This weeks lecture discussed Cyberpolitics and e-democacry (the politics of the internet, the actual structure and functioning from blogging to games and the way the internet intevenes and contributes to real life politics mainly occurring off the internet covering campaigning on the internet and how the government uses the internet as tool to raise awareness and give general information to the public). So basically what I took away was how politics and the media affect the way in which people communicate and freedom of speech on the internet.
It looked at the freedom of speech and the battle between censorship on the internet and the ideas of free speech and copyright. There appears to be no black and white side of this issue, only grey areas depending on age, race and even gender when it comes it comes to the usage of the internet.
The 1986 Hacker's Manifesto captures to heart of the hacker ethos: 'This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons? We explore... We seek after knowledge?' (Blankenship 1986) (Lecture material, week 9, 2009).
I think this quote is really powerful. It expresses the feelings of those who are simply consumers in the eyes of some but so much more in their own eyes. They feel power at their finger tips by typing what they think and feel.
Cyberpunk (a genre) was created as a reaction to the overly safe stories that circulated the internet, acting through unique and strong qualities.
I think this is really interesting as I had no idea such politics existed so strongly amongst the cyberworld- but when I think about it I suppose it would have been an issue that rose very quickly with the invention of the internet.
I think censorship can be a good and bad thing. The internet is accessible to anyone and so anyone can view your content and words, and there are cases of false identities being created online and exploited because many people hide behind the wall that is their computer screen and speak their minds, it's when people get a bit too carried away and topics of conversations lose relevance...
Interesting topic anyway! Certainly a thought provoker...
It looked at the freedom of speech and the battle between censorship on the internet and the ideas of free speech and copyright. There appears to be no black and white side of this issue, only grey areas depending on age, race and even gender when it comes it comes to the usage of the internet.
The 1986 Hacker's Manifesto captures to heart of the hacker ethos: 'This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons? We explore... We seek after knowledge?' (Blankenship 1986) (Lecture material, week 9, 2009).
I think this quote is really powerful. It expresses the feelings of those who are simply consumers in the eyes of some but so much more in their own eyes. They feel power at their finger tips by typing what they think and feel.
Cyberpunk (a genre) was created as a reaction to the overly safe stories that circulated the internet, acting through unique and strong qualities.
I think this is really interesting as I had no idea such politics existed so strongly amongst the cyberworld- but when I think about it I suppose it would have been an issue that rose very quickly with the invention of the internet.
I think censorship can be a good and bad thing. The internet is accessible to anyone and so anyone can view your content and words, and there are cases of false identities being created online and exploited because many people hide behind the wall that is their computer screen and speak their minds, it's when people get a bit too carried away and topics of conversations lose relevance...
Interesting topic anyway! Certainly a thought provoker...
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