Could a backlash against the WikiLeaks phenomenon see increased restrictions in generic Internet usage?
The current row over the latest WikiLeaks trove of classified US diplomatic cables has four sobering implications. The first is that it represents the first really sustained confrontation between the established order and the culture of the Net. As the backlash unfolds – first with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on ISPs hosting WikiLeaks, later with companies like Amazon and eBay/PayPal suddenly withdrawing services to WikiLeaks and then with the US government attempting to intimidate Columbia students from posting updates about WikiLeaks on Facebook – the intolerance of the old order is emerging from the rosy mist in which it has hitherto been obscured. The response is vicious, co-ordinated and potentially comprehensive, and it contains hard lessons for everyone who cares about democracy and about the future of the Net. There is a delicious irony in the fact that it is now the so-called ‘liberal’ democracies that are desperate to shut WikiLeaks down. Consider, for exampl
