I fully concur with Dr. Wu. Why is it that every person on the planet (except Canadians and Mexicans who are not crooks) has to be fingerprinted by the FBI? Is it because Canadians and Mexicans are more honest? Or, is it because these two countries border the U.S. of A. and are no threat whatsoever? In light of this, I think the AoIR conference should be held anywhere but the US.
Peter Jakubowicz The Chinese University of Hong Kong
I think that the discussion so far has framed the issue as being aligned with the digital divide between internet "have and have-not" countries (Mexico possibly excepted). I am not sure this is the case. Many Europeans are uncomfortable with current US politics as well. It has not gone unnoticed that the present US government refers to European hesitance towards the US policy in Iraq in less than flattering terms. We Europeans sometimes find it hard to understand why the US government would expect its friends in Europe to go to war in Iraq for reasons that seem somewhat dubious (weapons of mass destruction, etc.) and simultaneously tutor us about how to avoid terrorism and further democracy in the world. Subjects like nationalism, terrorism, fundamentalist beliefs, and democracracy versus security have unfortunately been part of the political agenda in Europe since the early seventies. Examples include, but are not limited to, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Basque separatist organization ETA, the German Baader-Meinhof group, the Italian Red Brigades, the November 17 group in Greece, German nationalist skinheads, etc. We have - unfortunately - a great deal of experience in treating such problems. The present US government acts as if terrorism was a new problem predominantly concerning the US. All this is background and only periferally relevant to the question of AoIR conference locations. What really matters is this: I don't feel comfortable about going to the US anymore. I feel that my personal security is threatened and my dignity is violated in ways that are probably hard to understand if you are a US national. Electronic fingerprints that go to vast registers, rampant collection of information on foreign travellers, suspects held captive for undetermined periods of time, political radicals killed with remotely controlled missiles, electronic conversations monitored automatically and recorded routinely, credit card transactions traced at a whim... it gives me the creeps! It is directly against my beliefs about the information age and all that I have taught my students about information policy. I think it is very real and has very little to do with hysterics. With regrets, Charlie -- Charlie Breindahl External Lecturer Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication Division of Film and Media Studies University of Copenhagen Web: http://staff.hum.ku.dk/hitch/ Phone: +45 35 32 81 14 Mobile: +45 51 92 15 98 E-mail: hitch@hum.ku.dk "For the modern Don Quixote, the windmills have been preprogrammed to turn into knights" - Janet H. Murray