Data has a habit of spreading. It slips past military security and it can also leak from WikiLeaks, which is how I came to obtain the data. It even slipped past the embargoes of the Guardian and other media organisations involved in this story when a rogue copy of Der Spiegel accidentally went on sale in Basle, Switzerland, on Sunday. Someone bought it, realised what they had, and began scanning the pages, translating them from German to English and posting updates on Twitter. It would seem digital data respects no authority, be it the Pentagon, WikiLeaks or a newspaper editor.
Technology is breaking down traditional social barriers of status, class, power, wealth and geography – replacing them with an ethos of collaboration and transparency.
Note EU-Digest: the great thing about this new revolution is that no government anywhere in the world has the power today to turn off the Internet. For if any country with the technical means to do so believes they can get away with it, they will not only instantly create economic chaos, but also set off a popular Global revolt like we can only imagine in our wildest dreams.
For more: WikiLeaks: The revolution has begun – and it will be digitised | Heather Brooke | Comment is free | The Guardian
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