Are there costs to a surveillance society besides the potential loss of personal freedoms?
Kim Taipale, executive director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Science & Technology Policy: Yes, closed systems impose high overhead costs — not just the actual cost of the security measures, which can be thought of as a kind of security tax — but also friction and barriers to entry imposed on functionality itself. For example, Michael Chertoff [the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security] has called for security envelopes for international trade and travel within which — with the right security vetting and tracking — goods and people could move easily without being stopped at every point for rechecking. But these vetting procedures could themselves become impediments to free trade. If the developed nations — say the G-8 — determine who is allowed in the envelopes, then other countries or new entrants — either without sufficient resources or otherwise disfavored — may be kept out. This could entrench existing power structures and impede free movement of goods or
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