Week 9: Who's watching the Watchmen?

I really enjoyed this week’s material, particularly the lecture. I guess hacking is something I’ve always had an interest in and fantasised about being good at, since girls that can hack are like those that can fix cars—apparently so much cooler. And the idea of “frontiers” that was talked about in the lecture and the “without borders” idea that was brought up earlier in the semester and built on here both fascinate me as well. It’s interesting to me that we, as civilian population, have a mostly “unrestricted” internet with which it’s been shown by organisations like Wikileaks and movements like Anonymous that stands can be taken in regards to government actions and corporate movements. Basically, it seems a ‘conversation’ can be had, regulated only by the system and not by external means like law or even money, although funding can become an issue in certain circumstances. I personally think it’s important that a democratic tool, which the internet is, is used to keep powerful organisations accountable and I feel organisations like Wikileaks and Anonymous are doing this. They’re gatekeeping—yes, I found a link to an earlier concept! I wonder though, if there’s a possibility that the ‘gatewatchmen’ can become powerful in their own right and be accountable to no one, thereby becoming a danger in and of themselves. I guess this is where it become important that as many people as possible use the internet as an accountability tool for forces that shape who we are as a global group and how we do things.  There’s a line in the movie Watchmen that sums this up pretty nicely, I think: “Who’s watching the Watchmen?” Indeed.