NEXT, A CAVITY SEARCH

“The toothpaste is out of the tube, and it is covering the whole planet.”

Pretty Good Privacy inventor Phil Zimmermann, on the unavoidable use of encryption software for good and evil, Wall Street Journal, 25 September 2001 (paid subscription required)

NAME YOUR OWN RISK TOLERANCE

“Businesspeople can bypass travel with videoconferencing, but videoconferencing won’t take the place of hugging Mom and Dad.”

Priceline spokesman Brian Ek, on persuading consumers that they won’t get hijacked on the way to see their folks, News.com, 25 September 2001

INTER ARMA SILENT LEGES

“We’re not asking for the laws to expand, just grow as technology has grown.”

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, on the need to lessen — not diminish — privacy in the pursuit of terrorists, CNN.com, 24 September 2001

OPERATION INFINITE JEST

“The whole smug, Gen-X irony, it just feels like it’s permanently obsolete.”

Todd Hanson, head writer for The Onion, on feeling displaced in a postironic world, Chicago Tribune, 21 September 2001

THE SECOND TIME AS FARCE

“Tragedy purges the mind of trivia.”

Noted technofruitopian George Gilder, who also believes that Microsoft’s blue screen of death is the greatest technological threat to mankind, Gilder.org, 17 September 2001