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The Revolution Will be Digitised: Dispatches from the Information War |
Freelance journalist Heather Brooke is famous for uncovering the MPs’ expenses scandal. She turns her attention now to the information war in her new book, The Revolution will be Digitised, another timely and gripping investigation. There’s more information in the world than ever – but who’s in control? Brooke takes us from the hackerspaces of Boston and Berlin to the UK’s journalism hub and Iceland’s free speech revolution; from the headquarters of Google and Facebook to Collateral Murder, Cablegate and the murky word of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Along the way she explores the most urgent questions of the digital age: where is the balance between freedom and security? In an online world, does privacy still exist? And will the internet empower individuals, or usher in a new age of censorship, surveillance and oppression?
Heather Brooke is a freelance journalist and Freedom of Information campaigner famous for uncovering the MPs’ expenses scandal. She is a visiting professor at City University’s Department of Journalism and is also the author of Your Right to Know and The Silent State. She has won numerous awards, including the Judges’ Prize at the 2010 British Press Awards.
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September 2nd, 2011 at 10:47 am
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September 29th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Heather Brooke introduced her latest book by explaining that it had developed from her previous work, in that her involvement in the Parliamentary expenses scandal had highlighted the way that digitised information is almost impossible to control and “flows like water”.
Brooke feels that this opens up an opportunity for us to create “the democracy we have always wanted”, a new paradigm based on openness, the interconnectedness of individuals and the instantaneous transfer of data.
Iceland was cited as a positive example of how the groundwork could be laid for a better world. Following their recent financial meltdown, the country is reacting against the secrecy that obscured the extent of the problem by reinventing itself as a “radical HQ for transparency”, and creating a framework of laws that enshrine freedom of expression with the aim of becoming a haven for open reporting.
However, Brooke cautioned against simple exposure – the hacking and dumping of vast swathes of information – explaining that data needs to be sifted and framed if the average citizen is to be engaged. And she had harsh words for “hacktivists” of all stripes who allow gaps to appear between their rhetoric of democracy and their subsequent irresponsible, “macho” and autocratic behaviour – the ends, she reminded us, do not always justify the means.
Brooke also pointed out that power elites everywhere are uncomfortable with the new freedoms offered by the digital age, and by hyping up the scare stories about cyber-terrorism they are gearing up to both clamping down even harder on hacking and preparing us for further internet control and interference.
The talk touched on other ramifications of the digital revolution, such as the dangers inherent in social networking sites owning content posted by users. Brooke speculated that in coming years concern may shift from matters of privacy to the question of control over personal data.
An attempt to sound upbeat during an analysis of the newspaper and publishing industries was somewhat undermined by her use of the phrase “death spiral”.
During questions, Evgeny Morozov cropped up a few times. Brooke felt that his proposal – that “twitter/Facebook revolutions” were likely to be effectively countered by governments using the same channels to infiltrate and nullify protest – had been somewhat undermined by the “Arab Spring”. But I put it to her that we are witnessing an “arms race” between those in power and the people – a silent struggle over the control of information and the ability to share it. I feel that notwithstanding recent events, the eventual outcome of this campaign is far from certain. Brooke herself had already pointed out that governments were preparing to redouble their efforts to both shape the argument and exercise control.
Brooke kindly said that this was an interesting point, and expanded it further by suggesting that in an attempt to justify their huge budgets, intelligence agencies are creating “enemies” of activists and hackers and in the process “radicalising” them. This only convinces me that the “arms race”, and hence the contest, will intensify.
Ultimately Brooke feels that any future decentralisation of power will not happen without a new mindset on our part – we cannot continue to act “like children” and expect our leaders to “look after us”. True – but of course it is this very liberating concept that drives regimes everywhere to try and ensure that as much as they can get away with we remain sitting quietly alone in the dark.