We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Outernet: The Information War on a Whole New Level

Click here to access article by Ulson Gunnar from New Eastern Outlook.

I'm not sure I entirely understand how the networks of the internet work, but I'm sure that many of you with younger minds will have no such problems. According to Wikipedia the internet can be closed off in its entirety such as exists in China or partially as exists in most countries (the US censors child pornography) or heavily surveilled such as exists in the US by NSA and its contractors. According to Gunnar we now see powerful US interests beginning to see the advantages of such control over internet access and around internet censorship using various technologies. As I understand it, private parties have already funded such a project known as the Outernet, and its founder will be put in charge of this government project which is identified only as a "shadow Internet". Gunnar seems to lump the two together.

Of course the US will use this "shadow Internet" for "humanitarian" purposes (sarcasm) such as freedom of information as stated by Hillary Clinton in the NY Times:
[According to] Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose department is spearheading the American effort. “We see more and more people around the globe using the Internet, mobile phones and other technologies to make their voices heard as they protest against injustice and seek to realize their aspirations,” Mrs. Clinton said in an e-mail response to a query on the topic. “There is a historic opportunity to effect positive change, change America supports,” she said. “So we’re focused on helping them do that, on helping them talk to each other, to their communities, to their governments and to the world.”