Cyber Revolution as a Political Challenge
The Critical Role of the Internet in Modern Politics
Jun 23, 2009
The US president, Barack Obama, was the first politician who widely utilized the internet for the presidential campaign. But it was merely a utilization of the internet as a broad medium; however, the birth of Web 2.0 has introduced new features to the cyberspace. In other words, it is the era of virtual politics.
Web 2.0 and Cyber Revolution
Some think that cyber revolution is the result of an essential free-will in the internet, as the users are free to choose the source of news. This opportunity was indeed introduced by the growth of numerous satellite TV channels. A different opportunity was introduced by the birth of Web 2.0, where people are not only users - they can play a role in this virtual world.
From the point of view of politics, the public view is formed as a result of conversations, while the initial knowledge comes from the controlled media. Cyber revolution is a consequence of Web 2.0, as people are not only listeners but also can talk.
On the other hand, bloggers and amateur reports are the sources of some important news; thus major media are no longer the exclusive sources of breaking news. Instead, major media use the amateur reports to satisfy their audience.
Iran’s Internet Revolution and Cyber War
The 2009 presidential election of Iran was one of the most challenging elections in the world history. Regardless of the political consequences, there was hot competition between two parties. Since the state TV is the only broadcasting tool in the country, the candidates paid particular attentions to the internet as an open medium. Although it was significantly different from the Obama’s campaign in 2008, both were based on a one-way concept.
By the start of protests against the election results, internet usage was subject of a real cyber revolution. In addition, a cyber war was started as both parties attempted to attack the other party’s websites. This emphasized the necessity and importance of security in cyberspace. Since the security backbones in the developing countries like Iran are not well established, this cyber war pushed the people toward secured websites like Facebook.
Cyberspace provided an alive environment for everyone participation to witness what is going on. In the song Watching TV, Roger Waters describes the death of a student protest as “she died on TV”. Similar occasion was also reported in the Iran’s protests; thus as a result of the cyber revolution, it can be said “she died on the internet”.
The interesting feature is that Iranians were the first nation who made such a cyber revolution. It was commonly believed that the internet is for the developed countries, and the internet usage in the developing countries is just for fun. This is a great lesson that how humankind utilize the technology when it is needed.
Is Cyber Revolution Out of Control?
Unbelievably, the answer is NO. Apparently, it seems that individual users are ones who control the situation by their participation; but still superpowers have the major leverages to control what is going on in the internet.
Who can attract the attention of the internet users? The answer is the internet giants (e.g. the power of million comments is just equal to one day subjective logo of Google search engine). If it is assumed that the internet giants have no political preference, then they should follow their users.
Who are the most active users? United States with 5% of the world population has 50% of the internet usage (at least on major websites). Thus, any occasion on the internet is dependent on the US public view. But who controls the US public view?
United States is the country of managers, as one can divide people to those who manage and those who are managed. It’s not about the politics of the federal government, but it is the infrastructure of the US as can be seen everywhere: banking system, commercial companies, and even art.
Note: This is technical analysis of the so-called Cyber Revolution, free of any political judgment.
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