internet - openDemocracy (Page 36)

The abuse of emergency legislation: here we go again

A video of Brian Eno’s historic warning against emergency legislation that takes away liberty.

By Brian Eno

/ 1 Aug 2014

Cutting the Gordian knot: the corporate-government nexus

If the brave students of the Otpor movement can take on a totalitarian regime, then we can take a couple of hours out of our week.

By Diego de Soto

/ 28 Jul 2014

A clear-eyed look at mass surveillance

The Snowden revelations on mass surveillance practices, especially by the US and UK, have triggered a global struggle over the right to privacy—and a report by the outgoing UN human-rights commissioner has set the terrain for the next phase.

By Cynthia Wong

/ 25 Jul 2014

Protest and social movements: a sine qua non for democracy

Laurence Cox interviews Cristina Flesher Fominaya about her new book, Social Movements and Globalization: How Protests, Occupations and Uprisings are Changing the World - on the mutual impact of social movements and globalisation, the ongoing influence of nation states, the rise of the autonomous

By Laurence Cox and Cristina Flesher Fominaya

/ 23 Jul 2014

1914 versus 1938: how anniversaries make history

Drop into any of the big bookstores in London or Berlin and discover that they are literally occupied by books about the Great War. But how does this affect European attitudes to Russia’s involvement in Ukraine today?

By Ivan Krastev

/ 7 Jul 2014

The embedded power of algorithms

The recent revelations surrounding the manipulation of Facebook news feeds to affect the emotional state of users should not be understood as an isolated social experiment, but rather as one point within a far broader setting in which algorithms are powerful forces in everyday life.

By David Beer

/ 3 Jul 2014

Twenty-first century protest: social media and surveillance

The internet is a two-edged sword—a vehicle for mass surveillance on the one hand and the organisation of civil-society protest on the other.

By Ciana-Marie Pegus

/ 29 Jun 2014

“We had to wait for Snowden for proof”, an exchange with NSA whistleblower William Binney

The NSA preferred a much more expensive system of bulk collection of foreign data. That was a fatal choice as it deprived the NSA of understanding what it was monitoring and this permitted the planning of 9/11 to escape them, not to mention the surveilling of American citizens, which is unconstitu

By Anthony Barnett and William Binney

/ 5 Jun 2014

Syria on our minds – fear of youth radicalisation across the European Union

Counterterrorist and counter-radicalisation policies not only have the potential to undermine the democratic principles, institutions, and processes they seek to preserve but also to produce unintended consequences.

By Didier Bigo, Francesco Ragazzi, Laurent Bonelli and Emmanuel-Pierre Guittet

/ 4 Jun 2014

All I can say is that you are uninteresting! An exchange with General Michael Hayden, Director of the NSA from 1999-2005

On the first anniversary of Ed Snowden’s revelations, this interview contributes to what we intend will become a growing, in depth exploration of the significance of surveillance for the future of humanity across the globe.

By Anthony Barnett and Michael Hayden

/ 4 Jun 2014

Global Preventive Security and its unbearable lightness

One now plays a part in one’s own protection. The institutions can help one to strengthen one’s preparedness. One must not blame them if they fail despite the promise of a maximum-security programme.

By Didier Bigo

/ 3 Jun 2014

The Cloud rains on all parades

A parking ticket leads our Sunday Comics author to wonder how much of our lives have migrated Up There

By Jim Gabour

/ 1 Jun 2014