Looking through the course of history, technology seems to exist in two waves, the first of which increases freedom and the second of which decreases it. Of course, my musing today on this rather grim and unpleasant subject was prompted by news reports that a bill in the US Senate that was originally supposed to increase the privacy of e-mail looks on second review, thanks to some rewrites by a Democratic Senator, to decrease freedom by allowing numerous federal agencies (including the NLRB and FTC) to read private e-mails of private citizens without a search warrant. Truth be told, I’m not thrilled by this at all, and I think it one more in a long list of unwarranted intrusions into freedom that happen when governments view their own desire to know what their people are up to more than they respect the freedom of their masters.

There are many technologies that show this pattern. When agriculture first developed, it offered a way for villages to ensure a food supply that did not depend on their hunting ability, increasing their health and food supply. Soon, however, agriculture led to centralized and oppressive governments that taxed the relatively easily accessible food sources and left the common people malnourished and poorer off than before, while leaders and their bureaucrats siphoned off wealth to themselves. The same was true in horses–their introduction to the Americas left the plains tribes free to hunt over vastly greater distances and increase their power and freedom from early colonial powers. Eventually, though, those same horses brought the US Cavalry and the subjugation of those tribes to American power. Likewise, the longbow originally brought freedom to people to hunt in royal forests and try to escape the domination of the (corrupt) legal order, but within a couple of centuries the longbowmen become part of the English army, co-opted into the corrupt government of the English monarchy. And on and on.

And so it ought not to be a surprise that we see this same dynamic with regards to the internet and computer technology. Governments understandably spooked by anti-globalist flash mobs and twitter revolutions and having their own wikileaks scandals are seeking to use the power of technology against their own citizenry. Any power that the people gain through increased technology will quickly be co-opted by governments and used to increase their power and decrease the freedom and liberty of their citizens until another invention temporarily provides for more freedom and the cycle begins again. We therefore ought not to be surprised that the government wants to read our e-mails and probably comb through them with algorithms to determine what people make posts that would indicate disloyalty to the government.

So I’m going to save the government some time, and that’s not just my own government, but any other government (including the Thai government) who might be tempted to take a close look at what I write. I’m not interested in the violent overthrow of any government, but at the same time I don’t really trust authority as a general rule, and I have no qualms about being open about my suspicion. I greatly value personal freedom, including freedom of expression, and I use these freedoms with restraint but generally with a great deal of focus and intensity. Other than that, unless you want to read lots of music charts, blog entries, job applications, or religious-related e-mails, reading my e-mail isn’t going to be very interesting for any government, but if you want to waste your time reading my stuff, be my guest. There are probably a lot more interesting people to look at, and I don’t feel like my taxpayer money should be wasted in such a manner.