The forces are joined in battle on the Internet. A group calling itself "Anonymous" takes credit for bringing down Master Card's web site temporarily in retaliation for what they view as the persecution if Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Meanwhile, Wikileaks itself was under assault by a deluge of information requests, which shut it down for a time. Amazon and others have refused to host it. Some Congressmen want to brand Wikileaks a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, Assange is on the cover of this week's TIME magazine, while he sits in the same English prison that once housed Oscar Wilde. Like Wilde, Assange is imprisoned not directly for exercising his (ostensible)free speech rights but for alleged sexual misdeeds. Query whether both Assange and Wilde were really being punished for their maverick communications, rather than their sexual proclivities?
The Wiki-wars in cyberspace may be a preview of what the remainder of the 21st century will look like. I am reminded of books by the sci-fi writer William Gibson. If you haven't discovered Gibson, it's high time you did. He really gets it, e.g., the ever-closer relationship between entertainment one hand and politics/war/terrorism, etc. on the other."Intelligence is advertising turned inside out."
Here are some suggestions:
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