Comment by AndrewKemendo | Hacker News Reader

Comment by AndrewKemendo | Hacker News Reader

I'm pretty open (within legal bounds) about my time in the operational and technical intelligence world, to the consternation of others in the field, and would say that this article is dead on with it's analysis.

One thing that I try to get across to people is that, Intelligence as a discipline is fundamentally about servicing the Instrument of National Power [1] of "Information."

In that context, the manner in which information is tasked, collected, processed, analyzed and used to make decisions on is a forever moving target, which the Intelligence Community is very well aware of.

The really interesting question here is, what happens when commercial and consumer information systems (eg Google, Facebook, Huawei, Tencent) are able to deploy collection sensors and do information processing at a much larger scale than any individual nation state? The balance of Information power starts to shift away from nations and toward Multinational corporations who control those sensor networks.

For example the USG used to run every imagery satellite in existence, now there are a half dozen commercial imagery satellites and growing.

[1]https://www.thelightningpress.com/the-instruments-of-nationa...

You get The Dutch East India Company.

Corporations capable of operating according to their own rules. At least within their sphere of expertise.

If they have the resources to operate beyond the reach of the law, they transcend the law to make their own new rules. They do whatever they want, scoped according to their capabiities, and they cover up anything that isn't on the level. They use what they have to their own advantage, as a natural perk of having he means to do so.

The VOC and EIC were always run by civilians who were primarily after profit and obeyed the laws of the Dutch and English state. They were no more operating beyond the reach of law than ExxonMobil is. Just as the US does not respect the sovereignty of other, less powerful countries now the Netherlands and England did not respect weaker countries’ sovereignty then.

The companies are a distraction, the relative power differentials between countries aren’t.

No, it was only after the VOC was dissolved that governors where to be appointed by the Crown. To a certain extend, they where the law. Remnants of that past are still to be found in the UN treaty on the high seas as it grants captains of (trade) ships rights and privileges associated with the state, not with civilian commercial enterprises. Your stories are not mutually exclusive, i'm afraid you both are right.

But the VOC was always a corporation chartered under Dutch law which was run by Dutch civilians. It had its own navy and army but at the top it was never sovereign and never aspired to be. It acted as a sovereign but never in or indeed near the Netherlands.

Isn't any big enough state or corporation with too little transparency a threat to individual freedom? Is China combing opaque big tech with repressive state? Is that scary? Is Amazon changing people's lives? etc

> The really interesting question here is, what happens when commercial and consumer information systems (eg Google, Facebook, Huawei, Tencent) are able to deploy collection sensors and do information processing at a much larger scale than any individual nation state?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A is what happens.

In your opinion is the call out of Australia/China a valid comparison to Ukraine/Russia?

It's purely soft-power influence, so far. It's documented in detail here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Invasion_(book)

Thanks for the link I'll have to get my hands on a copy.

Edit: I read the preface and I had no idea about the disgusting behaviour exhibited towards the Tibetan protesters in Canberra as the Beijing torch passed through[1].

I'm on my way to work and it is actually making me feel ill.

[1] https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2n1fjt

Not entirely. China isn't imperialistic in the same fashion as Russia. That said there are parallels in terms of power dynamics within ASEAN certainly when compared with the Caucasus.

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