Are We Heading Into a Global Surveillance Superstate and Why?

Are We Heading Into a Global Surveillance Superstate and Why?

Within rapidly advancing tech sectors of capitalist economies an invisible interface between internet infrastructure, the state and the military-industrial complex has been developed, with decidedly negative and oppressive outcomes. Silicon Valley in the US is the global epicentre of this big data cartel and its practices are highly dubious, decidedly unethical.  Tech corporations are vastly…

Meta and Privacy: The Economy of Data Transgressions

Meta and Privacy: The Economy of Data Transgressions

Meta, to put it rather inelegantly, has a data non-compliance problem. That problem began in the original conception of Facebook, a social network conceived by that most anti-social of types, Mark Zuckerberg. (Who claims that these troubled sorts lack irony?) On May 22, the European Union deemed it appropriate to slap a $1.3 billion fine…

Towards an Anthropology of Surveillance

Towards an Anthropology of Surveillance

With the rapid growth of metadata and political and corporate surveillance in America during the last two decades, anthropologists Roberto J. González and David H. Price—long-time contributors to CounterPunch—have been studying the impacts and implications of these developments. Both Price and González recently published books that critically examine surveillance in the United States (Price’s The…

Ending Anonymity: Why the WEF’s Partnership Against Cybercrime Threatens the Future of Privacy

Ending Anonymity: Why the WEF’s Partnership Against Cybercrime Threatens the Future of Privacy

With many focusing on tomorrow’s Cyber Polygon exercise, less attention has been paid to the World Economic Forum’s real ambitions in cybersecurity – to create a global organization aimed at gutting even the possibility of anonymity online. With the governments of the US, UK and Israel on board, along with some of the world’s most…

Facebook’s Desire for You to Report Your Friends Is the Latest Alarming Step in Its Bid to Take Over the World

Facebook’s Desire for You to Report Your Friends Is the Latest Alarming Step in Its Bid to Take Over the World

A test of a new feature that asks users to report friends they suspect may be becoming an extremist has been greeted with horror from Facebook users. It’s a bizarre precedent that we should all be concerned about. Over the past few days, some Facebook users have reported seeing prompts asking them if they are…