Alejandro Tortolini wrote >This remind me the work of Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, who suggest that our digital data should have an "expiration date".< I've been watching this "buzz" thread with some interest and I just wanted to add that, Yes, an "expiration date" seems in some ways desirable. I would even say that in a sense one already exists, simply using the logic of context. That said, the hegemonic positons of given companies, as already touched on by several people, is indeed worrying. It relates I think not only to the increasing porousness of internetting but to whether technology increases inhumane actions. Notably, these are all things that have been previously discussed on this list, as a search through the archives reveals. In times of different perceived crises maybe these things stricke us more forcefully. The British newspaper _The Independent_ (15 Jan 10) carries, for example, an article by Bruce Anderson "sanctioning" torture, though to what extent this is senseationalistic or "humble propositional" people may judge for themselves. (Ten "pages" of readers' comments follow the article, by the way.) So I wonder, which is more troublng, Google's beta bumbles or a business as usual in other spheres (if there is more than a single punning sphere). Best wishes, Bill William Bain PhD Student Area de teoria literaria Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona