If you log on to the web today you'd better go in disguise
Before being appropriated by Channel Four for the likes of 'bubbly'
Helen and 'camp' Brian, the Big Brother moniker was a useful
epithet for the worst excesses of government and its agencies. But
in true Orwellian spirit, the US, ably assisted by its lieutenants
in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, has created an
all-seeing, all-knowing electronic version, which could have major
implications for the future of the Web. The Echelon surveillance
system is a global electronic communication monitoring system run
by the five aforementioned states. Its existence is denied by US
officials, but over the last year has been the subject of
investigation by the European Parliament. Whilst it monitors phone
calls, satellite transmissions, as well as Internet traffic, it is
the explosion in Web use which has prompted the latest concerns.
Critics claim the fight against terrorism and child pornography is
merely a smokescreen for clandestine action which amounts to no
more than industrial espionage and what the EU calls "serious
interference with an individual's exercise of the right to
privacy."
Armed only with straight cucumbers, it was no surprise when a
visiting delegation from the European Parliamentary committee was
stonewalled by the US government. But the eurocrats have gone on
record as saying the existence of Echelon is "no longer in doubt"
and that bastion of democracy, the EU parliament, is expected to
vote on a final resolution regarding abuses of the system in the
autumn. In the meantime, the Echelon inquiry raises a fundamental
issue: who or what owns the Web? Whilst the origins of the Internet
can be traced back to the US defence programme, its present
incarnation is down to the structures, or lack of them, created by
its early public adherents. Public perception is already suspicious
of Internet security, particularly where financial transactions are
involved. If the Web is to be anything other than a cheap
alternative to letter writing and home to the ramblings of
anarchists, football fanatics, self-publicists and porn merchants,
the public will need reassuring they're not being monitored at
every click of the mouse.
Business perception of the public's attitude to the Web has been
shown to be as accurate as a dot.com's profit forecast. And whilst
consumer business is slowly increasing over the Internet, its use
is tentative and will need further work to shore up its shaky
electronic infrastructure. It needs to be a secure environment both
from within, protecting users from the electronic muggers that
prowl the darker recesses of the electronic highway, and from
without, with strong defences against the machinations of the
powerful.
With the proliferation and increasing power of mobile technology,
the Internet has the potential to be a part of a true information
age. If allowed, it can disseminate knowledge, or what the modern
day father of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee, calls a "universal medium
for sharing information." But let's just be careful who or what we
share it with.
www.w3.org
Description: World Wide Web consortium
Strengths: More information than you can throw a stick at.
Home to Tim Berners-Lee
Weaknesses: Dry as the Gobi desert
Verdict: Rather wordy, but technically detailed
www.aclu.org/echelonwatch
Description: American Civil Liberties Union watches the
watchers
Strengths: Fascinating, yet disturbing, overview of modern
day James Bonds
Weaknesses: Text, text and more text
Verdict: Fine example of the power of the web to
disseminate
www.netvalley.com
Description: Home of the Internet?
Strengths: Informative and entertaining look at THE valley.
Fascinating history of the internet from 1858
Weaknesses: Doesn't mention the dot.com fallout
Verdict: Could do with an update, but still worth the visit