New World Order (conspiracy theory)

===Mass surveillance===
Conspiracy theorists concerned with [[surveillance abuse]] believe that the New World Order is being implemented by the [[cult of intelligence]] at the core of the [[surveillance-industrial complex]] through [[mass surveillance]] and the use of [[Social Security number]]s, the [[barcode|bar-coding]] of retail goods with [[Universal Product Code]] markings, and, most recently, [[Radio-frequency identification|RFID tagging]] by [[microchip implant (human)|microchip implants]].<ref name="Barkun 2003"/>

Claiming that corporations and government are planning to track every move of consumers and citizens with RFID as the latest step toward a ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]''-like [[surveillance state]], [[consumer privacy]] advocates, such as [[Katherine Albrecht]] and [[Liz McIntyre (writer)|Liz McIntyre]],<ref name="Albrecht & McIntyre 2006">{{cite book|author=Albrecht, Katherine |author-link=Katherine Albrecht|author2=McIntyre, Liz|author2-link=Liz McIntyre (writer)|title=The Spychips Threat: Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Electronic Surveillance|publisher=Nelson Current|date=2006|isbn=1-59555-021-6}}</ref> have become Christian conspiracy theorists who believe [[spychip]]s must be resisted because they argue that modern [[database]] and [[information and communication technologies|communications technologies]], coupled with [[point of sale]] [[automatic identification and data capture|data-capture]] equipment and sophisticated ID and [[authentication]] systems, now make it possible to require a [[biometrics|biometrically]] associated number or mark to make purchases. They fear that the ability to implement such a system closely resembles the [[Number of the beast|Number of the Beast]] prophesied in the [[Book of Revelation]].<ref name="Barkun 2003"/>

In January 2002, the [[Information Awareness Office]] (IAO) was established by the [[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (DARPA) to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying information technology to counter [[asymmetric warfare|asymmetric threats]] to [[national security]]. Following public criticism that the development and deployment of these technologies could potentially lead to a mass surveillance system, the IAO was defunded by the United States Congress in 2003.<ref name="eff-tia-funding">{{cite web|url=http://w2.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/20031003_comments.php|title=Total/Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA): Is It Truly Dead?|date=2003|work=Electronic Frontier Foundation (official website)|access-date=15 March 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325113304/http://w2.eff.org/Privacy/TIA/20031003_comments.php|archive-date=25 March 2009}}</ref> The second source of controversy involved IAO's original logo, which depicted the "all-seeing" [[Eye of Providence]] atop of a pyramid looking down over the globe, accompanied by the Latin phrase ''[[scientia potentia est|scientia est potentia]]'' (knowledge is power). Although DARPA eventually removed the logo from its website, it left a lasting impression on privacy advocates.<ref name="Seifert 2004">{{cite web|author=Seifert, Jeffrey W.|title=Data Mining: An Overview|date=16 December 2004|url=https://fas.org/irp/crs/RL31798.pdf|access-date=11 October 2009}}</ref> It also inflamed conspiracy theorists,<ref>{{cite web|author=Terry Melanson|date=22 July 2002|url=http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/Paranoid.htm|title=Information Awareness Office (IAO): How's This for Paranoid?|publisher=Illuminati Conspiracy Archive|access-date=11 October 2009}}</ref> who misinterpret the "eye and pyramid" as the [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] symbol of the [[Illuminati]],<ref name="AMFAQ 2.3"/><ref name="Morris 2009">{{cite web|author=Morris, S. Brent|date=1 January 2009|url=http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/masonry/Essays/eyepyr.html|title=The Eye in the Pyramid|work=Short Talk Bulletin|publisher=Masonic Service Association|access-date=27 October 2009|archive-date=15 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215172036/http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/masonry/Essays/eyepyr.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> an 18th-century secret society they speculate continues to exist and is plotting on behalf of a New World Order.<ref name="Stauffer 1918"/><ref name="McKeown"/>

American historian [[Richard Landes]], who specialized in the history of [[apocalypticism]] and was co-founder and director of the [[Center for Millennial Studies]] at Boston University, argues that new and emerging technologies often trigger [[alarmism]] among [[millenarianism|millenarians]]. Even the introduction of [[printing press|Gutenberg's printing press]] in 1436 caused waves of apocalyptic thinking. The [[Year 2000 problem]], bar codes, and Social Security numbers all triggered [[Eschatology|end-time]] warnings which either proved to be false or were no longer taken seriously once the public became accustomed to these technological changes.<ref>{{cite news|author=Baard, Mark|title=RFID: Sign of the (End) Times?|work=wired.com|url=https://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,70308-0.html|access-date=18 December 2006|date=6 June 2006}}</ref> Civil libertarians argue that the privatization of surveillance and the rise of the surveillance-industrial complex in the United States does raise legitimate concerns about the erosion of [[privacy]].<ref name="ACLU 2004">{{cite journal|author=Stanley, Jay|title=The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society|date=August 2004|journal= American Civil Liberties Union| url=https://www.aclu.org/FilesPDFs/surveillance_report.pdf|access-date=14 July 2014}}</ref> However, skeptics of mass surveillance conspiracism caution that such concerns should be disentangled from secular paranoia about [[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]] or religious hysteria about the [[Antichrist]].<ref name="Barkun 2003"/>