<nettime> Back in the old days

[twsherma@mailbox.syr.edu]

Back in the old days, during the cold war, governments were the main force
stimulating innovations in IT, information technology. Now IT development
occurs primarily in the private sector. As the cold war ended in the late
1980s, private firms once dependent on contracts with the military applied
themselves to domestic surveillance. This was the so-called peace
dividend: a blueprint for total information awareness. Domestic security
industries continue to grow in all developed countries. The action flows
downward from the military to the industrial to the consumer. Get your kid
a cell phone with a GPS tag. Implant a RFID chip in your dog, or maybe
grandpa, if he's prone to wandering off. Nanny cams are a must if both
parents have careers in domestic security firms. The war on terror has
been very good for the new economy. Just a hint of NBC, nuclear,
biological and chemical weapons, is enough to set off an avalanche of
government contracts. The threat of international terrorists has been the
driving force in the new economy for some time now. The domestic security
industries transform potential terrorist attacks into well paying jobs.
Our insecurity is the cost of doing business.


Nerve Theory: http://www.kunstradio.at/2006A/H5N1en.html






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