NI 458 - December, 2012

Internet showdown

A note from the editor

It struck me as the perfect irony when Google ads about cyber security popped up on my screen as I researched surveillance for this magazine. It was an excellent example of how much we reveal online, and who has access to it.

Now that is not to say that we should all get paranoid, shut down our social network accounts and head for the hills. But seeing as this digital revolution thing is not going away, we need to get our heads around it.

We are living in a time of accelerated innovation. It poses huge challenges – not least to the magazine industry – when digital data, freed of physical substance, can be shared as easily as ideas. It’s a time of great promise – the global democratization of information and knowledge, new ways to network, organize and innovate.

But we don’t know, of course, where these new technologies will lead us. It won’t all be good news. Over the next 20 years, advances in open-design and 3-D printing promise to democratize and localize manufacturing. There will be environmental gains, and it will slash the import bill for Majority World nations – but it may also wipe out millions of jobs.

We also need to be wary of overstating the impact of new technology. Open access to government data, for example, can empower communities but it will not automatically confer power over decision-making, particularly for the 60 per cent in the world without internet access.

This is the case for 97 per cent of people in Mali, the focus of Jeremy Keenan’s exposé on US interference in North Africa. Keenan reveals how the US and other Western countries have been sponsoring terrorism, which is then blamed on Islamic militancy. His shocking report provides important background to a developing news story.

This month’s magazine also has two prominent human rights campaigners, Peter Tatchell and Joyce Arthur, taking opposite views on a thorny issue: should hate speech be a crime?

Hazel Healy for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

NI 458 - December, 2012

Internet showdown

A note from the editor

The big story

New Internationalist co-editor Hazel Healy meets the free software hackers protecting your bits from cybersnooping governments and marketers.

Features

Charlie Harvey outlines the righteous path to internet liberation

Jeremy Keenan uncovers the shocking, murky background to the current conflict in Mali.

"Quinn Norton looks behind the mask of Anonymous, charting its evolution into a global activist force."

Who’s online where, who has your data and how much are they spending to get it?

Nadim Kobeissi tells us about ways to protect our communication from prying eyes.

"Chris Thorpe gives his take on the impact of open-source tech on governance and manufacturing."

Opinion

Feminist Joyce Arthur and gay rights activist Peter Tatchell weigh up the pros and cons.

In the wake of the most significant strikes in Wal-Mart’s 50-year history, it's high time for a union.

Agenda

Regulars

Cartoon by Marc Roberts

Cartoon by Simon Kneebone

Highlighting the work of artists and photographers from the Majority World

Radical political cartoon from Polyp.

Iraqi campaigner Khanim Latif on her lifelong fight for feminism.

Tibetan calm and karma, photographed by Zhuang Wubin.

When it comes to weddings, it’s important to do things right, says Wame Molefhe.

Peru is said to be booming but the poor would never know it. Stephanie Boyd reports.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

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