Transmediale 2012: mass media, internet, and hackers

As a free and open medium, the internet relies on self control – a thorn in the side of the ever-present mass media. But do the public media still fulfil their democratic mission of controlling the state anyway? Or is the future marked by hacking and manipulating?

 

WikiLeaks has revealed the real goals of the US diplomacy, leaving behind the lingering the question: is a state actually entitled to privacy, too? The London riots and their offshoots were organised almost tap-proof, with the directing forces using Blackberry mobile phones. The police state seemed to be powerless. What does dial-up internet access mean for the so-called Arab spring? The computer worm Stux successfully disrupted the Irani atom programme. Is there a national secret service behind its design, after all?

According to surveys, the Piraten Partei establishes itself in Germany. Which role does Anonymous play in this process? Do hackers have any relevance? Do the ostracised enemies of the state become the warrantors of the future security? Is the Chaos Computer Club the better law enforcer because the state itself  doesn’t figure out what’s going on any more?

Economy philosopher Georgios Papadopulos or anthropologist Gabriella Coleman know how parties like Anonymous use the omnipotent CNN as a source of distribution. And the new artistic director of the Transmediale, Kristoffer Gansing, can imagine that social media saves us from the dilemma because by using them, “everybody (is) becoming his own media.”

Text: Boris Alexander Knop