From: abacard@crl.com (Andre Bacard)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Big Brother FAQ
Date: 9 May 1995 13:41:42 -0700
Message-ID: <3ook26$j9p@crl8.crl.com>

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            *** Frequently Asked Questions About ***
                *** Big Brother in Cyberspace ***
                               by
                     Andre Bacard, Author of
                   "Computer Privacy Handbook"
                    [FAQ Version May 7, 1995]

  ============================================================
     This article offers an overview of the evolving relation
     between "Big Brother" and Cyberspace. I have written this
     especially for persons who have a taste for irony. You
     may distribute this (unaltered) FAQ for non-commercial
     purposes.
   ===========================================================

Why did you write this FAQ?

     I'm worried about democracy's future, notably as the
     Internet grows explosively. Americans (I'm sure my French
     friends will dispute this!) are setting the tone for the
     Internet. However, American politics (like that in many
     countries) is a circus where "right-wing" and "left-wing"
     people play endless ego-games sparing with each other.

     Meanwhile, global ("apolitical") companies like Microsoft
     and Visa are transforming democracy in profound ways that
     are invisible to the circus crowd. High-tech firms are
     building Big Brother into the INFRASTRUCTURE of our
     Information Age, thus creating a global Surveillance Age!

     America has had virtually no serious political dissent
     since the 1960s (pre Computer Age). In 1994, Ross Perot
     convinced Americans to take a "third party" seriously.
     Today, G. Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan
     (all talk-show hosts), and millions of citizens angrily
     denounce Big Brother's attacks against the 1st, 2nd, and
     4th amendments. Is this discontent the start of a much
     needed re-examination of democracy? Or is it merely a
     partisan desire to replace one Big Brother with another?
     What impact will today's "anti-government" sentiment have
     on the Internet?

     I'm circulating this FAQ as a wake-up call.

What does Big Brother mean?

     The expression "Big Brother" was coined by the British
     author George Orwell in his satirical novel, "Nineteen
     Eight-Four" (published in 1949). Orwell's book describes
     the inner workings of Oceania, a fictitious totalitarian
     state. "Big Brother" was personified by a man's photo, a
     man with dark, penetrating eyes. His photo appeared on
     posters throughout Oceania with the caption: "Big Brother
     Is Watching You". The Party (with "Big Brother" as
     symbol) ran Oceania, a totally bureaucratic society, in
     which humans were numbers devoid of any individuality.
     Big Brother declared that no person should have the right
     to privacy.

     [You might want to read three parallel books: "The Iron
     Heel" by American Jack London, "Brave New World" by the
     British Aldous Huxley, and "We" by the Russian Zamyatin.]

How did Big Brother maintain power?

     Orwell's Big Brother learned to:

     (1) Snoop on citizens. For example, Big Brother used the
     "telescreen," a two-way television, to watch and listen
     to all citizens.

     (2) Control language. Big Brother created a new language,
     "Newspeak," designed to cripple the public's ability to
     have dissenting thoughts. For example, the word "free"
     could only be used in the sense of "The dog is free of
     fleas." The word could not be used in the sense of
     "intellectually free," because intellectual freedom no
     longer existed and was nameless. One aspect of Newspeak
     was "doublethink," the ability to believe two
     contradictory ideas simultaneously. Big Brother's Party
     had three doublethink slogans: "War is Peace", "Freedom
     is Slavery", and "Ignorance is Strength."

     3) Fabricate enemies. Big Brother created a devil figure
     named Emmanuel Goldstein ("The Enemy of the People"). All
     crimes against the Party, all sabotage, all heresy, all
     treachery were blamed on Goldstein. Oceania had a ritual
     called Two Minutes Hate. Goldstein's face would appear on
     a big telescreen, while Oceania's citizens hissed and
     wished for Goldstein's torture. Big Brother stated that
     Goldstein, once a leading Party member, had become the
     leader of a vile anti-government underground.

Does Big Brother exist outside of novels?

     Yes. Orwell's book was patterned after Stalin's Russia
     and Hitler's Germany. However, world history is largely
     a history of dictatorships. Orwell described a process
     that has been ongoing for thousands of years. [Before
     electronic surveillance existed, human eyes and ears did
     all the snooping]. Each tyrant has told his citizens, in
     so many words: "Give me YOUR liberty, and I'll protect
     YOU from (competing) dictators who want to enslave YOU."
     Niccolo Machiavelli's book, "The Prince" (often called
     the "Handbook of Dictators"), is one timeless work that
     explicitly outlines this master/slave dynamic.

Is Big Brother a fascist? A communist?
     Big Brother craves power as an end in itself. Big Brother
     has used capitalism, colonialism, communism, consumerism,
     fascism, feudalism, monarchism, occultism and theism. Big
     Brother is cynical and adaptable. He will use whatever
     "ism" delivers power to him!

What about Big Brother in today's world?

     Big Brother wears a designer mask that looks different in
     America, in Italy, in Russia, and in Singapore. This
     flexible mask fools many people, just as magician David
     Copperfield's illusions bewilder his audiences.

     Most people reading this FAQ live in computerized
     societies. For us, Big Brother is a web of corporations
     and government agencies that rule "our" technological
     INFRASTRUCTURE: for instance, the telephone companies;
     the credit bureaus; the mass media; the surveillance
     agencies, etc. These groups have the power to 1) Snoop on
     citizens, 2) Control language, and 3) Fabricate enemies.

     "The Economist" [April 29, 1995, page 92] provides a
     chilling, though commonplace example:

          "... Equifax, America's biggest consumer-
          credit reporting firm, said in March that it
          was teaming up with AT&T, America's largest
          long-distance telephone company, to
          computerise millions of medical records."

     This accord may give the Equifax-AT&T team YOUR credit
     records, phone records, and medical records. Needless to
     say, AT&T also works closely with government agencies
     around the globe.

     Did YOUR political party campaign to encourage or stop
     Equifax-AT&T from serving as Big Brother? Why not? I'm
     reminded of a cartoon that shows two KGB agents sitting
     next to a crumbling Kremlin. One agent says, "What will
     we do for a living?" The other agent answered, "No
     problem. We'll open a credit agency."

     As we approach the 21st century, the trend is to create
     one international Big Brother, described as the "new
     world order." This order will be maintained, in part, by
     global electronic surveillance. America, the European
     Union, Japan, and the multi-national corporations are
     leading the charge towards this globalism, the chic
     "ism" on the block.

So what about Big Brother and the Internet?

     Let us define the "Internet" broadly as all the computer
     networks (including online services and telephone
     companies) that allow us to exchange e-mail, read
     newsgroups, visit chat rooms, etc.

     Big Brother is VERY INTERESTED in the Internet for a two
     reasons. First, the Internet allows YOU an inexpensive,
     interactive medium to express political dissent. Big
     Brother wants to regulate "dissent." Second, the Internet
     is the most pro-surveillance technology ever invented. It
     is trivial for Big Brother to read and archive (store)
     YOUR incoming and outgoing e-mail. It is easy for online
     services to monitor what YOU read. For these reasons, Big
     Brother wants to move quickly to control the Internet the
     way it already rules military, banking, law-enforcement,
     and other "nets".

Compare the Internet with another technology.

     Television pioneers vowed that TV would nurture an
     educated, cultured citizenry. In reality, TV molded a
     Consumer Society of couch potatoes. Today, Internet
     promoters like American On Line, CompuServe, and Prodigy
     speak ecstatically about bringing the "news" and the
     Louvre museum into every home. Hmm... Maybe so. But,
     unless we change courses, the Internet will also usher
     Big Brother into YOUR home quietly and efficiently.

How might Big Brother take over the Internet?

     The same way Big Brother has always controlled Little
     Citizens.

     1) Snoop on citizens. The Internet already allows Big
     Brother to read YOUR e-mail and monitor all YOUR online
     activity, including YOUR banking and investment records.
     In some countries, Big Brother has already outlawed
     encryption, such as PGP [see end of this FAQ], to stop
     YOU from asserting any online privacy.

     2) Control language. Big Brother is already trying to
     censor YOUR Internet language (and pictures) that are
     "abusive," "obscene," or "politically incorrect."

     3) Fabricate enemies. Big Brother is already trying to
     frighten Internet users that hackers, pedophiles, and
     terrorists are hiding behind every computer screen. The
     goal of the propaganda campaign is to generate support
     for a NetPolice force.

     Peter Cassidy's article, "Silent Coup in Cyberspace"
     [CovertAction, Spring 1995]," describes this process in
     more detail, as does my recent book, "Computer Privacy
     Handbook."

Why does this threaten freedom?
     Intellectual and political freedom exist only if sincere
     people can openly say "The Emperor has no clothes" and
     advocate a wardrobe. This freedom is chilled, if not
     squashed, when people realize that Big Brother is always
     looking over their shoulders.

How would you summarize this FAQ?

     Most political rhetoric is, to borrow a phrase from
     American author William Faulkner, "sound and fury that
     signify nothing." I urge YOU, if YOU care about personal
     freedom, to reflect more about the Big Brother(s) in YOUR
     life. If YOU are a Conservative, Democrat, Liberal,
     Libertarian, Republican, ... or member of any other
     party, ask yourself whether YOUR leaders really oppose or
     support Big Brother!! What about YOU? What about YOUR
     vision of a future Internet?

Anything else I should know?

     Are you a law-abiding citizen? Do you believe in
     democracy? YOUR privacy and safety are in danger, along
     with democracy itself! Prolific bank, credit and medical
     databases, e-mail monitoring, computer matching programs,
     cordless & cellular phone scanners, the Clipper Chip
     Initiative, the Digital Telephony law, and (hidden) video
     surveillance are just a few factors that threaten every
     law-abiding citizen. In short, our anti-privacy society
     serves criminals and snoops computer data about YOU on a
     silver platter.

     If you want to PROTECT your privacy, I urge you to
     support groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation
      and the Electronic Privacy Information
     Center .

Andre, have you written other privacy-related FAQs?

     I'm circulating an (1) Anonymous Remailer FAQ, (2) E-Mail
     Privacy FAQ, and (3) PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) Software
     FAQ. To get these FAQs, send me this:

     To: abacard@well.com
     Subject: Help
     Message: [Ignored]

****************************************************************
 Andre Bacard,             Bacard wrote "The Computer Privacy
 abacard@well.com          Handbook: A Practical Guide to E-Mail
 Stanford, CA              Encryption, Data Protection, and PGP
                           Privacy Software" [for novices/experts].

Introduction written by Mitchell Kapor, Creator of Lotus 1-2-3
and Co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
               Book Available from Bookstores or:
     Peachpit Press at (800) 283-9444, ISBN # 1-56609-171-3
*****************************************************************


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