Good, Evil, Digital: The Promise and Peril of Life in the Cyber Lane

on internet freedom versus internet security

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“Good, Evil, Digital” is one of the largest link-suite “stories” we have ever featured on the aggregator, with more than four dozen links to articles, books, videos, websites and software tools. It has also been one of the most fascinating to research and challenging to assemble.

Internet freedom and internet security are two sides to the same coin:

• Social networks are powerful tools for organizing “Revolutions 2.0,” as well as convenient intelligence-gathering sites
• To promote openness, Wikileaks and its clones operate in secrecy
• Human rights NGO’s use the web to expose abuse, but must protect themselves from cyber-retribution
• Crisis mapping, a key tool for humanitarian response, requires secure protocols to keep potentially sensitive information safe

Likewise, determining who’s a hero and who’s a villain isn’t always so clear cut. When ad hoc vigilante “hackivists” under the theatrically ominous moniker “Anonymous” go after the inarguably awful Iranian government, it’s Robin Hood in bits and bytes. It is a tougher call for “Operation: Titstorm,” which targeted the Australian government over censorship issues, using porn as the standard bearer for free speech.

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