The new society of individuals is one of the great achievements of the twentieth century, expressed in the spread of human rights and the values of individual dignity. It has challenged feudal and patriarchal structures. It has upended norms of conformity and anonymity associated with industrialized mass society. It has triggered a new era in politics and commerce, a new structure of individualized consumption, and a demand for individual voice. You and I would not be here now, meeting like this, our disembodied voices converging in a global distributed information milieu in my home and yours were it not for the accomplishments of this new human mentality.

    But this new society is also deeply contested. It is opposed by an ancient religious vision newly revitalized and spreading in various forms across the middle east, central Asia, and now throughout the most alienated pockets of the global Islamic community. It is contested by the varieties of fundamentalist and other conservative movements in the US. There are regressive proto fascist groups and extreme conservative factions across Europe.

    Tragically, the newest threat to the fragile accomplishments of late modern self determining individual comes from our own governments, and uniquely the US government under the leadership of the Bush White House and its agents– determined to hijack history and set it on a new course. This would be a fascinating subject for discussion and debate were its not for its immediate, acute, and destructive effects. My children are at risk. So are yours. It’s a technology story, it’s a political story, but most of all it’s a story of a full blown assault on the sanctity of the individual. It all starts with the terror worm.

    Years ago, when we were distracted with grief and dismay, White House hackers stealthily released a destructive “terror worm” here at home. With our societal immune system badly compromised by the shocks of 9/11, our existing fire walls proved no match for this new menace. The terror worm has by now burrowed its way into our public places and our homes. It invaded our bodies and infected our children. Like most worms, this one was concealed in a series of attachments sent by the Security conglomerate of Homeland, Transportation, and National: warrantless wiretapping programs; secret data mining of emails, credit card purchases, Internet searches, and travel plans; rendition, torture, and the abrogation of habeas corpus. More is on the way: GPS tracking, biometric scanners, online indices of suspicious persons, DNA databases. These technologies of control invented to catch the bad guys have become the hosts upon which the worm hitches a ride to its ultimate target: the intimate recesses of our daily lives. Like chronic fatigue or Gulf War syndrome, there’s no official recognition of the anxiety the worm produces. Its presence is only detectable as things we count on, and cherish, unexpectedly vanish (to be continued…)