While it’s no secret that concentrated wealth negatively influences the political system, most people are probably unaware of the extent and the details of the corruption. One good source of information on this subject is the American writer Thomas Frank, who recently published an interesting article in Harper’s, appropriately titled “It’s a Rich Man’s World: How Billionaires Pick America’s Candidates.” Here he is, on the same topic, in interview with Bill Moyers.
Recording everything: digital storage as an enabler of authoritarian governments
The Brookings Institution recently published a paper entitled “Recording Everything: Digital Storage as an Enabler of Authoritarian Governments“. The executive summary reads as follows: Within the next few years an important threshold will be crossed: For the first time ever, it will become technologically and financially feasible for authoritarian governments to record nearly everything that is said or done within their borders—every phone conversation, electronic message, social media interaction, the movements of nearly every person and vehicle, and video from every street corner. Governments with a history of using all of the tools at their disposal to track and monitor their citizens…
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