Cyber War I

It is interesting watching the story of WikiLeaks evolve into Cyber War I. It seems to me, as a casual observer, that it is not necessarily WikiLeaks that is the problem, rather who got hold of the information and thought of the idea to pass it on to make all the dirty linen public. It is obvious that there is a lot of pressure, a hell of a lot of pressure, being applied by the authorities to close down WikiLeaks. What is even more interesting is the support for the site from freedom of speech groups and also some individuals who are trying to coordinate cyber attacks on well known sites that have responded to the pressure from the US.

I sit on the fence, leaning towards freedom of speech but I can’t condone cyber attacks or physical violence at all. If this Cyber War develops, I think it will results in an Internet that is less free than it is now. Anyone who thinks that the Internet is a free space now is a dumb ass – everything done online can eventually be traced back to you, just remember that. There will be actions taken to prevent this kind of attack that will restrict what we perceive as freedom on the Internet now. The Internet is just a channel. It is a world wide channel and that is both the value of it and the problem with it. I think inevitably there are some misguided, easily led people, who will claim that they are attacking the corporate, commercialised, authoritan Internet. They are just deluded. Others are probably just criminals who would hack sites anyway.