Black Code: Censorship, Surveillance, and the Militarisation of Cyberspace

Abstract

Conventional wisdom holds that the Internet's material properties are biased towards openness, and provide the foundation for a global commons of information increasingly beneficial to citizens worldwide. However, pressures from the security and commercial sectors to regulate and control the Internet are beginning to alter its basic material architecture in ways that may undermine not only the activities of global civic networks, but also the long-term prospects for an open global communications environment. As Internet censorship and surveillance becomes more widespread, and as states begin to militarise cyberspace, a radically different environment for global communications is emerging. However, these changes are not uncontested. While not having the influence over Internet security and design issues that security and corporate actors do, a growing number of civil society actors are merging with politically minded computer scientists and engineers to form policy networks and develop `hacktivist' technologies designed to support self-expression, privacy, and security for global civic networks. For the Internet and other information and communication technologies to support a global commons of information the success of this movement over the long term will be critical.