The Revolution Will Be Digitised (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

Full review at [...]
Heather Brooke's latest book takes a long, hard, look at the battle for open information in the digital era, and offers a difficult critique of how governments might still just about be winning. The fascinating narrative of the Wikileaks Afghan war logs, Iraq war logs, and Cablegate data leaks, and the effect on all those involved, is threaded through the book.

The vital point is this: the open nature of the internet, that you probably appreciate if you are reading this blog, can be used for good or evil. Governments can use technology to be more transparent, or they can use it to spy on, and suppress, their citizens. It might seem obvious, but it needs someone like Brooke to eloquently drive the point home.

I found "The Revolution will be Digitised" utterly inspiring. It is an excellent expose of one of the key issues of the day, and essential 21st century reading.

Heather Brooke was the investigative American journalist who forced Members of Parliament and those sitting in The House of Lords in the UK to divulge their expenses. She did this country a favour, forcing our law-makers to be honest or to leave Parliament, which many did at the last General Election. Several of them went to jail, and some of them languish there still. In this book about the use and abuse of the internet, Heather Brooke uses the topic of Bradley Manning, Julian Assange and Wikileaks to explore digital ethics, freedom of speech, abuse of power, differences in law between the USA and the UK, and journalistic ideals, in clear, understandable concepts. It is also an entertaining book since it is based on her personal experiences, one of which included a sexually ambiguous advance on her one night by Assange. I thoroughly enjoyed the book which I read in an evening. At 239 pages, it's a compact volume of learning and experience.

I enjoyed reading this book. It's pleasing to read an account of someone's personal experience. I remember once being asked to 'depersonalise' my own work in the name of scientific objectivity (though the meaning of which was not adequately defined). I think the case of Julian Assange which Heather Brooke draws attention to is very important to understanding the current human condition - especially with regards to the emerging global financial oligarchy; the pernicious effects of which seem to be enveloping all of us. Freedom of information is, of course, a central issue within such a context, as is the restitution of democratic ideals - defined in terms of social justice and equality, not merely 'one-person-one-vote' (which is hopelessly inadequate).
I don't particularly like the title of the book as I don't think it serves Heather's real intentions well. And I prefer receptive reasoning as opposed to rejective reasoning because it is much more effective at influencing people in the long term. In this sense, for me, the words 'Revolution' and 'War' are too strong. I would prefer to couch the so-called 'digital revolution' / 'information war' in evolutionary terms, for I believe it to be reflective of the natural human desire towards positive, liberative, collaborative endeavour. It is more appropriate in this sense to recognise that we are not just dealing with information per se, but more truly the rise of the Age of Communication in which a new Interactive Democracy 'I-Democracy' (no, I don't mean E-Democracy) can reassert the primacy of the human and its environment. This is the real transition which is taking place in our era. Heather Brooke has made a useful contribution in that she brings her personal account to a wider audience because the text (being non-academic) is light and readable. It seems that Julian Assange is not being treated fairly. The real problem for me lies at the heart of the global financial oligarchy. This is where our attention should be focused. I'd be pleased to collaborate with you on that one Heather!