One of the messiest and thorniest national security challenges is how to keep Australians safe from manipulative online content – now, and into the future. The matter cuts across departmental jurisdictions in a way few other national security issues do – taking in questions relating to freedom of speech, defamation law, commerce, defense and intelligence, to name just a few.
As the internet continues to evolve, reaching further into the way people live their daily lives, these challenges will only grow. The last three-decade history of the internet has so far seen two distinct phases. Web 1.0 saw the advent of stand-alone websites; these were the static read-only sites of the 1990s and 2000s.
Web 2.0 is the social media age that most of us still operate in – a world of user-generated content, connectivity, e-commerce and data gathering. This phase has been largely dominated by the big social media companies, who were once celebrated as champions of the Arab Spring and protectors of the public sphere, but whose global status started changing in 2016, after a dark side became clear.
In a shift known as the tech lash, the corporate technology giants were blamed for a range of social and political ills; from spreading abusive material and disinformation to fueling polarization and hate speech. Perhaps above all, they have been maligned for the vast power and profit they derive from hoovering up and monetizing user data.
Governments around the world have spent the last decade grappling with how to exert jurisdictional powers over the internet giants. The last 12 months have seen a range of policy responses – from the European Union’s sweeping new Digital Services Act to Australia’s Anti-Trolling Bill; from the US Platform Transparency and Accountability Act to crackdowns on internet companies in India.
Continue reading: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/web3-coming-national-security-implications-too
As the internet continues to evolve, reaching further into the way people live their daily lives, these challenges will only grow. The last three-decade history of the internet has so far seen two distinct phases. Web 1.0 saw the advent of stand-alone websites; these were the static read-only sites of the 1990s and 2000s.
Web 2.0 is the social media age that most of us still operate in – a world of user-generated content, connectivity, e-commerce and data gathering. This phase has been largely dominated by the big social media companies, who were once celebrated as champions of the Arab Spring and protectors of the public sphere, but whose global status started changing in 2016, after a dark side became clear.
In a shift known as the tech lash, the corporate technology giants were blamed for a range of social and political ills; from spreading abusive material and disinformation to fueling polarization and hate speech. Perhaps above all, they have been maligned for the vast power and profit they derive from hoovering up and monetizing user data.
Governments around the world have spent the last decade grappling with how to exert jurisdictional powers over the internet giants. The last 12 months have seen a range of policy responses – from the European Union’s sweeping new Digital Services Act to Australia’s Anti-Trolling Bill; from the US Platform Transparency and Accountability Act to crackdowns on internet companies in India.
Continue reading: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/web3-coming-national-security-implications-too
