CYBER WARFARE vs. INTERNET CENSORSHIP

By John 'J' Trinckes
June 23, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

It appears to me, and maybe to governments around the world, that The Internet (aka Cyberspace) is really the last frontier of freedom. In my opinion, it is probably one of the greatest inventions of all times (short of our Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and of course, the wheel). Let’s face it, where would we be today without The Internet (aka Cyberspace). At a touch of a keyboard, you have astronomically large amounts of information within seconds. You, as an average individual, have the ability to influence large groups of followers. You, as an average individual, have the ability to speak your mind and to contribute to a global community. You, as an average individual, can make real ‘changes’, not just some empty promises that can win elections.

Over the last week, I’ve come across a few articles of interest to me that I thought I would share and discuss with you as it relates to my area of expertise in Information Security. The first relates to what I was discussing above in regards to the power that The Internet (aka Cyberspace) has over people. This was actually exemplified back in the WTO protest in Seattle in 1999 and has more recently been seen taking place with protesters involved in the Iranian election dispute. This phenomenon is known as netwar as described in the article Iran’s Netwar. The article explains that the advancement of technologies, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., has allowed us to interact with one another in such a fashion that this interaction is now being regarded by many governments as a weapon, in and of itself. The article states that “The ability to mobilize information, resources and support is magnified almost in direct relation to this [ability].â€