Concept wars

William Heath has been thinking about a paper by a David Bewley-Taylor. US Concept Wars, civil liberties and technologies of fortification characterises the "widespread introduction" of "invasive technology" in the wake of 9/11 not as a break from the open society many believe the US to be, but rather "the next organic phase of an ongoing process of fortifying the United States." The US, he says, "has long been characterized by exclusion." The paper also charaterises technology as a tool of exclusion.

Hmmm. Social exclusion is certainly not exclusive to the US and technology is most certainly enabling when designed, deployed and regulated appropriately.