Cyber Politics and Time Travel

Ahoy-a-hoy,
Week 11 was all about Cyber-politics and Timetravel - as you may have gathered from my title.

Cyber-politics explored cyberdemocracy and the digital divide. Whats that you ask? Well, Digital Divide is an issue that keeps us from achieving the idealistic cyberdemocracy. How can there be a World-wide democracy when there are people throughout the world who don't have a computer, let alone the internet. So that is the very valid issue of cyberdemocracy. However, there is a democracy on the net (although it can't invite every person in the world), and it exists through the freedom of speech, that may be broadly published on the internet. Access to blogs, chat rooms - ways to get your opinion out there basically. About censorship, John Gilmore says:

"The net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

So, on the net, there are ways of getting around the censorship. Censorship that may unaviodable in other forms of media.

We also discussed Computer Hackers. We learned that "Hackers were once computer programmers that had a desire to understand machines and their networks. They regard computer programmes not as corporate property, but as common wealth; and do not believe that it is wrong to break into systems to look around and to understand." Or so the lecture notes said. So that's pretty interesting; and fair enough if they're inquistive and want to 'understand', but come on - there's got to be a line drawn. It makes me think about the pathetic advertisers that hack into people's myspace page and advertise their lame target gift cards or mobile ringtones. Shouldn't there be some sort of policing on that? I mean if government can track everything we do on the net - can't these websites be tracked and charged for improper use of the internet? Obviously i am quite aggrivated by the subject. Maybe I should write a letter.

Apart from learning about Cyber-Politics today we watched a movie called 'Primer.' It's a little confusing but generally its about these two men that build this machine...a time machine. And they're working out little things and seeing their present selves....or past selves....I'm not sure about the physics of the matter, and all in all its quite confusing. Hopefully i can tell you more about it next week but its meant to get more confusing as it gets further in....so wish me luck.

Anywho, till next week, toodle-oo.