hi marc This is really great, and I agree with so much of it. I shouldnt say this in an email of course. The cash thing is difficult - I tried for a while - I closed all my bank accounts and my wife gave me so much a week to live on (never enough!). But then I found myself in positions where I couldn't pay for things and gradually started to use the card again, though I do keep it to a minimum. I never use a credit card and never accept loyalty cards.
I have a mobile phone now, though I resisted it for years. I ended up doing a research project using mobile phones, and so ended up getting one. I don't switch it on very often though. At the end of the translation, I think there's a problem as it doesn't really make sense ... "it's remarkable enough if one notable politician speaks up. His name is Martin Schulz, and he's not only president of the European Parliament but even a Social Democrat. Until now, neither he nor his party objected to the rampant security and control mania in any remarkable way." dave On 4 March 2014 09:24, marc garrett <[email protected]> wrote: > recently posted on the Nettime list by Florian Cramer... > > Hans Magnus Enzensberger: Rules for the digital world > > Published yesterday by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, > http://www.faz.net/frankfurter-allgemeine-zeitung/enzensbergers-regeln- > fuer-die-digitale-welt-wehrt-euch-12826195.html > > Written by the same Enzensberger who wrote "Constituents of a Theory of the > Media" (first published in German as "Baukasten zu einer Theorie der > Medien" in Kursbuch, 20, 1970, first published in English in the New Left > Review, no. 64, 1970, reprinted in 2003 in the The New Media Reader). > > This is an unauthorized, quick translation. > > > Defend Yourselves! > > For those who aren't nerds, hackers or cryptographers and have better > things to do than keep up with the pitfalls of digitalization every hour, > there are ten simple rules to resist exploitation and surveillance: > > 1 > If you own a mobile phone, throw it away. You had a life before this > device, and the human race will continue to exist after its disappearance. > One should avoid the superstitious worship that it enjoys. Neither those > devices nor their users are any smart, but only those who plug them to us > in order to accumulate boundless riches and control ordinary people. > > 2 > Whoever offers something for free is suspicious. One should categorically > refuse anything that passes itself off as a bargain, bonus or freebie. It's > always a lie. The dupes pay with their privacy, their data and often enough > with their money. > > 3 > Online banking is a blessing, but only for secret services and criminals. > > 4 > Governments and industries want to abolish cash. They would like to get rid > of a legal tender that anyone can redeem. Coins and bills are annoying for > banks, traders, security and fiscal authorities. Plastic cards are not only > cheaper to produce. Our watchdogs prefer them because they allow tracing of > any transaction. Therefore, we all should avoid credit, debit and loyalty > cards. These permanent companions are bothersome and dangerous. > > 5 > The madness of networking every object of daily use - from toothbrush to > TV, from car to refrigerator - via the Internet, can only be met with total > boycott. Their manufacturers don't give a single thought to privacy. They > have a only one vulnerable body part, their bank account. Only bankruptcy > will teach them. > > 6 > The same applies to politicians. They ignore any objection to their actions > and omissions. They are submissive to the financial markets and don't dare > to go against the activities of secret services. But they have a vested > interest to be reelected. As long as the right to vote still exists, one > should deny anyone the vote who tolerates digital expropriation instead of > taking action against it. > > 7 > E-Mail is nice, fast and free. So watch out! If you have a confidential > message or don't want to be surveilled, take a postcard and pencil. > Handwriting is hard to read for machines. Nobody suspects important > information on a 45 cent picture postcard. You don't have to resort to a > dead drop like in old-fashioned spy novels. > > 8 > Avoid obtaining goods and services via Internet. Vendors like Amazon, Ebay > and so on store all data and molest their customers with advertising spam. > Anonymous shopping is better. Acceptable exceptions can be made for > individual sites that one knows well. > > 9 > Just like network television, the big Internet corporations are primarily > financed by advertising. This way, they steal their customers' time and > attention. Someone who ceaseless yells at you and molests you deserves > punishment. It's recommendable to stay away from everything marketed this > way, and switch off, once and for all, the stations terrorizing you with > advertising. This should not only be done for hygienic reasons. As we know, > particularly the American mega corporations collaborate closely with secret > services to spy out and control, if possible, any human activity. > > 10 > Networks like Facebook call themselves "social" despite their eagerness to > treat their customers in the utmost anti-social ways. Whoever wants to have > friends like this, is a hopeless case. Those who are unfortunate enough to > be part of such a company, should try to take flight as fast as possible. > This is not so easy. An octopus won't consent to letting his prey escape. > > * * * > > These simple measures can't solve the political problem that society is > faced with. Given the passiveness and servility of the parties ruling this > country [the coalition of Christian and Social Democrats in Germany], it's > remarkable enough if one notable politician speaks up. His name is Martin > Schulz, and he's not only president of the European Parliament but even a > Social Democrat. Until now, neither he nor his party objected to the > rampant security and control mania in any remarkable way. All respective > violations, no matter whether foreign imports or domestic products of > German workmanship, have been given the nod. Storing data, intercepting, > appeasing - the standard procedure. > > The sleep of reason will continue to the day when a majority of this > country's citizens will experience firsthand what has been done to them. > Perhaps, they will rub their eyes and ask why they let it slip in a time > when resistance was still possible. > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >
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