Micom 2000
May 24th, 2007, 01:47 AM
In the book by George Orwell, "1984", the state was all-powerful and could monitor your every action,( "Big Brother is watching you" ) and form your thoughts by it's media broadcasts. Double-Think. Sounds current.
In the 60s and before, government apparatuses kept track of individuals who were considered a possible threat to the ruling order in voluminous paper files in vast storage facilities. Since so many people who opposed the war in Viet-Nam, student and anti-racist activists, and community organisers working to alleviate the conditions of poor people were suspect, the files immensity was almost a safe place to hide unless the security apparatus could find yours and focus on you.
With the power of computer data-bases, memory, and speed I wonder if that is still true. Since 7/11 one would assume that as well as those old files now entered into the data-base, the new threats from foreign and resident dissenters has grown exponentially, and since even the reading habits of library borrowers or the multitude of postings in forums or emails not only in the US but abroad is of interest to the various government "security" agencies I wonder if the Data-Base isn't overwhelmed as it was with "paper" files in the 60's. eg: the overkill generated by most Google searches.
What are the limits of data base information storage ?
Lawrence
In the 60s and before, government apparatuses kept track of individuals who were considered a possible threat to the ruling order in voluminous paper files in vast storage facilities. Since so many people who opposed the war in Viet-Nam, student and anti-racist activists, and community organisers working to alleviate the conditions of poor people were suspect, the files immensity was almost a safe place to hide unless the security apparatus could find yours and focus on you.
With the power of computer data-bases, memory, and speed I wonder if that is still true. Since 7/11 one would assume that as well as those old files now entered into the data-base, the new threats from foreign and resident dissenters has grown exponentially, and since even the reading habits of library borrowers or the multitude of postings in forums or emails not only in the US but abroad is of interest to the various government "security" agencies I wonder if the Data-Base isn't overwhelmed as it was with "paper" files in the 60's. eg: the overkill generated by most Google searches.
What are the limits of data base information storage ?
Lawrence