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Editorial NEXUS MAGAZINE Volume 7, Number 3 APRIL - MAY 2000 PUBLISHED BY NEXUS Magazine Pty Ltd, ACN #003 611 434 EDITOR Duncan M. Roads CO-EDITOR Catherine Simons ASSISTANT EDITOR/SUB-EDITOR Ruth Parnell EDITORS' ASSISTANT Richard Giles OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Janine Carmichael CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Don Maisch; Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD; Hans T. van der Veen; Nina Silver, PhD; Uri Dowbenko; Tony Edwards; Richard Boylan, PhD LAYOUT & DESIGN Duncan M. Roads CARTOONS Phil Somerville COVER GRAPHIC John Cook, jscook@ozemail.com.au PRINTING Warwick Daily News, Queensland, Australia AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTION Newsagents Direct Distribution HEAD OFFICE - All Correspondence PO Box 30, Mapleton, Qld 4560, Australia. Tel: (07) 5442 9280; Fax: (07) 5442 9381 E-mail: editor@nexusmagazine.com Web page: www.nexusmagazine.com NEW ZEALAND OFFICE - R.D.2, Kaeo, Northland. Tel: +64 (0)9 405 1963; Fax: +64 (0)9 405 1964; E-mail: nexusnz@xtra.co.nz USA OFFICE - PO Box 177, Kempton, IL 60946- 0177. Tel: (815) 253 6464; Fax: (815) 253 6454 E-mail: nexususa@earthlink.net UK OFFICE - 55 Queens Rd, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1BG. Tel: +44 (0)1342 322854; Fax: +44 (0)1342 324574; E-mail: nexus@ukoffice.u-net.com EUROPE OFFICE - PO Box 372, 8250 AJ Dronten, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)321 380558; Fax: +31 (0)321 318892; E-mail: frontier@xs4all.nl STATEMENT OF PURPOSE NEXUS recognises that humanity is undergoing a massive transformation. With this in mind, NEXUS seeks to provide ‘hard-to-get’ information so as to assist people through these changes. NEXUS is not linked to any religious, philosophical or political ideology or organisation. PERMISSION-TO-REPRODUCE POLICY While reproduction and dissemination of the infor- mation in NEXUS is actively encouraged, anyone caught making a buck out of it, without our express permission, will be in trouble when we catch them! A era is emerging on our planet. No longer do we occupy just this one observable space-time continuum, for we have now created and occupy another: cyberspace. It started off as a resource for low-budget activists and came to be known as "the informa- tion superhighway". But now, e-commerce has taken over to the extent that if the Internet went "down" tomorrow, we would have total global financial meltdown. The Internet is already so crucial to social infrastructure that the next wars are just as likely to be fought and won in cyberspace, with electronic viruses and super-hackers. Controlling, disrupting or dis- informing an enemy's computers is more cost-effective than carpet-bombing. It's a cleaner way to wage war, with no public outery—such as that which results when NATO bombs civilians with so-called "smart" bombs. Of course, this only applies to computerised coun- tries: the UN/NATO will continue to bomb and economically "sanitise" nations which refuse to adhere to the new international economic order. I believe it will be the Internet that primarily facilitates the ushering-in of total globalisa- tion, through sheer economics—"e-commerce", as it is now termed. Already, e-commerce transcends national boundaries, effectively ignoring the tariffs and taxes of sovereign states. The increasing volume of individuals and businesses trading around the world in cyberspace will ensure that we will buy our way into a new, globalised economic system. It is the only way the global community will swallow a proposed global currency. It is the most likely avenue leading to a cashless economy. An item in Global News this issue reflects on how the Internet itself is evolving and caus- ing us to evolve with it. A few years ago, many considered the Internet an effective resource tool for communicating and sharing research, for organising logistics—the information superhighway. Many of the original, small, Internet service providers (ISPs) have been bought by transnational media corporations—or have gone bust because they cannot com- pete economically with the free Internet services on offer by those same transnationals. Another giant merger or two will see virtually all Western ISPs in the hands of just two or three transnational telecommunications giants. We are gradually realising that the Internet is the ultimate intelligence-gathering tool. Everything you write, everywhere you visit in cyberspace is monitored by computers you don't even know exist. Instead of a person making data entries into your personal file, a computer now does it. If you visit political activist sites, sex sites, religious sites, environ- mental sites, UFO discussion groups, an Echelon-connected computer somewhere notes what preferences you are displaying in all these categories. Working at a computer, while alone at a desk, leads many to feel secure and private; peo- ple tend to express parts of themselves that they don't usually express to others when face- to-face—but this is just the sort of preferred intelligence information required to make assessments of people. Just when you think you are not on display, you are more exposed than ever! In the UK, a sinister Bill has been tabled (see Global News) which amongst other things, makes it a crime to possess and use privacy encryption technology for your e-mail. Significantly, the Bill is part of an international cooperative effort by law enforcement agen- cies to secure legal access to all electronic communications conducted over the Internet. Australia has already enacted legislation, allowing ASIO—the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation—to penetrate anyone's computer legally, any time it likes, to do anything it likes to your computer to cover its e-tracks, for any reason it chooses to invent in the name of "national security". Cash registers, video surveillance cameras, automatic teller machines, medical equipment, computers, TVs, e-mail, faxes and telephones are all—or soon to be—hooked up to the Internet. They will cross-match your image, whereabouts, medical records, DNA profile, history, spending habits, police records, hobbies, sexual preferences and list of friends and associates with information in databases accessible by law enforcement, taxation and gov- ernment authorities as well as Big Business. Many declare that this is happening already; only now, it is just becoming more efficient! Oops...time to go check my e-mail! — Duncan WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY Advertisers upon and by lodging material with the Publisher for publication or authorising or approving of the publication of any material INDEMNIFY the Publisher and its servants and agents against all liability claims or proceedings whatsoever arising from the publication and without limiting the generality of the foregoing to indemnify each of them in relation to defamation, slander of title, breach of copyright, infringement of trademarks or names of publication titles, unfair competition or trade practices, royalties or violation of rights or privacy AND WARRANT that the material complies with all relevant laws and regulations and that its publication will not give rise to any rights against or liabilities in the Publisher, its servants or agents and in particular that nothing therein is capable of being misleading or deceptive or otherwise in breach of the Part V of the Trade Practices Act 1974. All expressions of opinion are published on the basis that they are not to be regarded as expressing the opinion of the Publisher or its servants or agents. Editorial advice is not specific and readers are advised to seek professional help for individual problems. © NEXUS New Times 2000 2 NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2000