Information Society Watch

September 27, 2007, The Economist

This article considers the implications of the rise of the new technologies that collect personal information. It is suggested that the lines between the 'old-time police states' and so-called 'free countries' are becoming less distinguishable as the development of new technologies has led to a world in which people's whereabouts, purchases, behaviours and personal lives are gathered, stored and shared on a scale that no dictator of the 'old school' ever thought possible. It is implied that in Western democracies, most people rightly or wrongly trust their own authorities to fight the good fight against terrorism and avoid abusing the data that they possess. The article concludes that the implications of new technologies for privacy are much scarier in countries like Russia and China, which have embraced capitalist technology and the information revolution without entirely exorcising the ethos of an authoritarian state where dissent is always closely monitored.

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