The Times April 11, 2006

Drugs companies 'inventing diseases to boost their profits'
By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent



PHARMACEUTICAL companies are systematically creating diseases in order to sell more of their products, turning healthy people into patients and placing many at risk of harm, a special edition of a leading medical journal claims today.



The practice of “diseasemongering” by the drug industry is promoting non-existent illnesses or exaggerating minor ones for the sake of profits, according to a set of essays published by the open-access journal Public Library of Science Medicine.

The special issue, edited by David Henry, of Newcastle University in Australia, and Ray Moynihan, an Australian journalist, reports that conditions such as female sexual dysfunction, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and “restless legs syndrome” have been promoted by companies hoping to sell more of their drugs.

Other minor problems that are a normal part of life, such as symptoms of the menopause, are also becoming increasingly “medicalised”, while risk factors such as high cholesterol levels or osteoporosis are being presented as diseases in their own right, according to the editors.

“Disease-mongering turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes iatrogenic (medically induced) harm,” they say. “Like the marketing strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in turn a global response.”

Doctors, patients and support groups need to be more aware that pharmaceutical companies are taking this approach, and more research is needed into the changing ways in which conditions are presented, according to the writers.

Disease-awareness campaigns are often funded by drug companies, and “more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health”, they say.

Particular conditions that are highlighted in the journal include sexual function in both men and women. The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction, one paper claims, has been highly exaggerated to provide a new market for drugs, while the makers of anti-impotence medicines, such as Viagra and Cialis, have been involved with their presentation as lifestyle drugs that can boost the sexual prowess of healthy men.

Ordinary shyness is routinely presented as a social anxiety disorder and treated with antidepressants, while newly identified conditions such as “restless legs syndrome” — a constant urge to move one’s legs — are presented as being much more common than they really are.

Richard Ley, of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, rejected the accusations, pointing out that Britain has firm safeguards against disease-mongering. Many of the authors’ criticisms, he said, were aimed squarely at countries such as the United States, where pharmaceuticals can be openly advertised directly to patients.

“Drug companies are not allowed to communicate directly with patients, and we do not invent diseases,” he said.

“We provide information that there are treatments out there that might help certain conditions, but at the end of the day it is down to health professionals to decide if they are appropriate.

“The best safeguard is that the doctor who knows the product and knows the patient’s history is the one who decides what to prescribe.”

"HAARP: The Ultimate Weapon of the Conspiracy"
HAARP Completed! (Cont'd)
Fri Apr 21, 2006 13:25
64.140.159.239

"We are pleased to continue our role as a premier supplier of transmitters for the HAARP program," said Steven T. Schorer, president of DRS's C4I Group. "This award enhances DRS's position as a leader in high-technology radio frequency solutions for secure and tactical communications systems supporting the applications of the government scientific research community.”

“The high-frequency or short-wave Model D616G Transmitters were designed specifically for the U. S. government HAARP research facility. Currently, the ionosphere provides long-range capabilities for commercial ship-to-shore communications, transoceanic aircraft links, and military communications and surveillance systems.

“A primary goal of HAARP is to understand how variations in the sun's radiation affect the performance of radio systems and to improve military command, control, communications and surveillance systems.

“DRS Broadcast Technology, formerly known as Continental Electronics, is a global leader in broadcast transmitter equipment. It is the foremost supplier of advanced radio frequency transmission technology and the world's most experienced provider of the highest power radio broadcast equipment, offering a full range of products for broadcasting, military and scientific applications.

“DRS Technologies, headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, provides leading edge products and services to defense, government intelligence and commercial customers. Focused on defense technology, DRS develops and manufactures a broad range of mission critical systems. The company employs 5,800 people worldwide.”

So, what do the spokesfolks at HAARP say they are doing now? From the HAARP website:

“Since March 1999, when the current 960 kW power capability became available, approximately 7-10 research campaigns have been conducted annually at the Gakona facility. Research periods are scheduled throughout the year; however, specific research areas are studied optimally during certain seasons. For example, the detection of optical emissions is best studied during the winter when clear, dark skies are frequent. Two such campaigns were conducted during 2002 and 2003. Extended research campaigns were conducted during the summers of 2002 and 2003 to observe and characterize the seasonal occurrence of an upper atmospheric phenomenon called Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes (PMSE) that occurs only at high latitudes in the summer.”

This infrequently up-dated site seldom reflects when the array is in use. Usually the site does not mention such use until months, or even years after, and then usually in very vague terms. As I write this, the site claims the last time the IRI was in use was November of 2003. Independent researchers have established that the site was in near daily use in 2005, however. As best anyone can tell the technicians spent the days wiring up the new transmitters and antennae, then spent several hours each night broadcasting to check the quality of the workmanship and equipment.

So, that is where HAARP is today, a $300 million dollar plus “upper atmospheric and solar-terrestrial physics” observatory -- that may or may not also be a whole lot more.

Even if HAARP is exactly what it says it is, is that something good? A key DoD document defines HAARP saying:

“The heart of the program will be the development of a unique ionospheric heating capability to conduct the pioneering experiments required to adequately assess the potential for exploiting ionospheric enhancement technology for DOD purposes.”

Let's break that down. Technically HAARP is a type of device called an ionospheric heater because injecting all that radio frequency energy (3.6 billions watts) into the atmosphere heats it up. The big difference between HAARP and the dozen or so other ionospheric heaters in the world is that HAARP, based on the Eastlund/APTI patents is a uniquely designed phased antenna array. This phasing, or sequencing of the firing of the transmitters/antenna field allows for the focusing ability that sets HAARP apart from its peers. If used for over-the-horizon surveillance it would also have made HAARP a violation of the ABM Treaty, which was still in effect when work on HAARP began, and may be the real reason for the military’s calling HAARP a civilian science project in the first place.

Heating the atmosphere changes it, so you can make it do things. In this case the amount of heating literally blows the molecules of the air apart. That is what is meant by “ionospheric enhancement.” You have to love the use of the word enhancement -- only the military would think that breaking something makes it better! This heating to the point where the molecules are blown apart causes it to give off a “scream” of extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves that penetrate deep into the earth and deep into the seas. The project was initially funded specifically to do this: to use this ionospherically generated ELF to communicate with deeply submerged submarines and to engage in something earth penetrating tomography to target and monitor enemy underground bases for the manufacture and launch of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). This heating also turns the “excited region” into a plasma (an electrically charged gas) that goes out into space, possibly destroying anything !
electronic (like an ICBM or a spy satellite) that passes through it. It also changes the shape and radio wave bounce characteristics of the ionosphere, effectively jamming some radio communications channels.

And what are DoD purposes? Why, to win wars! to make new weapons or to make existing weapons and personal more effective (which is called a force multiplier). So, simply put, what this quote says is that the DoD wants to know if they can use this technology to turn the atmosphere into a weapon, or use it to improve existing weapons.

As I have been asking for almost a decade now, is weaponizing the atmosphere a good idea? What about unintended and unexpected consequences? What happens when the enemy responds in kind? And why is it that the mainstream press is so silent on these issues?

This and a great deal more will be addressed in my new book "WEATHER WARFARE: The Military’s Plan to Draft Mother Nature." It should appear in bookstores in the fall of 2006. It will begin with an up-date on the many changes that have taken place behind the scenes with the HAARP project, from its change of management and ownership of the intellectual property that propels the program, to the creation of a defensive missile base “next door,” to its possible role in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Beyond that, the book will uncover the facts behind the next generation of 21st Century weapons and the globalist agendas that drive their development. About 1/3 of the book will cover “chemtrails” and the many government, scientific and private operations that are putting dangerous aerosols into our atmosphere.

Jerry E. Smith
Author & Lecturer
Vice President for Marketing, Public Relations & Product Development
Adventures Unlimited Press
jerryesmith@frontiernet.net

Jerry E. Smith
HAARP Completed!
Fri Apr 21, 2006 14:18
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: HAARP Completed!
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 02:35:59 -0500
From: jerry@jerryesmith.com
To: apfn@apfn.org
Source: http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=100653;show_parent=1

I respect your privacy, unsubscribe information is at the end of this message.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you feel would find this of
interest. I'm not asking you to spam for me, just to send this as far and
wide as you conscience allows (of course, your whole mailing list would be
nice!).

BREAKING NEWS: HAARP BUILD-OUT TO 3.6 BILLION WATT BROADCASTING CAPACITY COMPLETED

For the last four years the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Project (HAARP) has been managed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with Dr. Sheldon Z. Meth as the Program Manager. As of March 9, 2006 the official DARPA page for HAARP [http://www.darpa.mil/ucar/programs/haarp.htm] states that the high frequency transmitting array at the HAARP Research Station, Gakona, AK has been completed.

“The HAARP Interactive Ionospheric Research Observatory is a major Arctic facility for the study of upper atmospheric and solar-terrestrial physics and for Radio Science and Communications research. Among the instruments included at the facility are a high power, high-frequency (HF) phased array radio transmitter, numerous radio frequency and optical research instruments capable of observing and monitoring the complex auroral ionosphere, and site infrastructure to support research activities. “

The above is from the official HAARP website [http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/]. The high-frequency phased array radio transmitter mentioned is also called the Ionospheric Research Instrument (IRI) and it is the heart of the HAARP program. The Final IRI (FIRI) is a field of 180 towers, each 72 feet tall with two crossed dipole antennas at the top of each tower. Slung beneath the towers is a wire grid for reflecting upward any radio emissions from the antennas that heads toward the ground. Beneath the mesh are small buildings called shelters for the radio transmitters. All of these elements are linked together to act as one giant transmitting antenna with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 3.6 million watts, making it the world’s largest radio broadcasting station.

HAARP TIMELINE

Dr. Bernard J. Eastlund received the first of his three patents for a HAARP-like “Method And Apparatus For Altering A Region In The Earth’s Atmosphere, Ionosphere, And/Or Magnetosphere” (US Patent Number 4,686,605) on 11 August, 1987, while working for the ARCO subsidiary APTI. It was but the first of a dozen related patents that scientists on APTI's payroll would take out over the next few years.

Officially, however, HAARP was conceived on the morning of 13 December 1989, when a joint Navy-Air Force meeting was held at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Washington, D.C. It has since been described as a discussion of their mutual interest in carrying out a Department of Defense (DoD) program in the area of ionospheric modification. Military and HAARP documents insist that it was at this meeting that the "need" for a unique heating facility to conduct "critical experiments" relating to potential DoD applications was "identified."

The official tale of the birth of HAARP claims that the Navy and Air Force personnel at that after-breakfast meeting at ONR decided to bring the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in on the project. Consequently, Navy and Air Force 08personnel trooped over to DARPA later that day to present their proposal for a DoD sponsored program. As well as representatives of DARPA, people from the Office of the Defense Director of Research & Engineering (DDR&E) were also present at that second meeting of the day.

This led to an Ionospheric Modification/ELF Workshop held the following month at NUSC on 9-11 January 1990. It was attended by personnel from a number of government agencies, as well as from several universities and the private sector. The workshop was billed as providing "an opportunity for broad-based inputs concerning research needs in ionospheric modification. In addition, potential systems were defined, and the characteristics of a new, unique, HF heating facility were discussed and identified."

In a year's time the project moved off of the drawing boards and into reality. The Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 1990 provided funds for the creation of HAARP, jointly managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research. Three contracts were awarded to ARCO Power Technologies (APTI) to begin feasibility studies in 1991. In 1992 the principal contract to begin construction was awarded, also to APTI.

Early November 1993 the United States Air Force announced, via press release, that the prime contractor on the HAARP program was Arco Power Technologies, Incorporated, (APTI) owner of the patents of Eastlund and other APTI scientists.

Initial prototype construction began at the Gakona, Alaska site in late 1993 and was completed a year later in late '94. During that time APTI bailed on the project and mysteriously sold it to a major defense contractor, E-Systems of Dallas, Texas.

The following year, 1995, Raytheon bought E-Systems and all the APTI patents they held. That same year Congress budgeted $10 million for HAARP for FY 1996 under "Counterproliferation - Advanced Development" spending. In the FY 1997 Descriptive Summary of the Counterproliferation Advanced Development Budget HAARP appears under the sub-heading "Project P539 Counterforce." There it is recorded that "In FY96, Congress added $10 Million to be used for the High-Frequency Acoustic [sic] Auroral Research Program (HAARP) to this project." Elsewhere in that report it states "...in FY96 only, the Congressionally added HAARP program funds will be used to explore the ability of auroral transmissions to detect and locate underground structures of the type where WMD [Weapons of Mass Destruction] can be developed or stored."

The HAARP final ionospheric research instrument (FIRI) was planned to be a field of 180 antennas arranged in a rectangular grid of 12 rows by 15 columns. Initially a smaller set of elements was constructed so that the predicted performance could be verified before the entire facility is built. That initial phase of the program was called the Developmental Prototype (DP). By April of 1995 the DP array of 48 antenna towers arranged as 8 columns by 6 rows had been completed. Thirty additional unpowered and unused towers were also erected at that time.

The first round of tests of the DP was in April 1995. More start-up tests were conducted in July and November of 1995, while tests of the aircraft detection radar were conducted in September of that year. The aircraft alert radar (AAR) is intended to automatically shut off "appropriate transmissions" when aircraft are detected within, or approaching a "safety zone" established around the HAARP site.

HAARP documents claim that the facility was shut down at the end of the last set of initial low power tests on the DP on 21 November, 1995. Officially, no testing was conducted from that time until the HAARP facility was at last put to scientific use for the first time, over a year later. A two week flurry of scientific research activity, called a "campaign," took place from 27 February to 14 March, 1997. In addition to science experiments, this two week period included several visits from tour groups; participation in a lecture series by HAARP personnel at the nearby community college; a public talk on ionospheric research and the HAARP facility; and the first HAARP-Amateur radio listening test.

During the early part of the August 1997 testing period several experiments were performed with the NASA WIND satellite which was at a favorable position in its orbit.

The third annual HAARP Open House was held 23-24 August, 1997. Program personnel were present to discuss the project and to give demonstrations and tours of the facility. Several experts in ionospheric physics were also present to discuss the research plans and the physics of the earth's upper atmosphere.

They wanted to finish erecting the FIRI by 2002 but got their budget slashed. It appears that the in-coming President, George W. Bush, was more concerned with his anti-missile missile defense program than with ionospheric research, or exotic electromagnetic weapons research, depending on which HAARP really is, and killed HAARP's funding for the first two years of his administration.

Initially HAARP was jointly managed by ONR and the Air Force's Phillips Laboratory in Massachusetts. In 2002 Project Management of HAARP was transferred to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It would seem that DARPA was brought in to whip the project into shape. According to the official DARPA webpage for HAARP their portion of the project has now been completed and HAARP is being “transitioned” back to the Air Force and Navy in FY2006.

Per the official DARPA fact sheet:

“The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense (DoD). It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects for DoD, and pursues research and technology where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions.”

There are eight technical offices in DARPA. HAARP came under The Tactical Technology Office (TTO). According to their fact sheet:

“The Tactical Technology Office engages in high-risk, high-payoff advanced technology development of military systems, emphasizing the "system" and "subsystem" approach to the development of Unmanned Systems, Space Systems and Tactical Multipliers.”

DARPA's official word on HAARP, as of 3/9/06 is:

“The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project (HAARP) developed new experimental research capabilities and conducted research programs to exploit emerging ionosphere and radio science technologies related to advanced defense applications. The FY 1990 Appropriation Act provided funds for the creation of HAARP, jointly managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research to exploit emerging ionosphere and high power radio technology for new military systems applications. Key to the current effort was the expansion of the experimental research facility that includes a 3.6 MW high-frequency transmitter and a variety of diagnostic instruments, to conduct investigations to characterize the physical processes that can be initiated and controlled in the ionosphere and space, via interactions with high power radio waves. Among these were: (1) the generation of extremely low frequency/very low frequency radio waves for submarine and other subsurface comm!
unication, and the reduction of charged particle populations in the radiation belts to ensure safe spacecraft systems operations; (2) the control of electron density gradients and the refractive properties in selected regions of the ionosphere to create radio wave propagation channels; and (3) the generation of optical and infrared emissions in space to calibrate space sensors. To date, the facility has been developed to include a suite of optical and radio diagnostics and an advanced, modern, high frequency transmitting array that has a radiated power of 960 kW, about one-third of the 3.6MW called for in the original concept and plan. The current high frequency transmitting array has proven to be extremely reliable and flexible, and has shown the feasibility of the overall concept. However, results to date have indicated that the advanced applications-related research activities and new military system concept demonstrations envisioned under the program require that the hi!
gh frequency transmitting capability at the site be increased !
from the
present 960 kW level to the originally planned 3.6 MW level. A study completed by an Air Force/Navy Panel also pointed to additional high-value functions that can potentially be accomplished with the a 3.6 MW capability, in particular, the exploration and refinement of scientific principles that could lead to the development and deployment of a system to provide protection for spacebased assets from emergent asymmetric threats. DARPA established an MOA with the Air Force and Navy for this program in November 2002. The HAARP technology is transitioning to the Air Force and Navy in FY 2006.

“Program Plans
• Completed the HAARP high frequency transmitting array at the HAARP Research Station, Gakona, AK.
• Prepared the existing HAARP facility in preparation for ionospheric testing.
• Conducted advanced ionosphere and radio science research and analysis of applications including space-based asset protection and phenomena related to its implementation.”

Not only was Dr. Meth in charge of HAARP, he also manages programs called Air Laser and MAgneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition (MAHEM)! Does it seem odd to you that a guy running a lazar development program and designing some kind of bomb would also be tinkering with how the top of the atmosphere reacts to radio waves?

DARPA signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Air Force and Navy to run this program for them in November 2002. On 17 February 2003 a Press Release went out announcing that BAE Systems North America had reached a definitive agreement with Advanced Power Technologies, Inc. (APTI), to purchase the corporation for $27 million in cash (note that somewhere along the line the “A” in APTI changed from “ARCO” to “Advanced”). That Press Release has since been deleted from BAE's website. Details on this purchase have completely vanished from the Internet. I called a spokesperson at APTI and got very little information. Indeed, when I asked about HAARP the poor fellow had never heard of it - or so he claimed!

After purchasing APTI BAE Systems then owned the intellectual property, the patents, that make HAARP possible. When HAARP's funding was resumed they automatically got the contract. This is important evidence that HAARP is a ground-based weapons systems, as laid out in those patents, as has been discussed in several books on HAARP, including mine.

One year and two months after purchasing APTI, BAE Systems announced that they had received a contract from the Navy for $35 Million to complete the HAARP Program. In a Press Release dated 10 June 2004, BAE Systems proclaimed:

“The Office of Naval Research has awarded BAE Systems a $35.4 million contract to manufacture 132 high frequency (HF) transmitters for installation in the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program's (HAARP) phased array antenna system. The contract was finalized April 19 with BAE Systems Information & Electronic Warfare Systems in Washington, D. C.”

BAE Systems lost no time in farming out the HAARP contract. Five days after getting the job from the Navy they sub-contracted it to DRS Technologies.

“DRS TECHNOLOGIES RECEIVES $23.3 MILLION CONTRACT TO PROVIDE HIGH-FREQUENCY RADIO TRANSMITTERS FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT

“Parsippany, NJ, June 15 -- DRS Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: DRS) announced today that it has received a $23.3 million contract, including options, to provide high-frequency (HF) radio transmitters for the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which supports a U. S. government Arctic research facility being built to study the Earth's upper atmosphere.

“The $11.5 million base contract was awarded to DRS by BAE Systems PLC (LSE: BA. L). For this award, DRS will manufacture more than 60 Model D616G 10-Kilowatt Dual Transmitters to fulfill the transmitter requirements for the HAARP program. Work for this order will be performed by the company's DRS Broadcast Technology unit in Dallas, Texas. Product deliveries to BAE Systems' Information and Electronic Warfare Systems in Washington, D.C., are scheduled to begin in March 2005 and continue for approximately one year.

"We are pleased to continue our role as a premier supplier of transmitters for the HAARP program," said Steven T.

The Eternal Value of Privacy



Page 1 of 1


Breaking News from AP:
Murder charge against Calif. man dismissed
Man charged in 13th Kansas City killing
San Jose mayor indicted for fraud, bribery
Accused troops' supporters busy fundraising
Spelunker's 41-year-old remains to surface

See Also
Stumbling Into a Spy Scandal
Feds' Watch List Eats Its Own
Why Data Mining Won't Stop Terror
Mass Spying Means Gross Errors
Lawbreaker in Chief
Critics Slam Net Wiretapping Rule

By Bruce Schneier| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM May, 18, 2006

The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?"

Some clever answers: "If I'm not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me." "Because the government gets to define what's wrong, and they keep changing the definition." "Because you might do something wrong with my information." My problem with quips like these -- as right as they are -- is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect.

Two proverbs say it best: Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? ("Who watches the watchers?") and "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Cardinal Richelieu understood the value of surveillance when he famously said, "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." Watch someone long enough, and you'll find something to arrest -- or just blackmail -- with. Privacy is important because without it, surveillance information will be abused: to peep, to sell to marketers and to spy on political enemies -- whoever they happen to be at the time.

Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.

We do nothing wrong when we make love or go to the bathroom. We are not deliberately hiding anything when we seek out private places for reflection or conversation. We keep private journals, sing in the privacy of the shower, and write letters to secret lovers and then burn them. Privacy is a basic human need.

A future in which privacy would face constant assault was so alien to the framers of the Constitution that it never occurred to them to call out privacy as an explicit right. Privacy was inherent to the nobility of their being and their cause. Of course being watched in your own home was unreasonable. Watching at all was an act so unseemly as to be inconceivable among gentlemen in their day. You watched convicted criminals, not free citizens. You ruled your own home. It's intrinsic to the concept of liberty.

For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that -- either now or in the uncertain future -- patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.

How many of us have paused during conversation in the past four-and-a-half years, suddenly aware that we might be eavesdropped on? Probably it was a phone conversation, although maybe it was an e-mail or instant-message exchange or a conversation in a public place. Maybe the topic was terrorism, or politics, or Islam. We stop suddenly, momentarily afraid that our words might be taken out of context, then we laugh at our paranoia and go on. But our demeanor has changed, and our words are subtly altered.

This is the loss of freedom we face when our privacy is taken from us. This is life in former East Germany, or life in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. And it's our future as we allow an ever-intrusive eye into our personal, private lives.

Too many wrongly characterize the debate as "security versus privacy." The real choice is liberty versus control. Tyranny, whether it arises under threat of foreign physical attack or under constant domestic authoritative scrutiny, is still tyranny. Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy. Widespread police surveillance is the very definition of a police state. And that's why we should champion privacy even when we have nothing to hide.

- - -

Last Updated: Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 14:12 GMT 15:12 UK

E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Web inventor warns of 'dark' net
By Jonathan Fildes
BBC News science and technology reporter in Edinburgh


Sir Tim Berners-Lee
The web should remain neutral and resist attempts to fragment it into different services, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said.

Recent attempts in the US to try to charge for different levels of online access web were not "part of the internet model," he said in Edinburgh.

He warned that if the US decided to go ahead with a two-tier internet, the network would enter "a dark period".

Sir Tim was speaking at the start of a conference on the future of the web.

"What's very important from my point of view is that there is one web," he said.

"Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring."

An equal net

The British scientist developed the web in 1989 as an academic tool to allow scientists to share data. Since then it has exploded into every area of life.

You get this tremendous serendipity where I can search the internet and come across a site that I did not set out to look for

Tim Berners-Lee
However, as it has grown, there have been increasingly diverse opinions on how it should evolve.

The World Wide Web Consortium, of which Sir Tim is the director, believes in an open model.

This is based on the concept of network neutrality, where everyone has the same level of access to the web and that all data moving around the web is treated equally.

This view is backed by companies like Microsoft and Google, who have called for legislation to be introduced to guarantee net neutrality.

The first steps towards this were taken last week when members of the US House of Representatives introduced a net neutrality bill.

Pay model

But telecoms companies in the US do not agree. They would like to implement a two-tier system, where data from companies or institutions that can pay are given priority over those that cannot.

This has particularly become an issue with the transmission of TV shows over the internet, with some broadband providers wanting to charge content providers to carry the data.

The internet community believes this threatens the open model of the internet as broadband providers will become gatekeepers to the web's content.

Providers that can pay will be able to get a commercial advantage over those that cannot.

There is a fear that institutions like universities and charities would also suffer.

The web community is also worried that any charges would be passed on to the consumer.

Optimism

Sir Tim said this was "not the internet model". The "right" model, as exists at the moment, was that any content provider could pay for a connection to the internet and could then put any content on to the web with no discrimination.

Speaking to reporters in Edinburgh at the WWW2006 conference, he argued this was where the great benefit of the internet lay.

"You get this tremendous serendipity where I can search the internet and come across a site that I did not set out to look for," he said.

A two-tier system would mean that people would only have full access to those portions of the internet that they paid for and that some companies would be given priority over others.

But Sir Tim was optimistic that the internet would resist attempts to fragment.

"I think it is one and will remain as one," he said.

The WWW2006 conference will run until Friday at the International Conference Centre in Edinburgh.