The Information Age

Society has now progressed into what many are calling the “Information Age,” and with

this progression comes the creation of a vast “public sphere” of a magnitude never seen before.

Blogs, or millions of personal, online journals, have made information more readily available

than ever before. Additionally, privacy has taken a huge hit from this exchange of information

within the “public sphere,” which is further taxed by advancements in technology which make it

easy to observe people and their actions. Finally, the availability of information has made it easy

to violate copyright laws, and most of these violators seek reform to the system to better match

today’s technology. Altogether, these issues all tie into the philosophical “normative crisis of the

information society,” (Duff) which states that the norms of society are being skewed by the rapid

advance of technology and availability of information created by the internet, or as previously

stated, the vast “public sphere.”

Web logs, or blogs, are basically just online journals. Despite the stereotype that the

average blog is poorly written, full of boring content, and generally worthless, many blogs are

very well maintained and offer solid insight into the dynamics of news, politics, sports, and just

about anything. The beauty of the system is in the numbers. The internet provides access to

“millions of blogs from all five continents” (Keren 5). And this collective exchange of

information makes it possible to find out just about anything. Additionally, technology makes the

blog into an extension of journalism. Because of the diversity and flexibility of the internet,

media can be linked and embedded with ease, integrating music and video together with written

language to create an altogether different sensory experience.

 All of this readily available information has created transparency within the media on a

grand scale. For example, Keren discusses one incident where “bloggers exposed misquotations

by mainstream journalists through links to original transcripts…showed that a journalists report

from behind Iraqi lines couldn’t be accurate because the town he reported from had been

occupied by the US Army at the time.” Accuracy is created from the efforts of a collected whole.

Bloggers fact-check other bloggers, those who lie and mislead are not taken seriously. The

readiness with which a blog can link to any source found online makes it possible to dynamically

prove claims and provide facts directly from the blog.

“Crooks and Liars” is one such blog. This liberal blog has multiple authors and is well

designed, following a classic blog structure by providing imbedded videos showing the

politicians or journalists they are discussing in action. Like other typical blogs, it includes a blog

roll linking to other blogs who may offer similar content. This linking to other blogs enforces the

idea of the creation of a “public sphere.”

Barlow discusses the “public sphere” in his first chapter, where he mentions, “What the

blogs have managed to do, in some respects, is re-establish the public sphere much in the way

that the coffeehouses, salons, broadsheets, and pamphlets (and more) first established it three

hundred years ago.” (5) Ideally, the public sphere is a forum of debate free of commercial

interest, class or rank difference, and is generally accessible. (Barlow 4) The internet has

revolutionized and rejuvenated this forum by extending it cross-continent and providing ease of

access like never before. For example, in the blog “Crooks and Liars” each post is publically

commented on by dozens of readers who add something to the conversation started in the

original post. In a recent article, C&L writes “In his weekly address, President Obama takes on

outraged teabaggers' claims about higher taxes and bigger government by pointing out some real
statistics and facts, starting with this: tax refunds are 10% higher because of Recovery Act tax

breaks aimed at the middle class.” This is met with a comment from “Vegas Rage”, who writes

“My return was about the same as last year but then again what is 10% of $2,000, a whopping

$200. Come on.” This in turn is met by a reply from “jhunter99844” who writes “$200 bucks is

groceries for this college student for a month. Two months if I ate ramen noodles, canned green

beans and bologna tacos.” The point of this is that the blog is not limited to only having input

from writers. A dynamic community of readers from all over the world can discuss the contents

of the article immediately after it is written, which is a huge step up from traditional “letters to

the editor” found in newspapers.

This public sphere has laid the groundwork needed to support the changes blogs have

made to both politics and journalism. The means by which blogs provide transparency of

information have been discussed previously, but two large effects brought upon these two

mediums of communication in addition to openness can be described as moving from a more

“vertical” medium to a more “horizontal” medium.

Vertical as used in this sense refers to an organization structure most similar to capitalist

societies. Those in charge occupy the top positions of the hierarchy, and those who follow orders

occupy the lower postions. They are ordered in a trickling fashion, and for a while journalism

was and is set up in this manner. There are benefits to this, but deficiencies as well. It is a solid

structure for getting task accomplished; however, in many cases the voices on the bottom are not

adequately heard.

The alternative organization structure is “horizontal.” The most extreme form of this is

communist China. And in terms of journalism, blogs may be viewed as far more horizontal as
they tend to do a better job of placing everyone on more or less equal footing. Benefits of this

include all voices being heard (except in the obvious case of abuse on China’s part) and ideas

flowing freely without being held down by social hierarchy. Unfortunately, this is a flawed

system as well because when many voices are speaking at once, it is often difficult to decipher

who is speaking the truth and who is not.

From this emerge the initial traces of the potential for a “normative crisis of the

information society,” as coined by Duff (1). Blogs allow for mass communication amongst

equals within a “public sphere.” But this has also led to people taking risks they may not have

taken were they in the “real world.” It is tempting to give away personal information on blogs,

where it may be accessed by total strangers. Societal norms which might otherwise prohibit

publishing significant information about your life in a medium which can be viewed by anyone,

but in today’s culture there is a false sense of security maintained by many people who maintain

blogs. For instance, in Hangwoo Lee’s article about human interaction within a discussion group,

which is very similar in many aspects to the comment section on a blog, he describes instances of

people talking about their life in spite of the public nature of the medium: “others may disclose

personal and private information about themselves even though they are fully aware of the public

nature of a news group posting” (Lee 12). Clearly societal norms are changing to allow for more

transparency of information.

One of the biggest effect of this relaxation of information is the general loss of privacy.

While politicians and celebrities have long been targets of the media, now this invasion has

extended further to people normally would not have such issues. Cyber stalking has become a

potentially dangerous problem for some bloggers. For instance, Darren Rowse, a writer for

“problogger,” reported in one post his experience with a stalker. He writes “someone in my city
read a blog…which made untrue and aggressive allegations against me…these posts were

enough to trigger some extreme thought processes which eventually led to a physical attack upon

my property.” (Rowse) The availability of information online makes it easy for this to happen.

While Rowse did in fact have personal information available on his blog, mainly his name and

the city he lives in, ultimately the ease of obtaining information made it possible for his stalker to

pinpoint his house and launch an attack.

Privacy invasion however, does go far beyond blog stalkers who abuse the power of the

internet. The ease of information transfer coupled with rapid advances in technology has made it

possible for governments to create massive surveillance networks. Duff writes, “The right of

personal privacy, of private space, has long been established as one of the defining features of

modern civilization… yet under post modern conditions the ogre of the surveillance state has

become all too real”(Duff 3). And in reference to new biometric scanning devices and there

potential to invade privacy, Hunter writes “Technology doesn’t set the boundaries anymore.

Policy sets the boundaries. You can’t roll back what technology has made possible, but you can

roll back policy whenever you feel like it.” Both authors address the central issue—technology

has made extensive, invasive surveillance possible, and policy set by the government is the only

thing holding it back. The issue is raised of whether or not the ends justify the means. Better

surveillance technology leads to less crime, but there is still a fear of abuse.

Another element born from the “public sphere” is the theft of copyrighted material. Most

forms of media can now be stored digitally, thanks to current technology, and may also be

transferred with ease over the internet. The “public sphere” becomes more than just a way to

communicate ideas or breach privacy; it becomes a way of transferring “material” goods: music,

videos, photos, books, and software. Traditional ways of storing these media forms are no longer
necessary, as technology has made it easy to store vast amounts of this material in a relatively

small space, and transfer it around the world at warp-speed for virtually no cost. But with this

ease of transport comes certain costs, specifically, the ease in which it can be obtained without

being paid for, and the way in which societal norms are being bent based on this new crime. As

Duff states, “File-sharing controversies are a vivid illustration of a fundamental clash of norms,

about as close to a symptom of a normative crisis as can be imagined” (3). Social norms are not

able to keep up with technology, and thus create a rift between those who think information

should be free and those who treat it as a commodity.

Ultimately, the “public sphere” which has been created through the “Information Age”

has both advanced society and created ethical dilemmas in regards to societal norms, as fast

changing technology pushes the limits which determine what we can do in contrast with what we

ought to do. Networked blogs have contributed largely to the creation of this vast wealth of

interconnected individuals and shared knowledge. This does come at the expense of those who

are stung by their disregard of the potential consequences which may lie in wait. Privacy is lost

in terms of both blogging and government abuse. The very question of how far is too far in terms

of government intrusion is continually asked as bit by bit societal norms are shifted towards

more intrusion, where the trade off is security. These same norms are again called into question

when the issue of copyright laws is brought up. Through the creation of a “public sphere” which

enables mass sharing of information and media, traditional norms of society have been thrown

off balance and have not yet achieved equilibrium.