In 2004, one of my favourite Machinima, “Red vs Blue”, released a short called “Real Life vs the Internet” showing the disparities between our online and offline existence. One of my favourite sections is the discussion on politics. In real life you usually tend to avoid the topic, while political Read more…
I have a rather complicated relationship with democracy. As a Costa Rican, it was ingrained in me from an early age that the only viable way of government is pluralist democracy, and that the balance of power could only be decided at the ballot box. My parents were fairly political, Read more…
Last month I attended the fantastic re:publica event in Berlin. It would be misleading to call it a conference, it is to a conference what Primavera is to a gig. This is the largest digital rights politics event in the world, thousands of attendees, hundreds of sessions. Art, music, culture, Read more…
During the last European election, one of the major stories to hit the press was the widespread lurch to the right, and the rise of the Europhobe vote. Very few outlets noticed a significant development for those interested in digital rights, and it was the poor showing of pirate parties Read more…
Does anyone else get the feeling that Internet regulation is starting to resemble a dystopian novel? Widespread surveillance (both public and private). Censorship. Lack of transparency. Prosecution of whistle-blowers. Secret courts. Governments intent on hard-wiring morality into the network. Open standards under attack. Excessive IP enforcement. Centralised architectures. We are Read more…