From the Dec. 2008 Issue Technologies are not inherently good or
bad. The same Gutenberg printing press that brought Bibles to
the common people and led to the Age of Enlightenment also
flooded Europe with low-cost pornography and created the need
for the first copyright laws. Likewise, the telegraph that
linked the American continent was abused for the purpose of
dirty jokes, libel and cross-country extra-marital affairs. The
telephone brought telemarketing, television eroded traditional
values, and cell phones empowered a new generation of drug
dealers. And on and on. The point is that the technologies
themselves are not at blame, but rather it’s a matter of how we
use and abuse them. In the case of how the U.S. government uses
technology, we now have two clear-cut examples that should serve
as a warning against the impending third. Let’s begin in the
1920s, in the era just after The War To End All Wars. Students
of history will remember that the government of the United
States learned during the Great War