2.11

I've begun to delve into the book Groundswell during some of my free time away from school and work, and must admit I'm generally impressed with the premise of the book.

Like many of the males in my age with similar interests as me inadvertently found ourselves finding a "home" on the internet. It was a place of freedom when we were children. There was seemingly unlimited knowledge to be found on it and unlimited ways for us to waste our time rather than create a meaningful social life. Ultimately, we found on the internet something we were lacking in our normal lives, we could have a voice. As the angst ridden teens many of us were we were always searching for a way to revolt against the society which chagrined us. On the internet we could vent our frustrations.

The internet eventually became the new portal for the reemergence of a social anarchism movement of sorts. While many turned to the thought of anarchism as the ultimate way of rebelling like many of the bands from the late eighties/early nineties punk bands, most simply wanted to bring down the "system." The system as it was called was nothing more than the authority systems that were blamed for preventing people from getting ahead. It could range anything from the corporate level, such as the large corporations such as Wal-Mart eliminating small, independently owned businesses, to the political stand points, such as powerful corrupt politicians.

More often than not these revolutionary movements were/are misinformed in their facts and rarely expanded beyond a simple internet forum. They were completely harmless in most cases and achieved nothing more than giving their members an option for redirecting, venting, and/or talking about their frustrations in the world. However, there were times that these groups could do some lasting damage. As the years passed, the internet evolved and sites like Digg became to take shape. Occasionally, something would happen similar to what happened in the first chapter of the book where one proficient hacker managed to obtain the decryption code to a new DVD format which they then posted on Digg. As one can imagine, this post was spread throughout the members of Digg's site like a virus.

And what did Digg do to stop this? Nothing, they supported it in fact.

Innovation has become the new tool of a social anarchism. Innovation is eliminating the old ways, and giving the people as a mass a voice that can overthrow the titans of corporation and law in a way that they have never seen before. Those in power are slowly learning that their power is no longer in their hands, but in the hands of the countless masses.

Viva la Revolution

Sorry I couldn't resist

Cheers,

Eric Summers