Introduction: Points of Control

Who deserves to know what? What are the mechanisms for limiting knowledge in the United States today? When does the public have a right to know? The concern about what should be deemed confidential weaces through all four papers in this section. The overdeveloped world celebrates the rule of new social media, which allows for more speech by more people while also making them more vulnerable to corporate and governmental surveillance. The ability to speak one's mind anonymously on the Internet is especially powerful in countries where governments fear free speech, a fact that became especially apparent when cell phones and platforms like Twitter were instrumental in the rapid mobilization of large-scale protests in Egypt, the Ukraine, and Iran. But it isn't solely political activists who use digital media in their favor; authoritarian regimes are also becoming increasingly sophisticated at censoring free speech online. The instruments of limiting access to knowledge vary enormously. The examples of Wikileaks and fusion centers in the United States illustrate the complexity of limiting and revealing knowledge.