Infowar: Info Weapon Contest di Geert Lovink
One of the current
paradigms on 'war' is the solubility of the frontlines
and territory in general. Since the Second World War we have been living
in
the
age of 'total war' or 'pure war', as Paul Virilio has called it. Many
theorists ever since have pointed at the intrinsic relationship between
the invention of the atomic bomb, the computer and the rise of mass
media and
television in particular. This historical configuration of technologies
has dominated the entire post-war/cold war era. Guerilla movements,
terrorism and civil uprises have not been able to change the basic
parameters of warfare defined by the world powers. The disintegration
of the
Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin wall has changed the political
maps of entire continents but has not brought a similar downfall of
the
technological war paradigm. Quite the opposite, '1989' has only
intensified the invisible and 'remote' mode of warfare. This is the
background of 'Info War'. We witness the rise of a 'military electronic
complex' (miniature tactical weapons), combined with sophisticated forms
of propaganda and manipulation, on all sides, of the global media and
communication systems (the 'CNN effect').
But this is only
one side of the story. It is not 'our' story. The
critical and historical analysis of the intertwingled relation between
war
and media technologies also has a civic, non-corporate-state side. This
is
the part of the 'info war' where artists, activists, programmers and
designers are playing a role (though marginal, of course). Ever since
the
sixties and seventies, hackers and media activists have started to play
around with the 'paralyse' of the laboratories and factories of the
emerging high tech industry. Sometimes illegally, sometimes supported
by
universities and research labs, individuals, groups and loose movements
have come up, demanding a 'democratization' of technology via 'direct
action'. Unlike peace movements and anti-militarist groups, hackers
have
a genuine, positive attitude towards the machines. It is like
a hidden, chained libido that has to be liberated by taking it away
from
the authorities. Keywords for this are free software, shareware, public
access, and decentralized, open systems.
In part, the Internet
has become so successfull due to this hackers'
ideology. But this historical configuration, written down in many software
parts and operating systems, has now come to an end, or is at least
in a
crisis. The premisses of the early Internet, with its usenet, virtual
communities and focus on the fight against censorship, are now under
constant threat. The consensus myth of an egalitarian, chaotic system,
ruled by self-governing users, with the help of articial life and friendly
bots, is now crushed by the take-over of telecom giants, venture capital
and banks and a sharp rise in regulatory efforts by governments. The
Internet is getting more and more on the defensive. It is therefore
time
to strike back: Info War.
The fight for public
bandwidth, against rating systems and (self)
censorship, for access for all and access to all information is not
only a
defensive one. There is still room for new, open standards and software
which is not owned by big companies. The operating system Linux can
be
seen as an example, but also non-commercial browsers (the 'frames of
our
minds').
This is our part of the 'info war', related to the 'war on standards'
(like
in the case of electricity at the beginning of this century). Another
part
of the defensive could be the construction of 'info weapons'. This could
vary from traditional forms of counter propaganda, anti-spam filters,
destructive 'push back' media, communication guerilla, to more friendly
forms of Info War like public awareness campaigns, databases on future
strategies of the military or search engines. In short, civil defense
in
the age of global surveillance and electronic warfare.
The Info Weapon
Contest challenges programmers, hackers, artists,
theorists and designers to come up with their own, very personal proposals.
An independant jury will make its choice and present the winner at the
Ars Electronica Festival 1998.