I was just reading Hand (2008) and pondering how:

Power in digital culture indexes an increasing tendency toward the total surveillance and administration of society, now conducted through globally gathered and sorted digital information. The results of this will paradoxically be greater insecurity, an intense amplification of existing social divisions, and the consumerization of democratic citizenship. (Hand 2008, p39)

Hands comments that:

But such regulatory machines may be user-generated in wikis, or subject to top-down political intervention (as in China). Indeed, Poster (2006) observes that the territoriality of the subject is minimized in digital culture, but it is not eradicated. (Hand 2008, p38)

This reminded me of a colleague had posted on his Facebook status updates (not sure how) that he “cant see anything thats going on in Facebook as he is stuck behind the Great Firewall of China!” and I thought I would share it with my #ededc colleagues:

lahirondelle #ededc a friend of mine can’t view FB as he is “stuck behind the great firewall of china”; Thai gov blocked U-Tube for months – thoughts?

This was posted at 16.08 and at 16.37 I recieved the following tweet from 12vpn:

@lahirondelle We can help your friend access FB in China, also U-Tube in Thai, https://12vpn.com

That is just plain spooky.  Feeling a bit insecure now.