On 9 September 2013, the Norwegian people gave their votes to a conservative majority, which is now forming the most right-wing government in Norway’s history. Norway, alongside the rest of Europe, is stepping to the right. But in contrast to most European countries, Norway is not in financial difficulties. On […]

There was a short period of time in recent Russian history when a tiny hope emerged that there would be no more stories of people imprisoned for their political views: people falsely diagnosed with “continuous sluggish schizophrenia”, expelled from big cities to areas from which foreigners were completely banned. Then […]

 The impact social media has had on our daily lives – we now record where we go, what we do and what we think for the world to see – has radically changed the way we relate to ourselves and each other. As the proliferation of social media has become increasingly […]

…What Was the Question? Most debates about the pros and cons of information technology fail to ask a basic question: what is information technology for? In order to understand information technology’s functions and effects on society, we need to examine its origins. This, in turn, requires a basic understanding of the […]

‘The Stasi had a file on everybody’ was once a common trope used to favourably compare the ‘free’ West to oppressive Soviet societies. It has since become an emblem of the threat to privacy that an overreaching security state will embody. When Edward Snowden exposed the surveillance apparatus maintained by the […]

The evolution of drone technology since the start of the “war on terror” has transformed warfare beyond recognition. Once limited to surveillance operations, these “unmanned aerial vehicles” now come equipped with hellfire missiles, facial recognition, license plate readers, and on-board sensors that detect heat and motion. They can monitor Wi-Fi […]

We shouldn’t be surprised by the tactics a desperate political class use to retain control, courtesy of advances in technology and the creation of discursive threats (traitors, communists, drug cartels, terrorists, foreigners, workshy). Tantalising insights have always surfaced intermittently around surveillance in the US and the UK. Yet people were shocked as […]

The data economy can be summed up as follows: the acquisition and exploitation of personal information on behalf of the marketing and commercial profiling industries. This includes practices such as lead generation which encompasses things like online surveys and cold calling, market research, signing up to a company’s mailing list, viral […]

The logic of punishment in democratic states Crime pays – especially in the public debate. These days, almost everybody seems to be concerned with how best to fight crime. While there are divergent approaches, many believe in the need for punishment and for the state to use force (where would we […]

The cell door opened for slop out to discharge the piss bucket. Bang, bang and bang again. The sound of an unwieldy wooden scrubbing brush clubbing me in the head. Two much older lads decided that I was responsible for doing a “Borstal Whistle” during the night. This was one […]