Knowledge and Power
The U.S. government may have too much of both
by Lincoln D. Stein
New Architect
March
2003
I had just finished a talk at a symposium...and sat down to lunch with some
of the graduate students who organized it. I asked one of them where she had
dredged up some of the material that she used to introduce me, and she responded
that she had "googled" me. I goggled at her. Googled me? Yes, she said, like
you do before you go on a date.
I'd never heard the term, and had no idea that it was a social phenomenon.
According to my informant, she and her friends wouldn't dream of going out with
someone without first performing a quick background check.
Some of us may feel uncomfortable with the level of intrusiveness that googling
implies, but this is the tiniest tip of the iceberg in what has truly become
a surveillance society. As we go about our day, we're constantly monitored by
a melange of private and public entities. As we drive to work, the highway department
photographs us with a network of traffic surveillance cameras. ATMs, post offices,
bus depots, airports, and most office buildings are monitored by video cameras.
Our tastes in entertainment are monitored by video stores and cable TV companies.
Even our diets are tracked by grocery chains that offer us discount cards in
exchange for the ability to record our purchases.
But none of this compares to how the US government would like to monitor the
citizenry. In February 2002, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
initiated a new program called the Information Awareness Office (www.darpa.mil/iao/).
The IAO's mission is to counter the threat of terrorism posed by "shadowy networks
that are difficult to identify and define."
