Big Brother's New Eyes -- Economist, August 7th

[gnu (John Gilmore)]

The Economist magazine has two articles on monitoring of citizens'
activities in its August 7th issue, and mentions the problem on the
cover.  In its editorial on p. 16, it comes out in favor of anonymity:

	"Even if the anonymous technologies are more expensive and less
	 convenient than the data-scooping alternative, the price will
	 be worth paying."

It also reports on road-toll charging systems starting on p. 71, with
a minor mention of anonymous toll payment.  The headline is "Big
Brother is Clocking You" with a subheading of "The technology that
promises fewer traffic jams may damage your civil liberties."

The Economist is one of the truly outstanding magazines of the decade,
by the way.  It sounds stogdy but it is anything but, and it tends to spot
trends long before the rest of the world has noticed them.

	John