Bugging out: darknets as parasites of large-scale media objects

Abstract

Platforms and infrastructures have quickly become seminal concepts to understand large-scale computational systems. The difference between a platform and an infrastructure is subject to debate. In this article, we use the concept of the darknet to describe how infrastructure tends toward being public with other things where platforms tend to private relations. The darknet reveals these relations negatively, as we discuss, by turning these media objects into that which they desire not to be. We analyze these negative relations through the concept of the parasite developed by Michel Serres. By following how darknets parasite both platforms and infrastructure, we suggest a need to develop new concepts to understand the diversity of relations now possible in a network society.