Recently in Politics/Post-Politics Category

There has been an ongoing discussion about Digital Identities between Doc Searl, Eric Norlin and David Weinberger. And this months CIO has a great survey of which #8: Identity Crisis talks about the necessity of decentralizing our identities. It makes the very important point that if we rely on increasingly unique biometric identifiers it would only make the problem of identity theft worse. If someone is able to spoof your fingerprint or other biometric identifier, then how would you be able to prove you were you? The answer lies in giving you back control of your identity. After all, as long you have control over your identity, does Amazon really need to know who you are, as long as you can secure payment?

John Gilmore is also challenging identity by refusing to give his ID to board an airplane.

Freedom of Travel. I'm suing Attorney General John Ashcroft and various federal agencies, to make them stop demanding that citizens identify themselves in order to travel. Not only airports, but trains, buses, and cruise ships are now imposing ID requirements. This violates several constitutional rights. Stop showing ID whenever someone asks (or demands) it, and you will start to discover just what your rights are.

From this months CIO:

"As long as security relies on identity, then ID theft becomes an effective way of committing fraud," Schneier adds. "And creating stronger IDs [through biometrics] only makes the problem worse."

Likewise, putting all of your customer information in one central database only heightens the chance that identifying information will be stolen. After all, it's much easier to break into a large centralized database than small separate databases. And resourceful thieves will always find a way around the toughest security, as Ford and Experian have learned to their chagrin.

To avoid a similar disaster on their turf, CIOs should insist their company's customer data be kept in separate databases protected by a number of different security measures. And they should push their company to adopt safer business practices that require customers and employees to use a number of different identifiers to gain access to personal data. For retailers, that might mean implementing other business safeguards, such as matching the shipping address with the home address on customers' credit reports. In the meantime, legislation that bans the use of Social Security numbers and other personal identifiers in instant credit e-mails or letters has already been passed in California and is being considered in other states.

"If you had a dozen IDs and they weren't linked together, now that would be difficult to steal," Schneier says. "Decentralize, distribute. There is never one answer to security.

By Paul | Permalink | Comments (1) |

As I have written on several occasions, the reasons we are seeing so much repression and the resultant terrorist response, is because those in power are getting scared. Read this article, on the dilemma facing George W. Bush for the best analysis I've read so far.

The real power struggle is between the elite and the growing power base and unrest of the general population. Up until now, the elite's power base has been built around the control over the dominant energy source - oil. Not only are the world oil reserves running our, but cleaner and more efficient alternatives are becoming available. Don't you find it at least somewhat of a coincidence that those countries that harbor and/or support terrorists, are the same countries that have the greatest supply of remaining oil? The connection is so obvious I am genuinely surprised more people haven't figured it out. This ruse that "we are a nation at war" with "dangerous terrorist organizations" and "countries with weapons of mass destruction", is really just a cover to secure more oil and protect the power-wealth base of the elite. They couldn't or wouldn't stop 9-11 and they are unlikely to stop another terrorist attack no matter how many security measures they supposedly implement. The reasons that we are seeing all of these repressive measures is not to stop terrorism, but another way to repress the American people, who will increasingly question a war whose sole purpose seems to be making the elite richer while the rest of us poor bastards try to remain alive in the crossfires. Like Vietnam before it, people will become increasingly restless and angry at what is happening. The difference this time is the war will be at home. And to make sure another anti-war movement doesn't get to far out of hand, they have already begun constructing the scaffolding of a police state - surveillance, biometrics, national ids, checkpoints, and massive monitoring of Americans to prevent just such a thing from happening again. The FBI is already bugging public libraries! They already own and control what was once a free press, and so you can be certain you will never see alternative points of view that would make you question it in the first place. But of course there is the Internet. Its effect on people's views is growing, which is why they want to control that too. In the meantime, we are likely to see more terrorist events, which will be used to justify even more elimination of our freedoms. And the saddest part of all, is the American people will gladly surrender them. It's the oldest tactic in the book. America, once the land of the free and home of the brave, will become the land of the enslaved and home of the afraid. Wait, I think we are already there.

However there are reasons I remain hopeful. Oil is running out. It's only a matter of time. If the situation weren't so critical for the power elite's they wouldn't be risking global war and instability. Regardless of whatever you've heard - war is not good for business. War is for desperate people. And these guys are really desperate. The same can be said for all the repressive measures we are seeing and likely to see more of in the US. Add to all this massive corporate corruption and the failure of genuine global markets to materialize, and you have a recipe for disaster. Therefore these guys are grabbing as much money and power as they can before the whole damn global political economy collapses. And the reasons it's going to collapse is because they have been quietly plundering it for years. After all where did all the money from Enron and Worldcom go? To offshore accounts of course. That money will never be recovered. You and I and every stockholder lost, while the guys stealing it get away with it. It has become increasingly obvious that this same type corruption and thievery is happening at all the high levels of corporations and government.

Of course all of this is likely to make life for most of us worse in the short-term, but ultimately these machinations of war, greed, corruption and repression cannot be sustained. Something has to give and it will. For a deeper analysis of why, read my Capital, Power and Ecology. In the long run, assuming the entire world is not destroyed a global economy of freedom and wealth will emerge. An economy that is not only ecologically sound, but that is consumer controlled rather than corporate controlled. Bottom-up as opposed to top-down. An economy that favors transparent and fluid capital over one that is tightly controlled and secretive. Ultimately investors vote with their pocket books, and only the most ethical, open and effective corporations will survive. I hope we all live to see that brighter day. In the meantime, hang on to your hats - because this desperate war and the all the terrorist fallout is going to be a bumpy ride.

By Paul | Permalink | Comments (1) |

As we sit here deep in an economic recession, with a looming war with Iraq, amidst growing global unrest, it can be hard to imagine how anyone might be optimistic about the next few years. But despite these gloomy prospects, there are larger forces at work, and they point to the prospect of a brighter future for everyone.

We are seeing battle lines drawn with capital on one side, and ideology, criminality, war and political power on the other. Arguably capital has won hands down up to this point. Without capital, ideologues cannot finance their causes, criminals have nothing to steal, wars cannot be financed, and politicians cannot gain or keep their power. Ideology doesn't buy you guns, money does, and if the machinations of a group is centered around money, they have a greater chance of making more money, and buying more guns, than those whose machinations center around ideology. Ideologues can get money too, but ultimately they depend on the machinations of capital to finance their causes. In the Darwinian sense, those who focus more of their energies on acquiring and keeping capital than fulfilling their ideology have the survival advantage. That's why the United States, the most capitalist society in history, is the most powerful by far. The US military budget is greater than the next nine largest militaries put together. Yet the power to destroy increases in capability for the individual (bio/chem/nuclear), and this in turn complexifies the game. Now, even the under-financed ideologues can exact great damage with limited resources. 9-11 is a perfect example. Likewise, a single resourceful individual could get their hands on a very leathal and virulent strain of biotoxin and kill a huge portion of the population.

With a growing amount of power falling into the hands of individuals through internet resources, strong crypto, bioweapons, etc., the response of the capitalist has been to erode privacy and increase the level of intelligence and surveillance to find these potential threats. Already we have seen some grave erosions of civil liberties by the government embowered by the US Patriot Act. In addition we are seeing a massive increase in public cameras, dataveillance, biometrics, GPS tracking, and profiling. What's more troubling is these increases in transparency have occurred almost exclusively one-way. Part of the problem is that corruption and criminality reach the highest levels of society and for the moment those unaccountable are using this "war on terrorism" as an excuse to shield themselves while increasing their power over others.

I don't think its too extreme that we are for all intents and purposes living in a de-facto fascist-criminal regime. Lets be clear, I'm not accusing anyone in the current administration of wrong doing, only that the machinations of how everything is being run as being questionable to say the least. These are trends that have been going on for a very long time, well before the current administration took power. Rather than be shocked and upset by this continuous coup, see it as a weakness that has been exploited while the rest of us weren't watching and even unable to watch, by the most sophisticated group in history. While they distracted us, they "acquired" large sums of capital and power sufficient for near total domination of the political arena. Now they have grabbed the reigns of government, gained control of the media propaganda machine, brought the economy to its knees (a mistake that will be their undoing) and control the largest military on earth. The only problem is they have already exploited the world to such an alarming degree that they are quickly running out of resources left to take. Having already reached the maximum threshold of taxation of the American people, they created a fake war on non-corporate drugs to increase their financial spoils even further. Now that they have exhausted that avenue, they've now created a "war on terrorism" as a cover to justify full-scale preemptive invasion of entire regions of the globe. This a dangerous move on their part, and they know it, but it doesn't matter now because they are desperate. They are loosing their ability to hide their behaviors behind business as usual, because business as usual is on the verge of collapse (Enron, Worlcom, etc). Now the gloves are coming off and the rest of the world is seeing them for exactly what they are, and it has people scared. Lots of damage could be done by this gang in its desperation to continue its questionable cabal at all costs. But it cannot last, because ultimately it is not based on the free flow of capital but on the stealing of it from others.

If this "war on terrorism" continues it will devastate markets around the world and increasingly anger the true capitalists, the ones who have everything to loose if the economy collapses. These savvy rich people will line up against this cabal in all sorts of ways, least of which is to finance an opposition party to the current regime. And if the that is not possible, finance a way of undermining it from within, through bribery, blackmail and other dirty tricks. Regardless of what you've been told, war is not good for business. We are now a global economy and plundering one part of it to boost the coffers of another part is no longer sustainable. Its a short-term gambit at best. The whole damn thing is too interconnected and ecological. When you harm one part of it and you harm the whole. War, fascism, criminality , they are all unsustainable in the global ecological economy that now exists. It will fail, because the free-flow of capital demands it. Already the U.S. military machine is supported by vast subsidies by an economy that is buckling at the seems. And yet. the current administration is proposing an increase in the military budget by another $100 billion per year by 2007. Where is this money going to come from? We have already reached a critical mass of taxation. Any more and it will break the backs of the consumer, who without their spending power renders the economy helpless. If they don't spend, companies don't earn, if companies don't earn, they lay off more people who in turn cannot spend. So if there is less capital, there is less tax to support a war machine or a government - it is that simple.

This so-called war on terrorism, this imperialist and desperate move to invade Iraq could very easily tip the economy right over the edge into a full-scale world-wide deflationary depression. Already it is on the verge of collapse because of massive swindling on every level by the most sophisticated white collar criminals in history. Enron and WorldCom are just the tip of the iceberg. The savings and loan scandal was peanuts compared to the vast robbery and theft that has brought us to our present predicament. It is no coincidence that we are banging the drums of war to divert our attention away from an economy that is on it last legs. Some say the cabal is power-mad and greedy for oil and money. Perhaps. The truth is they need this war if they are going to save an economy based on faulty principles and criminality. However, the only way this economy can possibly recover in a healthy and sustainable way is to have sufficient checks and balances that prevent such criminality and massive swindling from ever occurring in the first place. Corporations and governments will have to become more accountable and transparent. Surveillance will have to go both ways. If we are to see ourselves out of this unsustainable spiral we must now ask the question, "who is going to watch the watchers?' This is an important question to ask, because as is been pointed out, if nobody is watching the watchers then we have a huge hole of accountability and in turn vulnerability to abuse. And such abuse is ultimately bad for capital. Capital requires liquidity. Liquidity requires liberty. Short-term capital can be made that breaks all the rules, such as corruption, theft,etc. But it cannot be sustained long-term. Long-term, capital favors liberty over tyranny and that is something we should be optimistic about.

By Paul | Permalink | Comments (3) |