Surveillance or Security?: The Risks Posed by New Wiretapping Technologies by Susan Landau Page B
Authors: Susan Landau
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impact on public discourse. The network's decentralization of
control means that anyone can publish. Indeed, the Internet makes possible Andy Warhol's claim that in the future everyone will be famous for
fifteen minutes.83 Similarly anyone can read. The Internet provides a forum
for publication that virtually everyone in the world can access. By lowering
the cost of participation, the Internet has changed the rules in virtually
every domain of human commerce.
Instead of being a one-to-one communications channel as is supplied
by the telephone,84 the Internet allows one-to-many (blogs, YouTube, etc.)
and many-to-many communication (Meetup.com). Of course the Internet
did not introduce one-to-many communications-both radio and television broadcasts do that. The change the Internet has brought is that
anyone with an Internet connection can be a broadcaster. The new technologies of publication such as blogs, photo-sharing sites, and so forth
encourage the public to act as newsgatherers.85 The general public has
much more power and control than it had even a decade ago, although
this is true only in nations where the Internet functions freely.86 Usercreated content means that the voices of individuals are heard in a way unknown even a decade ago. Private citizens not only gather the news,
they play a role in shaping it."
The networking afforded by the Internet has enabled the growth of
grassroots communities. One example of this in the United States is the
political action committee MoveOn, which originated in 1998 as an email
effort opposing President Bill Clinton's impeachment and quickly grew to
an organization of three million.88 Another involved priests who had sexually abused children over a period of years. New York University faculty
member Clay Shirky looked at two cases, one in 1992 and one in 2002.89
Both resulted in convictions, but the second created a national group of
activist Catholics seeking fundamental change in the Church;90 Shirky
posits the Internet made the difference. The network simplified distribution of information and enabled members to network between meetings.
Through lowered transactional costs-fast communications channels,
uncomplicated one-to-many communications, an easy ability to share and
forward information-the Internet is fundamentally changing society.
Various laws have been developed to describe this value-the value, of
course, depends on what you choose to measure. A broadcast network,
such as TV or AOL's network-based services, serves one user at a time, and
so its value would be proportional to the number of users, or simply n for
n members. Users interact with each other-they email, IM, and so on-and
Metcalfe's law captures that aspect, describing the value of a network as
proportional to the square of the number of users, or n(n - 1)/2.91 Reed's
law looks at the social groups that form, and claims the value of a network
with n participants is 2", or the number of subgroups that can be created
from this set of participants.92
A networking site can host all sorts of groups: people who live in Berkeley and like to play bridge, people who like to birdwatch at Tule Lake, and
people who live in Berkeley, like to play bridge, and like to birdwatch at
Tule Lake. (The ability of the networking site to easily create these groups
is inherent in the flexibility of the Internet's end-to-end design.) Since the
number of possible subgroups doubles each time a new member joins the
site, this makes large networking sites very powerful. That easily draws in
new members, but also makes it difficult for a competitor to pose a serious
threat to an existing large site.
Network architecture enables new speakers and it encourages new
connections. By erasing-figuratively and, of course, not completelyorganizational boundaries, the network abets collaboration. Wikipedia, the
online collaborative encyclopedia,93 is one example. Perhaps an even more
striking example
control means that anyone can publish. Indeed, the Internet makes possible Andy Warhol's claim that in the future everyone will be famous for
fifteen minutes.83 Similarly anyone can read. The Internet provides a forum
for publication that virtually everyone in the world can access. By lowering
the cost of participation, the Internet has changed the rules in virtually
every domain of human commerce.
Instead of being a one-to-one communications channel as is supplied
by the telephone,84 the Internet allows one-to-many (blogs, YouTube, etc.)
and many-to-many communication (Meetup.com). Of course the Internet
did not introduce one-to-many communications-both radio and television broadcasts do that. The change the Internet has brought is that
anyone with an Internet connection can be a broadcaster. The new technologies of publication such as blogs, photo-sharing sites, and so forth
encourage the public to act as newsgatherers.85 The general public has
much more power and control than it had even a decade ago, although
this is true only in nations where the Internet functions freely.86 Usercreated content means that the voices of individuals are heard in a way unknown even a decade ago. Private citizens not only gather the news,
they play a role in shaping it."
The networking afforded by the Internet has enabled the growth of
grassroots communities. One example of this in the United States is the
political action committee MoveOn, which originated in 1998 as an email
effort opposing President Bill Clinton's impeachment and quickly grew to
an organization of three million.88 Another involved priests who had sexually abused children over a period of years. New York University faculty
member Clay Shirky looked at two cases, one in 1992 and one in 2002.89
Both resulted in convictions, but the second created a national group of
activist Catholics seeking fundamental change in the Church;90 Shirky
posits the Internet made the difference. The network simplified distribution of information and enabled members to network between meetings.
Through lowered transactional costs-fast communications channels,
uncomplicated one-to-many communications, an easy ability to share and
forward information-the Internet is fundamentally changing society.
Various laws have been developed to describe this value-the value, of
course, depends on what you choose to measure. A broadcast network,
such as TV or AOL's network-based services, serves one user at a time, and
so its value would be proportional to the number of users, or simply n for
n members. Users interact with each other-they email, IM, and so on-and
Metcalfe's law captures that aspect, describing the value of a network as
proportional to the square of the number of users, or n(n - 1)/2.91 Reed's
law looks at the social groups that form, and claims the value of a network
with n participants is 2", or the number of subgroups that can be created
from this set of participants.92
A networking site can host all sorts of groups: people who live in Berkeley and like to play bridge, people who like to birdwatch at Tule Lake, and
people who live in Berkeley, like to play bridge, and like to birdwatch at
Tule Lake. (The ability of the networking site to easily create these groups
is inherent in the flexibility of the Internet's end-to-end design.) Since the
number of possible subgroups doubles each time a new member joins the
site, this makes large networking sites very powerful. That easily draws in
new members, but also makes it difficult for a competitor to pose a serious
threat to an existing large site.
Network architecture enables new speakers and it encourages new
connections. By erasing-figuratively and, of course, not completelyorganizational boundaries, the network abets collaboration. Wikipedia, the
online collaborative encyclopedia,93 is one example. Perhaps an even more
striking example
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