Suez (company, 1997–2008) and The Digital Imprimatur: Difference between pages

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Revision as of 03:05, 22 November 2005

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'''''Digital imprimatur''''' is a term widely associated with [[John Walker (programmer)|John Walker]], due to his article of the same name. Traditionally in the [[Roman Catholic Church]], an [[imprimatur]] is a censor's official approval of publication. Thus a digital imprimatur is needed under a system of [[internet censorship]].

{{Infobox_Company |

company_name = Suez Group|

company_logo = [[Image:Suez Group Lgog.png|210px|Suez Logo]] |

company_type = [[Public company|Public]]|

company_slogan = N/A|

foundation = [[1858]]|

___location = [[Paris]]|

key_people = [[Gérard Mestrallet]], Chairman & CEO|

num_employees = 160,700 (2004)|

revenue = $55.2 billion (2004)|

industry = [[Water utilities]]|

products = [[Water]]<br>[[Energy]]<br>[[Gas]] |

homepage = [http://www.suez.com www.suez.com]

}}

John Walker argues in his article ''The Digital Imprimatur: How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle'', that there is increasingly a crackdown on the ability for internet users to voice their ideas, as well as an upcoming official state of internet censorship on the horizon. Walker claims that the most likely candidate to usher in the digital imprimatur is [[digital rights management]], or DRM.

'''Suez''' {{nyse|SZE}} is a leading [[France|French]]-based [[multinational corporation]], with operations primarily in [[water]], [[electricity]] and [[gas]], and [[waste management]]. It is the result of a [[1997]] merger between the ''Compagnie de Suez'' and ''[[Lyonnaise des Eaux]]'', a leading French water company. In the early 2000s Suez owned some media and [[telecoms]] assets, but was in the process of disposing these.

Similar scenarios have been predicted by others, including [[Richard Stallman]], in his article and essay ''The Right to Read''.

According to the industry bible ''Masons Water Yearbook'' 2004/5, Suez serves 117.4 million people around the world with water.

Other people predict the establishment of a [[dynamic equilibrium]] between repressive official and commercial and more free but in some cases illegal technologies, resulting in the emergence of [[darknet]]s and [[anonymous P2P]] systems, together with alternative networking systems (including but not limited to [[sneakernet]]s and both fixed and ad-hoc [[wireless mesh network]]s), and vivid [[underground culture]] and [[black market]] centered on them, in accordance with the [[iron law of prohibition]].

==History==

Suez is one of the oldest continuously existing multinational corporations in the world, with one line of corporate history dating back to the [[1822]] founding of the ''Société Générale des Pays-Bas'' by [[William of Orange]]. Its current form is the result of nearly two centuries of reorganisation and corporate mergers. Its current name comes from the involvement of one of its several founding entities - the ''[[Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez]]'' - in building the [[Suez canal|Suez Canal]] in the mid-[[19th century]].

==MajorSee subsidiariesalso==

* [[Tractebel Electricity & Gas]] - energy

* [[Ondeo]] - water and waste

* [[SITA]] - waste management

* [[Degremont]] - engineering

*[[Trusted computing]]

==External links==

* [[SITA]]Digital - wasterights management]]

* [http://www.suez.com Suez website]

* [http://www.suez-environment.com Suez Environment - water/waste]

*[http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/136/136050.html Yahoo! - SUEZ Environnement Company Profile]

* [http://www.egi.tractebel.com Tractebel website]

==External links==

{{corp-stub}}

* [http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/digital-imprimatur/ The Digital Imprimatur: How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle]

[[fr:Suez (groupe)]]

* [http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html The Right to Read] by [[Richard Stallman]].

[[nl:SUEZ]]

[[Category:Companies of France]]

[[Category:MultinationalDigital corporationsrights management]]

[[Category:Companies of FranceCensorship]]