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• We (Cyberspace) must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty…We will spread ourselves across the planet so that no-one can arrest our thoughts…May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before. Barlow A Declaration of Independence Cyberspace 1996
• Failing to anticipate how authoritarian governments would respond to the Internet, cyber-utopians did not predict how useful it would prove for propaganda purposes, how masterfully dictators would learn to use it for surveillance, and how sophisticated modern systems of Internet censorship would become. Instead they stuck to a populist account of technology empowers the people, who, oppressed by years of authoritarian rule, will inevitably rebel, mobilizing themselves through text messages, Facebook, Twitter, and whatever new tool comes along next year.”
• Morozov The Net Delusion2011 xiv
Twitter, Facebook amplified street protests in Egypt, allowing for growth of community support
Wael Ghonim, the Google marketing manager who became one face of the protest movement after his arrest, tweeted his pride and joy."They lied at us, told us Egypt died 30 years ago, but millions of Egyptians decided to search and they found their country in 18 days," he wrote on Twitter.
Tunisia & Egypt
• Tunisia through its ATI centralised the contol of internet traffic - excessive amounts of blocking websites and monitoring email – but not shutdown
• Hackers attacked the Tunisian ATI and hack-bombed it
• Egypt laxer system of internet regulation; But soft surveillance leading to draconian measures against dissenting bloggers. Led to total shutdown
Argument1. That there is a Netizen culture which promotes a species of
freedom.2. Corrective to Utopian Hype = techno-scientific mode which may be
dominated by new types of techno- or cyber-capital3. Netizen culture v. techno-science results in conflict between open,
neutral and democratic governance of the internet eg ISOC IEFT and relatively closed organisations such as the W3C Consortium and ICANN.
4. Internet is increasingly affected by surveillance and control by governments and supra-state institutions in the interests of security.
5. That while some private sector eg Google idealises internet freedom, ultimately they succumb to the security interests of the state.
6. That inspite of these great limitations, Netizen culture constitutes resistance against authoritarian interests of states and big corporations
1. Netizen culture = species of freedom.
• People who care about Usenet and the bigger Net and work towards building the cooperative and collective nature which benefits the larger world Hauben
2. Netizen culture cf Utopian hype:New dominance of Techno-Science
• Utopian hype Netizen Power is new revolutionary multitude
• Internet has a dual origin in military ARPANET and later freer hacker Netizenship culture
• Baxi = Techno-Scientific Mode of ProductionNew mode dominated by new forms of capitalwhile new technology produces new modes of production, accompanying millenial libertarian ideologies likely to disguise new modes of domination.
• The Network Information Society may be as or more empowering of state and business as of Netizenship
3. Governance of the Internet Open v Closed cultures
Technical Infrastructure: Internet Society - Internet Engineering Task Force – Internet Research Task Force –– Open Culture
Administrative and Property: World Wide Web Consortium – www regulation
ICANN – Intellectual Property Rights vs Free and Open Source
Behaviour
Netizen Self-Governance
Service Provider Codes
State Regulation – national security interests
WSIS – Declaration of Principles – Internet Governance Forum
4. National Security: “Wholesale Taming of Cyberspace”
• CIA Director George Tenet:I know that these actions would be controversial in this age where we still think the Internet is a free and open society with no control or accountability. But, ultimately, the Wild West must give way to governance and control.
China - Cheung
Building on this bifurcated scheme of direct control and censorship by the state, and indirect discipline and surveillance by non-state actors, the Chinese government has successfully created a culture of self-censorship not only among its citizens, but also by co-opting local and foreign investors. These capitalists duly comply with the general wishes of the government, and also act on its behalf as non-state actors.
US – Hilary Clinton
So let us recommit ourselves to this cause. Let us make these technologies a force for real progress the world over. And let us go forward together to champion these freedoms for our time, for our young people who deserve every opportunity we can give them.
US - Security Culture • Patriot Act – communication surveillance, isp ‘voluntary’
cooperation + defence against civil suits• Homeland Security Act – information across government
departments• The National Counter Terrorism Center Guidelines
reminiscent of Bush Administration’s attemptedTotal Information Awareness.
• Wikileaks– calls for Assange’s prosecution under the Espionage Act, – Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks– Homeld Sec Comtee call to stop hosting or financial services– Assange prosecution for sexual assault in Sweden, Manning in
US
When Technology Intrudes
In Chinese PushFor Surveillance,An American Tie
As The Chinese governmentforges ahead on a multibillion-dollar effort to blanketthe country with surveillancecameras, at least one American companystands to profit: Bain Capital,the private equity firm founded byMitt Romney, a leading candidate forthe Republican presidential nominationin the United states.
5. JANUS Faced Corporate Culture
6. Netizen Resistance Culture v. Authoritarian state & Corporations
• Circumvent – Proxy, Tunnelling, Onion Routing, Google Translate (Calanan 2011).
• Reasons for Survival– Open code of Internet resulted in Open ideology– Global cyberspace supported by global
cosmopolitanism– US internet home has strong Rule of Law culture
Northern Lights? Iceland’s Modern Media Initiative
• Iceland will become the inverse of a tax haven; by offering journalists and publishers some of the most powerful protections for free speech and investigative journalism in the world. Tax havens aim is to make everything opaque. Our aim is to make everything transparent. http://immi.is/Icelandic_Modern_Media_Initiative
