Political Possibilities

Due to strikes, there was no lecture this week. The content made available on elearning dealt with recent political formations emerging because of new technologies. In order to properly understand these political formations, CyberPolitics and eDemocracy had to be defined. CyberPolitics was defined as politics of the internet mostly found on the internet. It deals with how the internet is structured and functions and who decides these things (Internet Society and ICANN). Edemocracy is more concerned with how the internet participates in what is going on in real world politics. It incorporates how the government uses the internet. There was further discussion about defining, more generally, democracy.


In the discussion about mass media I gathered a number of main concepts. The fact that mass media has cut off democratic participation in a number of ways and the advent of new technologies has counteracted this choking of democracy. The new technologies are allowing more people to be involved in mass media and present their opinions and view others’ opinions too. Not only this, but these opinions and voices are appreciated and recognized by poeple. They aren’t just dismissed and ignored. More people are being able to find things out for themselves and not just be told everything from the one source (Newspapers, TV and Media). I see new communications technologies having a positive effect by bringing change in this way. The hold mass media has had in choking democracy is being loosened. Citizens realizing they have a voice and remembering they live in a democracy is important.


Democracy in relation to hackers was then discussed. Hackers don't see anything wrong with breaking into computer systems. They don't see computer systems as corporate property. They are often associated with a computer criminal, but in reality play a minor part in this scene. Hackers are different from crackers. Crackers are involved in criminal activity. They use the information they find, such as credit card details, to rip people off. Hackers are more interested in exploring and understanding hidden information within the canlas of computer systems. 'The Hacker Ethic' is said to have been around since 1960 and hackers adhere to this code. The code is concerned with not harming infromation found by hackers. Hackers are said to create democratic potentialities by finding new ways to information and providing access to these spaces.