Has the Internet Recently had a Change of Identity?

Discussion in 'Media & Commentators' started by James7, Aug 1, 2020.

  1. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    We've probably already heard the story of how Californian Hippies created the Internet back in the 70's and how the Net then subsequently became a focus for people power in general.

    But has the Internet recently undergone a change in identity?

    I've noticed this in the UK and also in US TV news media lately, that every time a TV journalist speaks about anything even remotely related to "internet culture", they immediately take on the exact same "affected air" which isn't compatible with the original story we've been told about how the internet was created.

    Yes, according to TV journalists the Internet's new image is as follows: the average internet user is now portrayed as a young, upwardly mobile, male and female couple with "New Right" political tendencies. And TV journalists don't have a problem playing this particular tune every time the Internet or indeed popular democracy in general is spoken of.

    I've added the following image showing you what the average Internet user now looks like according to TV news journalists:

    [​IMG]

    Has anyone else noticed this?
     
  2. Pants

    Pants Well-Known Member

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    I think the 'youth' factor is singled out because younger folks are easier adapters to technology, generally. By the time I've caught on to something, the younger folks have already moved on from it.
     
  3. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    I wonder if this new identity will be reflected in publications like Wired magazine which has described itself as the Rolling Stone (magazine) of technology?
     
  4. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    "We've probably already heard the story of how Californian Hippies created the Internet back in the 70's"

    ^ Literally the first time I heard this.
     
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  5. Lil Mike

    Lil Mike Well-Known Member

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    I didn't know DARPA hired California hippies.
     
  6. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    Have a look at this reprint of an article from Time magazine, 1995: We Owe It All To The Hippies
     
  7. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    Apparently they can do. Attempting to bring about a global revolution based upon people power and democracy doesn't completely go against "the American way".
     
  8. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    That's about computers in general, I'd always heard the internet was developed by/for? the military.
    The computer networking revolution began in the early 1960s and has led us to today s technology. The Internet was first invented for military purposes, and then expanded to the purpose of communication among scientists. The invention also came about in part by the increasing need for computers in the 1960s.

    The Internet, a very complex and revolutionary invention of ...
     
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  9. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    Here's a quote from the article "We Owe It All To The Hippies" regarding the Internet:

     
  10. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    Please don't get me wrong FatBack, I'm not sure of the legend of hippies creating the Net anyway. To me it comes across as a marketing ploy and was probably used to promote the use of PC's and the Internet for the average person.

    I can also see that the Internet was created by the US military, as was the Tor Browser and the Dark Web as well for that matter. People will post messages on internet message boards stating that the Dark Web is some sort of government trap.
     
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  11. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    This is what the Wikipedia page on the Tor Browser says:

    The Tor Project website has a new look but the old website revealed that the Tor Browser was created for use by government employees to secure their communications and by overseas dissidents living under oppressive regimes. However even this description raises questions.

    Oversea dissidents living under oppressive regimes cannot use the Tor Browser anyway. The www.torproject.org website will be blocked in undemocratic countries and further the use of encryption is also restricted in these countries. And why should a supposedly ultra secure network designed for use by government agents be made freely available to the general public?

    Many VPN providers, which also make use of proxy servers and encryption, have been caught keeping logs on their users traffic despite of promising that they would not; so what is stop the administrators of the Tor Browser from doing the same?
     
  12. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    The popular culture attached to the internet is rapidly disappearing down the plughole.

    The cause of this are the surveillance revelations of Snowden, Theresa May's 'Snooper's Charter', far-reaching social media censorship, fake news, and government trolling and cyberhacking.

    The internet is rapidly losing its people friendly image.

    Culturally, it looks like we're heading back towards the 1990's again.

    The 2000's and the 2010's was the boom time for the 'internet culture', when the internet was seen as something that was genuinely liberating for the average individual. But are those days now gone and are we culturally now heading towards a post-internet era?
     
  13. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    In 2013 Edward Snowden attempted to convince the world that the NSA were covertly surveilling internet users and that they had been doing this for years. Why would he be making this up, after all he worked for the NSA and was on the run?

    Then in 2016 Theresa May's government openly legislates on a UK bill that is a world leader in government internet surveillance. Now they aren't even bothering to hide it even.

    Then it is also revealed how the Russian government employs hundreds of paid internet trolls whose job it is to influence public opinion over the internet. And apparently the Chinese government employs thousands of them. And this is only the troll farms we have heard of. Think of how many other governments across the entire planet, coming from a whole plethora of different political beliefs, who are doing exactly same thing.

    The internet can even be used as a tool for social control.
     
  14. Pants

    Pants Well-Known Member

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    It can indeed - when the public is willingly ill informed and too lazy to research all they read/hear/see.
     
  15. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    Cambridge Analytica was one example of a company claiming to be able to manipulate public opinion using targeted ads. The company was closed for breaching data sharing regulations on Facebook.

    But think how many other Silicon Valley internet corporations are continually gobbling up your data without fully telling you how much data they are gathering and who they are sharing it with?

    Using tracking cookies (which are bordering on spyware), private corporations can obtain your entire browsing history. From this they can create a complete psycho-social profile of who you are. They can predict who you are going to vote for, they can see what medical conditions you might have, they can pick up intimate details about your social life, they could even predict future behaviours.

    When these internet corporations sell their data to governments, then we have state run blanket surveillance. Even though blanket surveillance is technically illegal in the UK (i.e. actively gathering data in such a manner), the sharing of data gathered in such a manner in the US is not. So state run blanket surveillance within the UK is in fact feasibly possible even though the relevant intelligence agency might not admit they are actually doing this.
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2020
  16. Derideo_Te

    Derideo_Te Well-Known Member

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    As a geekosaur I was programming in machine code long before there were personal computers and the internet.

    I can recall my first use of the "internet" using a green screen IBM terminal to query a catalog stored in the Netherlands. We played around trying to "network" the original PC's with wires plugged into the ports and sending and receiving basic signals.

    And yes, I was a hippie with long hair and a beard.

    Things were primitive and clunky but I could envision what it would be like to have a computer in my own home and work from there and I helped make it happen for a colleague who used a dial up modem in the early 1980's and I needed her input to develop the first corporate database for the company I was working for at that time.

    There were a great many factors that all played a role in reaching where we are today and we can credit various organizations with the concepts like using a mouse and windows and browsers that made the internet more accessible to ordinary people. This video gives you some idea of what it was like for early users.



    The end of the Cold War freed up capital that had otherwise been tied up in the MIC and that provided a lot of speculative investments that boosted progress.

    The original internet was an unregulated free for all with only the standards and protocols for communications being agreed upon. Universities encouraged the use of the internet which is where a lot of good ideas came into being. One of the best being the Scientific Community's ability to share knowledge that has helped us understand and deal with the virus.

    The Arab Spring occurred because of the sharing of ideas and images on the internet. It has transformed how we work, shop, learn, interact and entertain ourselves.

    With that has come the dark side of hacking, spying, bullying, shaming, etc, etc.

    No, we are NOT going to abandon the internet because it has become integral to our lives. Instead we are going to ADAPT and come up with ways to deal with HOW it has changed our society into one that is truly GLOBAL in nature.

    Our perspective is changing and so will we. Not everyone accepts change but it cannot be stopped and rolled back. What we need to understand is that we cannot change what has already happened but starting NOW we can set out to GUIDE the changes to be BENEFICIAL rather than harmful. That is entirely up to us.
     
  17. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    "The Arab Spring" is possibly not a good example of how beneficial the internet and social media can be.

    In pretty much every single nation where the Arab Spring occurred, it was represented by a Jihadist uprising and not a democratic and liberal movement as the western media falsely portrayed.

    Take for example Egypt. This country already was liberal and democratic. Instead, with the Arab Spring, the Muslim Brotherhood took over. The Muslim Brotherhood has always been an illegal oranisation in the country, and still is today, and is driven by fundamentalist ideology. Osama bin Laden criticized the Muslim Brotherhood for putting their arms away and turning to mainstream politics instead. When the Muslim Brotherhood ran Egypt, all it could do was fuss over religious matters much to the disappointment of the general populace.

    Again, when you speak of a "Global society", is this not pure idealism? It almost sounds like the Californian hippie dream of a global peoples' democracy where everyone holds hands and lives in peace and harmony. (Please see my original post on this thread where I was criticized for suggesting that much of the original image of the internet was based upon 'the hippie dream')

    The facts are not every nation using the internet sees eye to eye. The internet is heavily censored and regulated in undemocratic countries. Plus the internet is often a battle ground for unfriendly nations. We see cyberwarfare taking place on a regular basis with whole networks being taken down by anonymous computer viruses. Governments employ professional hackers and trolls. Plus there are genuine security concerns with the internet regarding spying.
     
  18. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    'Hippie' is such a loaded word. While it tends to ingender the perception of flower-wearing freedom lovers, the 'Hippies' running the tech industry are corporate power hungry micro-dosers with nerd glasses, efiminate sweaters and chinese slave factories.
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2020
  19. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    There's some weird stuff that goes on in Silicon Valley. I've certainly heard some rumours.......... I wouldn't be surprised if they smoked weed out of hundred dollar bills if the occasion suited.

    But anyway, onto more serious stuff, something else that gets me about the internet is that it can also be rigged. The Snowden leaks revealed that the UK's GCHQ had the ability to cyber-fix online polls among a cookbook of a whole load of other covert techniques. Reading through the list is quite eyebrow raising.

    But if this is what the UK's GCHQ can do online, what can the sum of all the world's governments also do online, some of whom are far less scrupulous that the UK's GCHQ?

    Of course algorithms can and are being fixed, even while we speak (or type). Even when they are not being fixed there is arguably an inbuilt bias in them right from the start. If you look at how Google's algorithms are calculated, .gov and .edu websites automatically score a 10 (the max) and all the other sites directly linked to these '10 rankers' get a higher score but less than 10. And so on down the line. So ultimately what decides your page rank is how many links away you are from a .gov and .edu website.

    This has to lead to a pro-establishment bias.
     
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  20. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    This is precisely why 'anecdotal' evidence, while next to useless (and rightfully so) in trying to convince others of the truth, is nonetheless still valuable to an individual's position. The misinformation (both deliberate and coincidental) inherent in the digital world is not reliable in-and-of itself.
     
  21. Derideo_Te

    Derideo_Te Well-Known Member

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    The MB was, and still is, a supporter of DEMOCRACY in the Middle East since that is one of it's founding principles. It was funded by the CIA against Nasser when he was in bed with the Russians during the Cold War and it came to power via a DEMOCRATIC ELECTION in Egypt and was subsequently ousted by a MILITARY coup.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood

    And thanks for providing the OPPORTUNITY to DEMONSTRATE why the internet is BENEFICIAL. Your regurgitation of the allegation that the MB is a "terrorist organization" has been demonstrated to be wrong. It was the SUPPRESSION of the MB by the military DICTATORS in Egypt that FORCED it to resort to terrorist tactics AIDED and ABETTED by the CIA.

    As I noted in my original post there are definitely those who will subvert the internet for nefarious purposes but they were doing that with all forms of media before the internet arrived. It is not a "new threat" but instead the same old threat just adapting to the new medium. Those nations censoring the internet were censoring TV, radio and print already.

    The point is that the internet IMPROVES communication and the EXCHANGE of IDEAS and the ACCESS to KNOWLEDGE.

    I am old enough to recall what a pain in the ass it was to place a long distance phone call and an even bigger PITA to make one overseas. And the costs were astronomical for that primitive technology. Nowadays I can make a Skype video call to anyone anywhere in the world INCLUDED in the cost of my local IP service fee.

    I was able to respond to your misinformation about the MB with a few clicks and then reply with the FACTS in minutes whereas had your comment about the MB been via snail mail or a letter in the media it would have resulted in me having to locate the correct volume of the Encyclopedia, take copious notes or pay to use a photocopier, draft my own response and then mail it back in a process that could have taken weeks.

    The mere fact that we are having this discussion here and now is PROOF that the internet is BENEFICIAL. It probably would never have occurred otherwise.
     
  22. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    I didn't know you were a big supporter/sympathizer of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation which seeks to introduce Sharia law where ever it is active.

    Here's a quote from the Wikipedia page on the Muslim Brotherhood:

    An organisation that promotes Sharia law has nothing to do with liberal democracy. Sharia law is what they have in Iran and Saudi Arabia and forms the basis of their legal systems.

    Here is the logo used by the Muslim Brotherhood:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 2, 2020
  23. Derideo_Te

    Derideo_Te Well-Known Member

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    Sad that your ONLY puerile response was to make a FALLACIOUS allegation that you are INCAPABLE of substantiating.

    Unlike YOU I know about the HISTORY of the MB and WHY they were FORCED to engage in terrorism.

    If you want to have a SUBSTANTIVE discussion on them I recommend that you do your own RESEARCH to make up for your DEARTH of subject matter knowledge WRT the MB.

    And just to give you a HINT if the MB were Christians trying to overthrow a military dictatorship and replace it with a DEMOCRACY you would be calling the "freedom fighters" instead.
     
  24. James7

    James7 Active Member

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    If the Muslim Brotherhood are so perfect and acceptable as you claim, then why had you objected so strongly to my suggestion that you might be a MB sympathizer?

    In your parallel example you should have cited "Christian fundamentalists", not just ordinary Christians. However even then the parallel is not a good one as very few Christian fundamentalists have ever advocated a return to the Old Testament laws.
     
  25. Lil Mike

    Lil Mike Well-Known Member

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    Hmm the Muslim Brotherhood was forced into terrorism?

    Was Al Qaeda "forced to engage" in terrorism as well?
     

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