[governance] WSJ "U.S. Products Help Block Mideast Web"

[Ivar A. M. Hartmann]

Technology in a broad sense is obviously neutral.
But is the way certain technologies are developed always necessarily
neutral? If code is law and law is absolutely never neutral, then it follows
that all software is designed with a purpose.
Even when we use the gun metaphor (guns don't kill people; people kill
people) there's no denying that weapons are designed in light of a certain
use that will be made of them. Nobody uses guns to plant trees.
Now, is there really any good use to be made of surveillance tools such as
DPI software? Taking into account, of course, that good investigative work
doesn't always have to rely only on surveillance that infringes the very
basic aspects of human privacy.

Best,
Ivar

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 13:23, Miguel Alcaine <miguel.alcaine at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> As mentioned many times: *Technology is neutral*. The use people make of
> technology can have different ethical, moral, legal connotations, among
> others.
>
> Best,
>
> Miguel
>
> Disclaimer
> My ideas are those of my own and does not represent any position of my
> employer or any other institution
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 6:44 AM, Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp> wrote:
>
>>
>> <
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704438104576219190417124226.html
>> >
>>
>> These same issues discussed at the IGF in Athens.  One more time?
>>
>> Nice quote:
>>
>> "Web-filtering technology has roots in the 1990s, when U.S. companies,
>> schools and libraries sought to prevent people from surfing porn, among
>> other things.
>>
>> Today, that U.S. technology is now among the tools used in the clampdowns
>> on uprisings across the Middle East. In Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and elsewhere,
>> bloggers have been jailed and even beaten as governments try to repress
>> online expression."
>>
>> Adam
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