The Internet Has Became the New Television
New Media Research & Methodologies
Etay Zilberboim
Alex Bal
One may posit that the Internet is the new television. Much like television,
the Internet has the ability to shape or understandings of reality as it encourages us
to think in a particular trajectory. This trajectory poses a certain degree of danger to
our individuality, self-reflexivity and personal conceptions of reality because it can
be informed by the particular motives of particular individuals. It can shape our
ideas and beliefs while purposely omitting information for fear that it may
compromise the intended result. Unfortunately, humanity has grown to uncritically
trust the Internet with copious amounts of personal information such as bank
account information, while paying little attention to what the consequences may be
if it falls into the wrong hands. The Internet has come to be understood as neutral
and unbiased, and that most of the information is factual. Internet search results
construct particular reality based on one’s past searches. This phenomenon is
dangerous because it means the Internet has the potential to be used as a means to
augment reality and hack personal information. Curiously, the liberation of
information, such as that enacted by Wikileaks, is often chastised.
The Internet is a powerful tool, one that is much more powerful than we perceive. Most
of the harm stems from the fact that Internet services can be done quickly, effortlessly
and practically from anywhere, regardless of security. We trust and depend on the
Internet by allowing it considerable access to our lives and personal information, such as
online banking and shopping. We live under the impression that we are protected,
however this is not always the case. A notable instance would the cyber war that took
place on January 3rd, 2011 when a hacker by name of OxOmar, illegally possessed the
information of 15,000 Israeli citizens. Two days later, he released the information of
11,0000 more credit cards while claiming that he had 60,000 more at his disposal. He
justified his actions by stating that he was taking the problem of “fake media and Zionist
lobbing in media and Internet” into his own hands. He also claimed that he had
downloaded private data from Israeli military contracting companies and threatened to
share that data with the world. In response to this incident, a few Israeli hackers decided
to retaliate by finding out OxOmar’s real identity. Upon hearing of this, the Israel foreign
minister asking citizens to leave the matter up to the Israeli government. Conversely, the
Hamas spokesman encouraged the Saudi Arabian hackers to keep up the ‘good’ effort,
blessing this act and urging other Arab youths to participate and develop these acts. This
was happening at the expense of innocent citizens who simply trusted the Internet with
their credit information. Consequently, tensions rose between Israel and it’s neighboring
countries. A frightening reality is that teenage hackers, in possession of the right
information, have the capacity to render both citizens and governments defenseless,
which, even if for only a moment in time may have devastating effects. OxOmar
continued his spree by hacking into the El-Al website (Israel’s official airline website)
and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange website. Attacks of this sort can cripple corporations,
and create an imbalance in the trading realms of stocks of Israel, which can ultimately
affect the global economy. The hacker is a very different type of protestor than the typical
activist who puts their physical being into harms way or risk getting arrested. This is
because the hacker will go to great lengths to remain anonymous. Another frightening
aspect of the hacker is the fact that their subjective understanding of the world can be
actualized and literally effect the globe. A hacker may be motivated by chaos or breaking
down systems of power. By the same token even if a hacker believes that they is doing
the right thing he may fail to realize that it is actually inapplicable globally. Essentially,
regardless of the operation, they can easily disseminate and implement ideologies at the
touch of a button. Furthermore, the online tension that rose between Israel and Saudi
Arabia and could have escalated to a physical war. Fortunately, the attacks continued
online as Israeli hackers retaliated by shutting down the Saudi and UAE stock exchange
websites. Another hacker by the alias of Hannibal (who does not live in Israel) decided to
join in, and stated that he had the email information of 30 million Arab users at his
disposal threatening to publish 1500 emails and their passwords per day for the next 55
years. OxOmar countered by stating that he had 30,000 Facebook passwords and emails
accounts. He requested that if the Israeli foreign minister apologized for his earlier
statement, the attacks would decrease (Messieh). As a result of the ability of Hackers to
maintain anonymity, the question of how to stop hacking remains and it is therefore
difficult to find a solution. One may suggest that such instances would not occur if people
did not put so much faith in the Internet. The nature of the Internet facilitates anonymity
and great access to those who have the tools. Unfortunately little penalty for hacking
related crimes can be doled out due to the inability to find the culprit. (Colesky, Van
Niekerk) We must recall that in modern day, all aspects of humanity are connected to the
internet, from missiles in silos, to traffic lights, to banks. And thus, it is therefore possible
for a person with an appetite for chaos, or a fundamentalist outlook to black out and shut
down a whole country if so he desired.
When used correctly, the Internet can be used as a tool of democracy.
Unfortunately, it more so resembles television in that most the content is being
purposely geared towards particular demographics with the aim of profit or
consumption of certain ideals.
This is visible in the way that most of our search engines inquiries are being filtered
and adjusted in a certain way (i.e. indexing and ranking). One can see that Internet
search engines show a very narrow reality to its user, who more often than not, buys
into the content with haste. Indexing and ranking algorithms create bias because the
user only sees what the search engine is programmed to show based on the users
past history. This can be seen when searching the same topic on different computers
because the results will turn out different, as they are tailored to the user’s history.
The issue here is that most users believe that search results are neutral and
unbiased when in reality, like any other media outlets, search engines affirmatively
control their users’ experiences which creates the phenomenon of search engine
bias “In theory, search engines can transcend the deficiencies of predecessor media
to produce a type of media utopia. In practice, search engines are just like every
other medium-heavily reliant on editorial control and susceptible to human biases.
This fact shatters any illusions of search engine utopianism.” (Goldman)
Furthermore, Internet search engines are not the only online medium that
controls what we see and how we interpret our online experience, but as a result, it
is also largely responsible for what we believe. When the KONY 2012 campaign
started, it had a major global impact because the viewers were convinced that what
they were watching was true. There was little skepticism voiced and most people
thought that the organization that sponsored the video (Invisible Children) was a
human rights movement. Thus, people willingly and gladly donated money to the
cause and hoped to see Kony behind bars. But they were misled. By careful choice of
video montages KONY 2012 became a viral phenomenon and the talk of the Internet
a few days after it was released. Most people were unaware of the events taking
place in Africa as a result of the insufficient coverage in Western Media; here lies the
irony of the KONY 2012 campaign. Suddenly, all western attention became shifted to
Joseph Kony (Schomerus, Allen, and Vlassenroot). The cultivation of media attention
of fraudulent African social issues is evidence of the fact that most of the people are
being duped by online information. Had audience members sought to critically
examine these claims through research, they would have found the truth. Instead,
their passive Internet consumption resulted in a false construction of reality. The
reality of the situation was that
Invisible Children was in fact not a humanitarian charity fighting the recruitment of
child soldiers. Instead, they were affiliated with the Sudanese army and despite their
call to the U.S army to get involved; they stated that their proceeds would go to the
Ugandan army which, along with the Sudanese Army, have been accused of raping
and looting (Nhema & Tiyambe Zeleza). The money that was raised by Invisible
Children was a matter of public record because they were a charity. This has also
raised concerns because the charity raised $8,676,614 of which only 32% went into
direct services; the rest was salaries, filmmaking and other expenses (INVISIBLE
CHILDREN FINANCIAL STATEMENTS JUNE 30, 2011 AND 2010). As for Kony, he is
not been seen since 2006 (Truther). It is worth noting that the recruitment of child
soldiers is not a new practice, nor is it an isolated one. Why then, did people become
so passionate over this particular case? The propensity of people to passively
consume information to the point that they become active participants in
disseminating and supporting falsified information is of great concern. People must
learn to critically engage with all information that they encounter, especially if it is
on the Internet.
Unlike those who use the Internet to hack into or to falsify information, there
are those that use the Internet as a medium to liberate information that they believe
the masses should be privy to. However, these individuals often encounter harsh
resistance and prosecution from government bodies. For example, the Wikileaks
website exists to liberate information with the goal of bringing critical news to the
public. They aim to expose schemes and illegal actions of persons of interest that
would otherwise be expunged from the record and never reach the public. Wikileaks
poses a threat not only to governments, but also to journalism because the direct
releases of government information makes reporting on the government obsolete.
By publishing documents of military or diplomatic nature governments with
skeletons in their closet become provoked. Because the documents that Wikileaks
distributes are untouched by the bias that comes form packaging processed
information that is intended to be viewed by the public, they serve to alert with an
inconvenient truth rather than a reassuring lie (Hood). Wikileaks has received a lot
of negative attention from the mainstream media, the founder, Julian Assange, has
been forced to go into hiding for fear of being handed over to the U.S government
and consequently, receiving an unfair trial (Kheir).
Wikileaks has been charged with releasing and challenging information of in
attempt to provoke governments around the globe. Wikileaks has also forefronted
issues of civilians in war scenarios or combat situations, cases of torture and cases
of inhumane circumstances. However, why it that these phenomena are
intentionally concealed from the public’s eye? Wikileaks’ message is that an unjust
action is an unjust action regardless of who commits or how well it is hidden. Thus,
such information should be public domain and the individual who committed the
acts must be held responsible. However, some may refer to this is as “guerilla
warfare” because the volunteers that aid and work for Wikileaks are decentralized
are determined to do one thing- uncover and display the truth. However, their
activity prompts civilians question the state of democracy and justice. Why does
classified data exist? What does it imply and whom does it involve? Wikileaks serves
to compromise the artificial integrity of government institutions by uncovering the
truth.
Those involved in Wikileaks (with the exception of Julian Assange) are
similar to hackers in that they maintain anonymity. Here, we see a positive aspect of
the Internet’s pension to keep ones identity a secret. It is positive because the
exposure of the unlawful government acts breaks down carefully crafted façades of
truth by providing individuals with an objective, untainted reality. Those who seek
out information in an effort to critically engage with, and possibly refute, particular
notions fosters the ability to easily identify problems and produce creative solutions
(Benkler). This is a key factor in the advancement of society and in cultivating
individuals as active participants rather than spectators. For example, human rights
groups have long tried to procure a copy of the military manual of Guantanamo Bay.
Wikileaks publication of the manual allowed human rights groups to uncover tactics
of solitary confinement and humiliation used by Guantanamo Bay to break down the
detainees mentally. Many governments and corporations have to power to
selectively distribute certain types of information while silencing information
deemed unfavorable. Wikileaks tears down this censorship and invites the world to
view institutions in a naked light.
As expected, there has been a backlash against Wikileaks’ stark honesty.
Lawsuits and countries banning access to the website are just a few ways that is has
been expressed. Another example is Wikileaks’ release of the video that captured the
murder of an Iraqi photographer, cameraman and innocent bystanders during the
filming of a story on the war crimes that Americans had committed in Iraq. They
were killed by a helicopter and heavy firepower that intended purpose was to be
used against tanks and vehicles. This release was a catalyst for United States’
repudiation of Wikileaks.
Following the backlash, Julian Assange and his associates began to receive
strange text messages, death threats and, as a result, started to the feel that they
were being watched and listened to at all times. Furthermore, GOP Congressman,
Mike Rogers suggested that Wikileaks whistleblowers should receive the death
penalty. Similarly, Foreign Policy Analyst, Cristian Whiton stated the Julian Assange
and his Wikileaks associates should be treated as terrorists. He justified this by
likening their liberation of truth to espionage or political warfare. In an attempt to
cripple the organization, the U.S moved to shut down Wikileaks payment service,
thereby, shutting down the website’s funding. Harsh penalties have been doled out
to American Hackers that are suspected of having connection with Wikileaks, such
as detention, questioning the confiscation of their computers. Julian Assange has
also been accused of rape, which some suggest are merely the efforts of a smear
campaign.
As a result, Julian Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy of the
United Kingdom in order to avoid extradition to Sweden, where authorities want
him for questioning over rape allegations. Assange fears that the Swedish
authorities will hand him over to the U.S. government, where he could be tried for
espionage, conspiracy, unlawful access to classified documents, and computer fraud.
If convicted of espionage or treason, Assange faces the death penalty. He might be
tried in a military tribunal or a secret trial, and thus, there is no guarantee that
Assange will receive a fair trial. These examples illustrate the extent to which
governments will go in order to keep information out of public domain. Unlike
hackers and the dissemination of false information, the Wikileaks foundation
performs a public service by aiming to uncover truth and educate the world.
Much like television, the Internet has the unfortunate ability to shape peoples
understanding of reality into predetermined moulds that serve to benefit particular
individuals and their motives. This can result in the passive and naïve consumption
of agendas. It is important, in an era of so much information, to be critical of the
information we encounter. We must keep the possibility of bias, motive and
misinformation in mind. It is also crucial that we be careful when entrusting the
Internet with personal information. The Internet can be a useful tool, however, it
must be taken seriously and we must remind ourselves that it is not an entirely
neutral space. It must be critically engaged with and not passively consumed.
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