As we blink and think, along with us internet is growing like never imagined. This multi-faceted network has become the other state of existence for humane society. But the rise of internet as the most potent medium beyond the national boundaries has generated unseen challenges for the society.
On one side we have advocates for internet freedom like civil society activists, bloggers, Wikipedia and technology giants and E-commerce corporates. And on the other side we have nation states and conventional media companies voicing concerns over the hate campaigns, political blogging and piracy over internet. As internet offers fathomless opportunities, each one has their own reason to dominate the flow of information over internet.
As this tussle goes on, it is worth understanding the nature of internet as a media as well as a network society. The massive amount of data, maturing commercialization of networks and the existence as a instantaneous communication medium defines the specific nature of internet.
The massive amount of data that is transacted through internet makes it chaotic to human senses. With the parade of innovations in the data storage and transmission, internet communication has become near to instantaneous. The more transient the communication becomes, lesser important becomes the historicity of data. Thus if a political issue is debated over internet, the huge volume of opinions created at that moment can possibly potentially mask the root cause of the issue. This is due to the limited capacity of perception of human mind. These factors can make rational judgement through internet debates quite difficult.
Despite that when conventional political mobilization becomes next to impossible, internet naturally becomes the best alternative. But there comes a riddle. Even after two decades of inception, internet remains an apolitical entity to a large extent. Debating a political topic over a non-political platform is a tricky issue. Increasing awareness and protest from political society against the hate campaigns in facebook is a pointer towards the chances of confrontation between the existing political fabric and the rising internet based civil society. Already we have entered a terrain of contradictions between global market capitalism and nation states world wide.
Though the hate campaigns appear superfluous and harmless at the outset, they can create imprints in the social consciousness. They can act as the epic centers of civil society movements. As our society has become more and more ideological, symbols have a deeper impact on the political consciousness.
Social media in particular and internet in general advocates openness and transparency. In theory, these terms posits abstract and vague definitions. Only in relation to a specific context, openness and transparency achieves meaning. The information security is a vital issue not only for corporates but for political economy as well as personal life of netizens. But this fact is conveniently ignored by the interests of information capitalists driving social media.
On the other front we can see that internet has become a commercial platform for finance capitalism. We should see the newly drafted Stop Online Piracy Act ( SOPA ) and Protect Intellectual Propriety Act ( PPIPA ) by US congress in this light. These laws are undoubtedly driven by motives to commercialize information further and deeper. But at the same time, the corporates like Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Microsoft also thriving by the free use of information created by user generated content. For both the parties 'Data is equal to Money'. Thus the situation demands a rational perspective and impartial analysis.
Freedom is a concept with open knots. It does not envisage an anarchy of expression, but an urge for knowledge beyond the chains of inequality, money and irrationality. This is applicable in the terrain of technology as well. The people and realpolitik should move in this direction rather than becoming the shadows of the corporate rhetoric and market propaganda.
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