The second episode of the Virtual Revolution series broadcasts tomorrow night at 20:15pm on BBC2. The programme, Enemy of the State?, looks closely at how individuals are using the powerful Web tools against governments and in support of them, how governments are (successfully and unsuccessfully) using the Web to control individuals, and the many groups who are using the agnostic Web to create their own politic – from the good to the downright evil.
Here’s what it says on the official site:
Aleks charts how the web is forging a new brand of politics, both in democracies and authoritarian regimes.
With contributions from Al Gore, Martha Lane Fox, Stephen Fry and Bill Gates, Aleks explores how interactive, unmediated sites like Twitter and Youtube have encouraged direct action and politicised young people in unprecedented numbers.
Yet, at the same time, the web’s openness enables hardline states to spy and censor, and extremists to threaten with networks of hate and crippling cyber attacks.
If this has you hankering for more before the show airs, check out the excellent and in-depth piece about the issues covered in tomorrow night’s film for BBC News from Rajan Malhotra, programme 2’s awesome assistant producer. Here’s a taster:
As the web empowers the ordinary citizen and gives a voice to the masses, so it has equally strengthened the hold of governments around the world. Freedom versus Control is an age old battle that has now moved to the web…
Twenty years ago, as the web was born, it would have been difficult to imagine that it would start to evolve into such a powerful social and political tool.
But that is just what the web is becoming – from the Chinese government’s attempt to control the blogosphere through its own “50 Cent” army of bloggers to tweets and status updates from the Iranian protestors, the web might be on the way to becoming one of the most powerful weapons of our time.
If you’d like to see the film in action before tomorrow, head to The Guardian, where they have an exclusive clip of what happens in the beating heart of the Web.
And, of course, you can play ‘spot the programme 2 behind-the-scenes photos’ while you’re watching on Saturday night or catching up during the repeat on Monday 8 February at 23:20, or with iPlayer, with my Flickr Virtual Revolution set.
Comments
Hello Dr Krotoski, this was a very interesting programme.
It was interesting to see how the balance of positive and negative is always going to be present in the internet.
My goodness, just browsing iPlayer and saw this. Not seen you Aleks – I mean Dr Aleks ;) since the days of Bits on C4 with PS2 and Dreacast reviews!
In catchup mode now…
Hey Aleks. First, thank you for a great programme. I look forward to BBC2 on Saturdays. I don’t know if you’ll see this message at all, but I would like to know the name of that scientist you mentioned when introducing the concept of ‘the Loop’. I would watch the show online to find out but I’m not in the UK, so I don’t have access to it unfortunately. I’m interested in the concept so I would love to read more about it. Hope someone can help me on that. Thanks.
Since 1999, I have advocated e-Democracy for Tynwald, the “Oldest (continuous) Parliament”, on the Isle of Man. The 500+ documents published at www.oldestparliament.org demonstrate how “top-down” government has resisted 21st century democracy, as has all UK political leaders, assisted by censorship by the BBC and UK national newspapers. As Tony Benn says, on the site, “I have been in the House of Commons for 50 years. In that time I have noticed that the guys at the top have done well out of it and donn’t want Democracy creeping in!”