities are in Functional and IT Outsourcing,
E-Business, and Critical Information and Infrastructure Protection. Litton PRC's services include Systems Integration, Software Engineering, Seat Management, Data Warehousing, BPR, Y2K, Systems Engineering, Data Center Design/Analysis, 911 Computer-Aided Dispatch, Complex Imaging and Records Management, C4ISR, Logistics, Infrastructure Planning, Range Operations, ITMRA/GPRA Planning, Health Informatics, and Enterprise Resource Planning. Markets include Criminal Justice, Weather, DoD, Aerospace, Intel, Healthcare, and Public Safety.
Honeywell
Honeywell employs over 57,500 people in 95 countries working in three businesses, all linked by common control technologies:
Home and Building Control: This business represents about 45 percent of Honeywell's total sales. "We are the worldwide leader in products and services that create comfortable, safe, efficient environments--in homes, office buildings, hospitals, schools, and anywhere else people live and work."
Industrial Control: Honeywell is the world's leading supplier of industrial control systems and components that improve productivity, optimize the use of raw materials, comply with environmental regulations, ensure plant safety, and enhance overall competitiveness. The Industrial Control business accounts for about 31 percent of the company's total sales.
Space and Aviation Control: Honeywell is the world's leading supplier of avionics systems for commercial, military and space markets. This business accounts for about 22 percent of total company sales. Honeywell technology has been on board every manned U.S. space flight since Mercury and is on nearly every commercial aircraft flying today.
Honeywell merged with AlliedSignal Inc. (http://www.alliedsignal.com), which is an advanced technology and manufacturing company serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services, automotive products, chemicals, fibers, plastics and advanced materials. It is one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is also a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The company employs 70,400 people in some 40 countries.
GTE
With 1998 revenues of more than $25 billion, GTE is a leading telecommunications provider with one of the industry's broadest arrays of products and services. In the United States, GTE provides local service in 28 states and wireless service in 17 states, as well as nationwide long-distance, directory, and internetworking services ranging from dial-up Internet access for residential and small-business consumers to Web-based applications for Fortune 500 companies. Outside the United States, the company serves customers on five continents.
In 1982, GTE Mobilnet(R) was formed, and two acquisitions brought GTE Sprint Communications and GTE Spacenet to the fore. The year 1984 marked a year of firsts for GTE: the first GTE satellite launched; the first cellular mobile telephone service; and the first time GTE annual earnings exceeded $1 billion.
In 1994 GTE announces that it would combine its GTE Spacenet business with GTE Government Systems.
MCI WorldCom
On October 5, 1999 MCI WorldCom and Sprint announced that the boards of directors of both companies have approved a definitive merger agreement.
MCI WorldCom's strategy is to capitalize on the industry's fastest growing segments: data/Internet, international and U.S. local phone services.
70,000 employees based in more than 65 countries serve the company's 22
million customers, specialized in "local-to-global-to-local" networks with facilities throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The company's long association with the Internet has enabled it to develop an Internet business with nearly $3 billion in annualized revenues; The company serves millions of U.S. business and residential customers over a 45,000-mile, all-fiber high capacity nationwide network, enough fiber to stretch from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. 16 times. UUNET supplements MCI WorldCom's Internet and technology operations.
MCI WorldCom provides fully integrated services over the first pan-European telecommunications network linking major commercial centers throughout the continent -- London, Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Rotterdam and Düsseldorf -- through local city networks connected to its 2,000 (3,218 km) mile trans-continental long distance network.
MCI WorldCom says to triple the size of its all-fiber, high-capacity pan-European network to nearly 7,000 miles (11,263 km) by the end of 1999 through nationwide networks under development in Great Britain, France, Belgium and Germany. The company holds 50 percent ownership in two high capacity trans-Atlantic undersea cables enabling it to connect more than 35,000 buildings in the U.S. and 6,500 buildings in Europe.
Data General
Data General, with headquarters in Westborough, Massachusetts, is a supplier of servers, storage systems, and services for information systems users
worldwide. The company designs, manufactures, markets, and supports two major
families of open systems, AViiON® servers and CLARiiON® mass storage products,
which represent over 90 percent of current product revenues.
Data General focuses on providing high-end enterprise computing solutions for
businesses of all sizes, healthcare providers, government agencies, and companies in manufacturing, distribution, financial services, and telecommunications in more than 70 countries through a network of subsidiaries, distributors, and representatives. Since the founding in 1968, it has delivered more than 500,000 servers and storage systems worldwide.
Data General merged with EMC Corporation, which is, with 11,200 employees worldwide and over $3.9 billion in annual revenue in 1998, a leading supplier of intelligent enterprise storage and retrieval technology, designing systems for open system, mainframe, and midrange environments. EMC's Enterprise Storage products allow organizations to leverage their growing volumes of information into profitability and competitive advantage.
PSI
PSINet is another large provider of IP-based communications services for business. Their services include:
Corporate Internet access and private IP networks
Managed Internet security
Web and database hosting services
Electronic commerce solutions
Voice, fax, live audio-video, and other applications
PSINet delivers these services to small and medium-sized businesses as well as a quarter of the Fortune 500. The customers also include government agencies, educational institutions, and information services companies.
PSINet operates one of the industry's largest and most advance fast-packet Internet access networks. PSINet is the only independent facilities-based ISP in the world.
Headquartered in suburban Washington, D.C., with more than 600 points-of-presence and operations in United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/telekommunikation/0,1518,46478,00.html:
PSINet announced at the International Telecommunications Show TELECOM99 in Geneva that it will provide customers in Germany with wireless broadband microwave connections before the millenium. This carrier is more than 2000 times faster than ISDN and offers datarates around 155 Mbit. Radioconnections could be installed in 5 workdays. With this plan it seems that PSINet wants to bypass the monpoly of the still sate-owned telecom corporations in Europe. So the distance between the location of the customer and the next POP (Point of Presence)of PSINet is operated with frequencies in the microwave spectrum (28-38 GHz).
MITRE Corp.
In partnership with government clients, MITRE is a not-for-profit corporation working in the public interest. It addresses issues of critical national importance, combining systems engineering and information technology.
MITRE's work is focused within three Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs). One FFRDC performs systems engineering and integration work for Department of Defense C3I. A second performs systems research and development work for the Federal Aviation Administration and other civil aviation authorities. The third FFRDC provides strategic, technical and program management advice to the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department. Mitre Corp. operates sites in the US and Europe at important strategic locations related to the intelligence community.
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- Education files, insurance files, tax files, communication files, consumption files, medical files, travel files, criminal files, investment files, files into infinity ...
Critical Art Ensemble
Global data bodies
1. Introduction
Informatisation has meant that things that once were "real", i.e. whose existence could be experienced sensually, are becoming virtual. Instead of the real existence of a thing, the virtual refers to its possibility of existence. As this process advances, an increasing identification of the possible with the real occurs. Reality migrates into a dim and dematerialised grey area. In the end, the possible counts for the real, virtualisation creates an "as-if" experience.
The experience of the body is also affected by this process. For example, in bio-technology, the human body and its functions are digitised, which prepares and understanding of the body exlusively in terms of its potential manipulation, the body becomes whatever it could be. But digitisation has not only affected the understanding and the social significance of the body, it has also altered the meaning of presence, traditionally identified with the body. The advance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has meant that for an increasing number of activities we no longer need be physically present, our "virtual" presence, achieved by logging onto a electronic information network, is sufficient.
This development, trumpeted as the pinnacle of convenience by the ICT industries and governments interested in attracting investment, has deeply problematic aspects as well. For example, when it is no longer "necessary" to be physically present, it may soon no longer be possible or allowed. Online-banking, offered to customers as a convenience, is also serves as a justification for charging higher fees from those unwilling or unable to add banking to their household chores. Online public administration may be expected to lead to similar effects. The reason for this is that the digitalisation of the economy relies on the production of surplus data. Data has become the most important raw material of modern economies.
In modern economies, informatisation and virtualisation mean that people are structurally forced to carry out their business and life their lives in such a way as to generate data.
Data are the most important resource for the New Economy. By contrast, activities which do not leave behind a trace of data, as for example growing your own carrots or paying cash rather than by plastic card, are discouraged and structurally suppressed.
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Here is an example of how the data body is fed by routine day-to-day activities, a data body meal plan:
Breakfast: phone calls, drive GPS (global positioning system) equipped car, emerge from surveillance camera equipped subway, go online, send E-mails, complete online registration forms, receive faxes
Lunch: pay lunch with credit card, use your customer card when shopping, use mobile phone, pass through biometric access controls, use smart card
Afternoon snack: visit doctor, file insurance claim
Dinner: respond to TV commercials, complete income tax form, visit chat rooms, use free web mail. Programme phone wake-up call.
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2. Like that car? The tricks of the data body industry
In the New Economy, data have become a primary resource. Businesses unable to respond to the pressure of informatisation are quickly left behind. "Information is everything" has become the war-cry of the New Economy. More than ever, business companies now collect data related to their customers, their competitors, economic indicators, etc., and compile them in
However, there are also many companies that specialise in data body economics as the main line of business. They collect huge amount of data process and enhance them (thereby increasing the value of the data) and offer them on to other companies.
For example, somebody who has been attracted by a car on display in an airport terminal and completes a card with name and address to participate in a draw reveals a lot of economically valuable information about him / herself. Apart from name and address, and other data that is completed on the card, this person also can be assumed to be a potential car buyer (evidently he / she wants a car) and to be relatively affluent (the poor do not normally travel by plane). The time when you complete the card also provides information: in July and August, you are more likely to be a holiday maker than in November. Possibly in small print somewhere on the ticket you complete you agree to receive more information about this and other products, and you agree also that your data are "electronically processed". The data acquired this way can normally be expected to be much more valuable than the car the is offered in the draw. Most people who completed the cards will not win in the draw, but instead end up on directs marketing data warehouses and one day receive offers of products and services which they never knew they wanted.
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This process works even better on the Internet because of the latter's interactive nature. "The Internet is a dream to direct marketers", said Wil Lansing, CEO of the American retailer
Many web sites also are equipped with
One frequent way of obtaining such personal information of a user is by offering free web mail accounts offered by a great many companies, internet providers and web portals (e.g.
However, the intention of collecting users personal data and create consumer profiles based on online behaviour can also take on more creative and playful forms. One such example is
The particular way in which sites such as sixdegrees.com and others are structured mean that not only to users provide initial information about them, but also that this information is constantly updated and therefore becomes even more valuable. Consequently, many free online services or web mail providers cancel a user's account if it has not been uses for some time.
There are also other online services which offer free services in return for personal information which is then used for marketing purposes, e.g. Yahoo's
A further way of collecting consumer data that has recently become popular is by offering free PCs. Users are provided with a PC for free or for very little money, and in return commit themselves to using certain services rather than others (e.g. a particular internet provider), providing information about themselves, and agree to have their online behaviour monitored by the company providing the PC, so that accurate user profiles can be compiled. For example, the
A good inside view of the world of direct marketing can be gained at the website of the
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Hardly a firm today can afford not to engage in electronic commerce if it does not want to be swept out of business by competitors. "Information is everything" has become something like the Lord's prayer of the New Economy. But how do you get information about your customer online? Who are the people who visit a website, where do they come from, what are they looking for? How much money do they have, what might they want to buy? These are key questions for a company doing electronic business. Obviously not all of this information can be obtained by monitoring the online behaviour of web users, but there are always little gimmicks that, when combined with common tracking technologies, can help to get more detailed information about a potential customer. These are usually online registration forms, either required for entry to a site, or competitions, sometimes a combination of the two. Obviously, if you want to win that weekend trip to New York, you want to provide your contact details.
The most common way of obtaining information about a user online is a
But cookies record enough information to fine-tune advertising strategies according to a user's preferences and interests, e.g. by displaying certain commercial banners rather than others. For example, if a user is found to respond to a banner of a particular kind, he / she may find two of them at the next visit. Customizing the offers on a website to the particular user is part of one-to-one marketing, a type of
One-to-one marketing can create very different realities that undermine traditional concepts of demand and supply. The ideal is a "frictionless market", where the differential between demand and supply is progressively eliminated. If a market is considered a structure within which demand / supply differentials are negotiated, this amounts to the abolition of the established notion of the nature of a market. Demand and supply converge, desire and it fulfilment coincide. In the end, there is profit without labour. However, such a structure is a hermetic structure of unfreedom.
It can only function when payment is substituted by credit, and the exploitation of work power by the exploitation of data. In fact, in modern economies there is great pressure to increase spending on credit. Using credit cards and taking up loans generates a lot of data around a person's economic behaviour, while at the same restricting the scope of social activity and increasing dependence. On the global level, the consequences of credit spirals can be observed in many of the developing countries that have had to abandon most of their political autonomy. As the data body economy advances, this is also the fate of people in western societies when they are structurally driven into credit spending. It shows that data bodies are not politically neutral.
The interrelation between data, profit and unfreedom is frequently overlooked by citizens and customers. Any company in a modern economy will apply data collecting strategies for profit, with dependence and unfreedom as a "secondary effect". The hunger for data has made IT companies eager to profit from e-business rather resourceful. "Getting to know the customer" - this is a catchphrase that is heard frequently, and which suggests that there are no limits to what a company may want to about a customer. In large online shops, such as
But there are more advanced and effective ways of identification. The German company
Bu there are much less friendly ways of extracting data from a user and feeding the data body. Less friendly means: these methods monitor users in situations where the latter are likely not to want to be monitored. Monitoring therefore takes place in a concealed manner. One of these monitoring methods are so-called
Bugs monitoring users have also been packaged in seemingly harmless toys made available on the Internet. For example,
The cursor image technology relies on what is called a GUID (global unique identifier). This is an identification number which is assigned to a customer at the time of registration, or when downloading a product. Many among the online community were alarmed when in 1999 it was discovered that
However, in the meantime, another possible infringement on user anonymity by Microsoft was discovered, when it as found out that MS Office documents, such as Word, Excel or Powerpoint, contain a bug that is capable of tracking the documents as they are sent through the net. The bug sends information about the user who opens the document back to the originating server. A document that contains the bug can be tracked across the globe, through thousands of stopovers. In detailed description of the bug and how it works can be found at the
Of course there are many other ways of collecting users' data and creating appropriating data bodies which can then be used for economic purposes. Indeed, as Bill Gates commented, "information is the lifeblood of business". The electronic information networks are becoming the new frontier of capitalism.
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Who are you?
Direct marketing companies have many othe ways of appropriating data bodies. Allowing form regional and national variations, data are obtained from registration cards, telephone directories, social insurance data bass, religious groups, educational institutions, trade unions, registry offices, banks and of course from the date trace left behind in digital environments, e.g. by clicking on an advertising banner. Direct marketing companies collect als this data systemtically and enhance them, i.e. they associate a range of different indicators with a person's name. Techniques used range from simple inferences ("if you are German and your name is Claudia, you are 80 % likely to be between 25 and 33 years old") to complicated data mining programmes such as
- postal address
sex
size of household
age group
purchasing power
neighbourhood quality
size of town
region
professional and academic titles
phone and fax numbers
e-mail address
pronness for mail-order purchasing
number of children
age of children
marital status
purchasing patterns
investment behaviour
credit status
credit history
convictions
nature of products and services purchased
many other social and economic indicators
There can be a hundred or more indicators associated to an individual's name. Direct marketing companies such as
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The result of this informatisation is the creation of a virtual body which is the exterior of a man or woman's social existence. It plays the same role that the physical body, except located in virtual space (it has no real location). The virtual body holds a certain emancipatory potential. It allows us to go to places and to do things which in the physical world would be impossible. It does not have the weight of the physical body, and is less conditioned by physical laws. It therefore allows one to create an identity of one's own, with much less restrictions than would apply in the physical world.
But this new freedom has a price. In the shadow of virtualisation, the data body has emerged. The data body is a virtual body which is composed of the files connected to an individual. As the
The virtual character of the data body means that social regulation that applies to the real body is absent. While there are limits to the manipulation and exploitation of the real body (even if these limits are not respected everywhere), there is little regulation concerning the manipulation and exploitation of the data body, although the manipulation of the data body is much easier to perform than that of the real body. The seizure of the data body from outside the concerned individual is often undetected as it has become part of the basic structure of an informatised society. But data bodies serve as raw material for the "New Economy". Both business and governments claim access to data bodies. Power can be exercised, and democratic decision-taking procedures bypassed by seizing data bodies. This totalitarian potential of the data body makes the data body a deeply problematic phenomenon that calls for an understanding of data as social construction rather than as something representative of an objective reality. How data bodies are generated, what happens to them and who has control over them is therefore a highly relevant political question.
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Among the foremost of the data bunkers government bureaucracies. Bureaucracies are the oldest forms of bunkers and are today deeply engrained in modern societies. Bureaucracies have always had the function of collecting and administering the data of subjects. What make this process more problematic in the age of ICT is that a lot more data can be collected, they can be collected in clandestine ways (e.g. in surveillance situations), and the can be combined and merged using advanced data mining technologies. In addition, there is a greater rationale for official data collecting, as a lot more data is required for the functioning of public administration as in previous periods, as societies rush to adopt increasingly complex technologies, above all ICTs. The increasing complexity of modern societies means that an increasing number of bureaucratic decision is taken, all of which require a calculation process. Complexity, viewed through government spectacles, generates insecurity - a great deal of the bureaucratic activity therefore revolves around the topic of security.
In spite of the anti-bureaucratic rhetoric of most governments, these factors provides the bureaucracies with an increased hold on society. Foremost bureaucratic data bunkers include the following:
- Law enforcement agencies
Fiscal agencies
Intelligence agencies
Social welfare agencies
Social insurance institutions
Public health agencies
Educational institutions
These are agencies that enjoy the privileged protection of the state. Those among them that operate in the field of security are further protected against public scrutiny, as they operate in an area to which democratic reason has no access.
What makes the data repositories of these institutions different from private data bunkers is their "official", i.e. their politically binding and definitive character.
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On the other hand are the data bunkers of the private sector, whose position is different. Although these are fast-growing engines of data collection with a much greater degree of dynamism, they may not have the same privileged position - although one has to differentiate among the general historical and social conditions into which a data bunker is embedded. For example, it can safely be assumed that the databases of a large credit card company or bank are more protected than the bureaucracies of small developing countries.
Private data bunkers include
- Banks
- Building societies
Credit bureaus
Credit card companies
Direct marketing companies
Insurance companies
Telecom service providers
Mail order stores
Online stores
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If direct marketing tools works for commercial purposes, why should they not be used in election campaigns? Why not gain people's votes by political statements tailor-cut to suite the attitudes and values of a voter? The Republican Party of Missouri, USA, has already tried it out. As the Washington Post
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The plastic card invasion.
The tendency of modern data-driven economies is to structure economic activity in such a way that an increasing amount of data is generated. For example, the fact that only a few years ago few people in continental Europe used a credit card, and that now almost everybody who has a bank account also has a credit card, shows that payment by credit card is preferred to anonymous cash transaction. If somebody pays by credit card, there are computers that register the transaction. They record who paid what amount where, and for what purpose. This is valuable information. It allows businesses to "better know their customers". Credit card companies today belong to the largest data repositories anywhere. However, credit card companies have tried to introduce cash cards, or "electronic purses", plastic cards which can be used in lieu of cash in shops - a type of payment, that is not really catching on. In the small town of
Credit cards may be the most common, but certainly not the only way in which an economic activity produces a data surplus. In the end, the data surplus generated by a credit card is limited to just a few indicators. The tendency of the data body industry is to collect as much data as possible from each single transaction. Therefore, a range of new plastic card applications is emerging.
Most big retailers or service industries, offer customer cards which reward customers with certain discounts or gifts when used frequently. However, the cost of these discounts is easily set off by the value consumer data that is generated each time a card is pulled through the magnetic reading device. Frequent-flyer cards are among the most common plastic data-collecting devices. Often such frequent-flyer cards are also credit cards, in which case travel and consumption data are already combined at the point of sale, creating further rationalisation of the process.
Electronic networks have created a general tendency to move to move marketing decisions to the point of sale, rather than locating them in central locations. This way, the marketing process becomes cheaper and more efficient for the company.
The ideal situation for the data body industry and for government bureaucracy would be a complete centralised storage and management of people's data, and a collection process the pass unnoticed and ensures that the data in question are always current. Many efforts in this direction have been undertaken. One of the most recent such projects is called the
The Irish town of Ennis, although striving to become "one of the technologically most advanced towns in the world" may have frustrated the expectations of the plastic card industry. Yet this is only a minute, if embarrassing, setback on the path towards global rationalisation of data collection. The economic benefits which the plastic card data collection technologies promises for retailers, E-commerce, marketing and bureaucracies all over the world have given rise to a wealth of research programmes, field tests, projects and government policies, all aimed at promoting the data body economy and adopting it as the business model of the future.
Links to plastic card trade associations:
Links to plastic card research programmes:
Links to publications:
Links to EU research programmes
Producers
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Personal data are collected, appropriated, processed and used for commercial purposes on a global scale. In order for such a global system to operate smoothly, there a server nodes at which the data streams converge. Among the foremost of these are the data bases of credit card companies, whose operation has long depended on global networking.
On top of credit card companies such as Visa, American Express, Master Card, and others. It would be erroneous to believe that the primary purpose of business of these companies is the provision of credit, and the facilitation of credit information for sale transactions. In fact, Information means much more than just credit information. In an advertisement of 1982, American Express described itself in these terms: ""Our product is information ...Information that charges airline tickets, hotel rooms, dining out, the newest fashions ...information that grows money funds buys and sells equities ...information that pays life insurance annuities ...information that schedules entertainment on cable television and electronically guards houses ...information that changes kroners into guilders and figures tax rates in Bermuda ..."
Information has become something like the gospel of the New Economy, a doctrine of salvation - the life blood of society, as Bill Gates expresses it. But behind information there are always data that need to be generated and collected. Because of the critical importance of data to the economy, their possession amounts to power and their loss can cause tremendous damage. The data industry therefore locates its data warehouses behind fortifications that bar physical or electronic access. Such structures are somewhat like a digital reconstruction of the medieval fortress
Large amounts of data are concentrated in fortress-like structures, in data bunkers. As the
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In the phrase "the rise of the citizen as a consumer", to be found on the
When the citizen becomes a consumer, the state must become a business. In the data body business, the key word behind this new identity of government is "outsourcing". Functions, that are not considered core functions of government activity are put into the hands of private contractors.
There have long been instances where privately owned data companies, e.g. credit card companies, are allowed access to public records, e.g. public registries or electoral rolls. For example, in a normal credit card transaction, credit card companies have had access to public records in order to verify identity of a customer. For example, in the UK citizen's personal data stored on the Electoral Roll have been used for commercial purposes for a long time. The new British Data Protection Act now allows people to "opt out" of this kind of commercialisation - a legislation that has prompted protests on the part of the data industry:
While this may serve as an example of an increased public awareness of privacy issues, the trend towards outsourcing seems to lead to a complete breakdown of the barriers between commercial and public use of personal data. This trend can be summarised by the term "outsourcing" of government functions.
Governments increasingly outsource work that is not considered core function of government, e.g. cooking meals in hospitals or mowing lawns in public parks. Such peripheral activities marked a first step of outsourcing. In a further step, governmental functions were divided between executive and judgemental functions, and executive functions increasingly entrusted to private agencies. For these agencies to be able to carry out the work assigned to them, the need data. Data that one was stored in public places, and whose handling was therefore subject to democratic accountability. Outsourcing has produced gains in efficiency, and a decrease of accountability. Outsourced data are less secure, what use they are put to is difficult to control.
The world's largest data corporation,
Technically the linking of different systems is already possible. It would also create more efficiency, which means generate more income. The question, then, whether democracy concerns will prevent it from happening is one that is capable of creating
But what the EDS example shows is something that applies everywhere, and that is that the data industry is whether by intention or whether by default, a project with profound political implications. The current that drives the global economy deeper and deeper into becoming a global data body economy may be too strong to be stopped by conventional means.
However, the convergence of political and economic data bodies also has technological roots. The problem is that politically motivated surveillance and economically motivated data collection are located in the same area of information and communication technologies. For example, monitoring internet use requires more or less the same technical equipment whether done for political or economic purposes. Data mining and data warehousing techniques are almost the same. Creating transparency of citizens and customers is therefore a common objective of intelligence services and the data body industry. Given that data are exchanged in electronic networks, a compatibility among the various systems is essential. This is another factor that encourages "leaks" between state-run intelligence networks and the private data body business. And finally, given the secretive nature of state intelligence and commercial data capturing , there is little transparency. Both structures occupy an opaque zone.
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While most data bunkers are restricted to particular areas or contexts, there are others which act as global data nodes. Companies such as
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The size of these data repositories is constantly growing, so it is only a matter of time when everybody living in the technologically saturated part of the world will be registered in one of these data bunkers.
Among these companies,
For many years, EDS has been surrounded by rumours concerning sinister involvement with intelligence agencies. Beyond the rumours, though, there are also facts. EDS has a special division for
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The glamour of the data body economy clouds economic practices which are much less than glamorous. Through the seizure of the data body, practices that in the real political arena were common in the feudal age and in the early industrial age are being reconstructed. The data body economy digitally reconstructs exploitative practices such as slavery and wage labour. However, culturally the data body is still a very new phenomenon: mostly, people think if it does not hurt, it cannot be my body. Exploitation of data bodies is painless and fast. Nevertheless, this can be expected to change once the awareness of the political nature of the data body becomes more widespread. As more and more people routinely move in digitised environments, it is to be expected that more critical questions will be asked and claims to autonomy, at present restricted to some artistic and civil society groups trying to get heard amidst the deafening noise of the commercial ICT propaganda, will be articulated on a more general level.
The more problematic aspect of this development may be something else: the practices of the data body economy, themselves a reconstruction of old techniques of seizure, have begun to re-colonise real political space. Simon Davis, Director of the London-based privacy campaigners
The constant adaptation process required from the modern individual has anonymised and structuralized punishment, which now appears in the guise of error messages and the privatisation of risk.
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Consumers who are not preoccupied about their data bodies being appropriated by corporations can play an active part in the data body business: they can offer their own personal data on the market and become, in paraphrasing Gate's metaphor of information being the lifeblood of the economy, the blood donors of the information age.
Internet services such as the one offered by
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"A man is crazy who writes a secrete
in any other way than one which
will conceal it from the vulgar."
Roger Bacon (~1250 AD)
The essence of human communication is not only the social behavior to give or get messages (of whatever meaning) but also how to give and get them, and to include certain people by excluding others from the process of informing.
e.g. whispering is an effective way of talking to exclude the majority.
What about ways of writing?
Already some of the first written messages in human history obviously found special forms of hiding contents from the so-called others. When the knowledge of writing meant a privilege in a stronger sense as it is true today (in China for a long period writing was forbidden to people not working for the government), the alphabet itself was a kind of cryptography (that is why Catholic churches were painted with pictures explaining the stories of the Bible).
Certainly the methods of deciphering and enciphering improved a lot during the last 4.000 years. In the meantime cryptography has become a topic without end and with less technological limits every day. On the one hand there is the field of biometrics, which is highly related to cryptography but still in its beginnings, on the other hand there emerge so-called infowars, which intend to substitute or at least accompany war and are unthinkable without cryptography.
But there is much more to detect, like the different forms of de- and encoding. And very important, too, there is the history of cryptography that tells us about the basics to make it easier to understand today's issues.
In the actual age of (dis-)information storing and transporting electronic information safely increases its importance. Governments, institutions, economy and individuals rely on the hope that no-one can read or falsify their messages/data as it is much more difficult to detect and proof abuses in electronic media than in elder forms of written communication.
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"The multiple human needs and desires that demand privacy
among two or more people in the midst of social life must
inevitably lead to cryptology wherever men thrive
and wherever they write."
David Kahn, The Codebreakers
In the age of the vitreous man, whose data are not only collected by different institutions but kept under disclosure, out of reach, uncontrollable and unmanageable for the individual, privacy obtains new importance, receives a much higher value again.
The irony behind is that those who long for cryptography in order to preserve more privacy actually have to trust the same people who first created the methods to "produce" something like that vitreous man; of course not the same individual but persons of the same area of science. It is the reign of experts.
So far about self-determination.
for a rather aesthetic view on privacy and cryptography see:
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Besides oral conversations and written language many other ways of information-transport are known: like the bush telegraph, drums, smoke signals etc. Those methods are not cryptography, still they need en- and decoding, which means that the history of language, the history of communication and the history of cryptography are closely connected to each other
The timeline gives an insight into the endless fight between enciphering and deciphering. The reasons for them can be found in public and private issues at the same time, though mostly connected to military maneuvers and/or political tasks.
One of the most important researchers on Cryptography through the centuries is
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Even with the best techniques it is impossible to invent a cryptographic system that is absolutely safe/unbreakable. To decipher a text means to go through many, sometimes nearly - but never really - endless attempts. For the computers of today it might take hundreds of years or even more to go through all possibilities of codes, but still, finally the code stays breakable. The much faster quantum computers will proof that one day.
Therefore the decision to elect a certain method of enciphering finally is a matter of trust.
For the average user of computers it is rather difficult to understand or even realize the dangers and/or the technological background of electronic transmission of data. For the majority thinking about one's own necessities for encryption first of all means to trust others, the specialists, to rely on the information they provide.
The websites explaining the problems behind (and also the articles and books concerning the topic) are written by experts of course as well, very often in their typical scientific language, merely understandable for laymen. The introductions and other superficial elements of those articles can be understood, whereas the real background appears as untouchable spheres of knowledge.
The fact that dangers are hard to see through and the need for security measures appears as something most people know from media reports, leads directly to the problem of an underdeveloped democracy in the field of cryptography. Obviously the connection between cryptography and democracy is rather invisible for many people. Those mentioned media reports often specialize in talking about the work computer hackers do (sometimes being presented as criminals, sometimes as heroes) and the danger to lose control over the money drawn away from one's bank account, if someone steals the credit card number or other important financial data. The term "security", surely connected to those issues, is a completely different one from the one that is connected to privacy.
It is especially the latter that touches the main elements of democracy.
for the question of security see:
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Cryptography and democracy are clearly related to each other when we talk about teledemocracy. Many answers of civilians to certain state institutions can already be posed on the Internet. Many bureaucratic duties can be fulfilled through the Internet as well. But on February 8th 2000 the worldwide first elections on the Internet were performed. The elections themselves were nothing important, students' elections at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. But the project, called i-vote, with a preparation time of 10 months, wrote history. For a correct result, there existed several different encryption processes at the same time, like the digital signature, a blinding for anonymizing the vote and a virtual election paper that had to be encrypted as well, as simple e-mails could have been traced back.
The question whether teledemocracy can provide us with a more intensive democracy has to be answered within a different field of questions; here the question is rather about the role of cryptography in this area. The use of cryptography in teledemocracy is inevitable, but does it also re-influence cryptography? Or will it influence the different governments' laws again?
The sentence "We are committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information" that can be read as the introduction-sentence at the Free-PC-homepage (
But still we find ourselves overruled by the issue that someone believes to know what is good for us. And our privacy is floating away ...
Human Rights call for the right for privacy. We can go on fighting for privacy but anonymity has disappeared long ago. If we leave cookies and other data by visiting websites, we might be anything but surely not anonymous.
for more information about privacy and Human Rights see:
for re-anonymizing see:
"The fight for privacy today will always include the fight for unrestricted access to cryptography tools, for at least getting a slight chance that the buying of a book or any other small thing turns into a chain of messages for someone else's purpose, whether it might be governmental or commercial." (Cypherpunk's Manifesto)
for more information on the Cypherpunk's Manifesto see:
This year again many conferences on the topic of cryptography take place. For further information see:
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As scientists are working hard on a quantum computer and also on quantum cryptography one can imagine that another revolution in the study of encryption has to be expected within the next years. By then today's hardware and software tools will look extraordinary dull. At the moment it is impossible to foresee the effects on cryptography and democratic developments by those means; the best and the worst can be expected at the same time. A certain ration of pessimism and prosecution mania are probably the right mixture of emotions about those tendencies, as the idea of big brother has come into existence long ago.
At the same time it will - in part - be a decision of the people to let science work against them or not. Acceleration of data-transmission calls for an acceleration of encryption-methods. And this again falls back on us, on an acceleration of daily life, blurring the private and the public for another time.
We live in an intersection, job and private life growing together. Cryptography cannot help us in that case. The privacy in our mind, the virtuality of all private and public lies in the field of democracy, or at least what is - by connection to the Human Rights - regarded as democracy.
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