All digital natives worthy of the name must have heard the news: MegaUpload, the most common server used by this generation, had to close last week.
It is not that news especially that caught my attention, but the reactions that followed. Indeed, all week I was suddenly captivated by the actions of this movement, relatively unknown until then, called the “Anonymous”.
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Who are they? They are hackers who claim freedom of expression, through more or less legal ways.
From there, I have come to wonder why it was necessary to hack the FBI’s website or the U.S. Department of Justice’s to be heard.
Then, I draw a strange parallel with a conversation I had with my grandmother before coming at UCMO. (Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I am currently a French exchange student at UCMO !). In short, I remember she said something like “How lucky you are to go across the world, you will find the joy of writing a letter again!”, I looked at her, stunned and told her that I did not see the benefit of loosing one week in order to send news to someone when I could do it in one minute via Skype or Facebook.
As a simplification, I write letters to my grandmother and I am forced to realize that the quality of conversation and information sharing is far from being the same…
So here I am, having my back to the wall with these two questions unanswered: What is the point of constantly creating new communication tools if no one is able to listen to you? And what is the point of living in a democratic country if freedom of expression is flouted?
Elizabeth K. Stanton
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16642369
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
