Morlock Elloi on Sat, 31 Mar 2018 20:27:05 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> The counter-infrastructure of Wikileaks and Julian Assange


Those with longer memories may hazily remember events from 2010 when the obvious became known, and aftershocks that followed and shaped this decade.

It was done by introducing new piping in the global information flow system, that enabled short-circuiting between siloed domains of the ruling class and the ruled serfs.

This was probably the first grassroots infrastructural attempt to counter the flow monopolies. It was attacked on the infrastructure side by hijacking DNS and seizing the machines. Fortunately spreading IP numbers could not be stopped (there was a thriving activity of disseminating lists of IP numbers), and everyone and their mother started mirroring it. It truly became grassroots infrastructure and it could not be stopped. It was a success.

It was also attacked by pretty much everyone with some voice, as most were rather happy with the status quo, regardless of the 'side' they were on. The new infrastructure changed the rules of the game. For the left, it made the intellectual drivel and dogma obvious for what it is, invalidating 'theory' into the ground. For the right, it removed the curtain and forced it to even farther right. This is what new infrastructure does. It makes many uncomfortable, as it obliterates domesticated ideologies.

It is such a shame that it did not get more support. It is such a shame that it did not inspire more copycats to build other counter-infrastructures - not just for leaking, but for countering the dominant information flow regimes in general.

It is such a shame that the audience sits and watches as the founder of this infrastructure is being subjected to more and more enhanced imprisonment. Motherf*ckers, this is more important than which oligarch has better style. which cretinous subset is a greater victim, or pondering when will the capitalism end.

.



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