Pynchon mention

[pynchonoid]

[...] In his new introduction to George Orwell's 1984,
Thomas Pynchon, the literary king of paranoia,
describes the Internet as "a development that promises
social control on a scale those quaint old
twentieth-century tyrants with their goofy moustaches
could only dream about."

One of Mr. Pynchon's novels, Vineland, is set amid the
American interstate highway system, which was built
for purely military use until an unforeseen automotive
boom turned it over to civilians for travel and
commerce. In Vineland's world, the government retains
the road network's original, militaristic function for
all sorts of societal meddling.

Can the same really be said of that other great
military development, the Internet? Despite being
dispersed, stateless and instantaneous, it is
surprisingly easy to control and snoop upon from
above. China's regime has become an eager proponent of
universal Internet access -- and also the world's
largest buyer of equipment for monitoring and policing
Web and e-mail traffic. China's Falun Gong is probably
the world's first religion to have spread almost
entirely by on-line communications, but it is also the
first religion to have been crushed through on-line
communications. [...] 

from:
Revolution by e-mail? Tyrants aren't quivering
Saturday, May 10, 2003 - Page F3 
The Globe and Mail

<http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030510/FCDOUG/TPTechnology/>



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