Cyberspace is one of the few places in the world where the wanna-be outlaw can be just that: a place where free music pours like a waterfall and pornography is practically handed to kids through pop-up windows. It seems that in this digital utopia one can do as they please and not suffer in the slightest. But don't put down this essay and head to the nearest computer just yet, because that may not be the case at all.
In Sherry Turkle's article “Cyberspace and Identity”, she compares the cyberspace of today to the adolescence of earlier generations – a “time out” from consequences. Unlike their predecessors in the seventies, today's generation cannot experience the consequence free time of adolescence and college where people were having casual sex with multiple partners and hallucinogen drugs were still legal due to sexually transmitted diseases and preparation for their future careers. Thus the generation turns to cyberspace in order to escape from the laws of reality. Cyberspace allows them to experience the same exploration as previous generations, but on a virtual level; they can pretend to be whomever they wish or express themselves as they are in real life. The virtual world doesn't regulate how one can act, so it is up to the user to regulate their own actions.
Being whoever you want and acting however you want are two different things, though. Traveling through cyberspace, each user leaves a digital trail that can be traced back to them, allowing others to gain access to their computer and personal information. I remember browsing the online video library YouTube one day and coming across a video about “Internet hate machines.” This video happened to be a news report on a website I regularly visit, 4chan. The news reporter interviewed a man who was constantly “terrorized” by the 4chan community. He claims to have done nothing and that he is just an innocent victim. The community has a different story however. The man actually posted his ex-girlfriend's personal information on the forum in order to get back at her for dumping him. He told the users to use the information to access her computer and make her miserable. Anyone who visits this large forum can tell you that the users don't appreciate being told what to do. They made it quite clear that they were not the man's personal army by hacking into his computer via the digital trail he left and stealing his personal information. They were able to acquire the man's home address and phone number. Some members of the forum even proceeded to threaten the man. There are those who can make you feel the consequences of cyberspace if they choose.
There are a series of these criticisms against cyberspace, some of which Howard Rheingold mentions in his article “The Virtual Community.” The most frightening of the criticisms listed is the idea of Panoptics. This is the idea that, as Rheingold puts it, “The same channels of communication that enable citizens around the world to communicate with one another also allow government and private interests to gather information about them” (495). It is possible that someone is always watching what happens on the Internet and can use the information gathered to find out about personal matters – it is just like doing anything else in private while a micro-camera captures every detail. This is a violation of privacy and the right to know, but then again the government has used the “what the people don't know won't hurt them” method before.
And one of the appeals is just that: the lack of a governing body in cyberspace. Governments still have access to cyberspace, but they do not regulate the actions of the users. One government cannot regulate something the entire world has access to without some form of rebellion. Esther Dyson, author of “Cyberspace: If You Don't Love it, Leave It”, claims that, in cyberspace, communities of any size can flourish, unlike with minority say in the government (511). In cyberspace, the users are their own masters and the users can even create new communities if they wish. The size of the Internet is limitless, and so groups can grow to any size and new areas are always opening.
Every part of the real world is expanding to include cyberspace as a modern day tool. Businesses and even whole cities are setting up free wireless Internet for their customers and inhabitants. And since we are surrounded by cyberspace, is it so crazy to think that perhaps we are a part of it? This is the criticism of hyper-realists, another group that Rheingold mentions in his article. Hyper-realists believe that humans live in a virtual world created to control them, that most everything around us is digital and not real, but made to keep the public in line (496). Eventually, if the human population continues to rise, we may want to find a way to put the hyper-realist school into motion. If space is limited in the real world, why not move to the unlimited space of the virtual world? Line everyone up side by side and let their minds wander through the endless space.
The hyper-realist school raises another question: has the invention of cyberspace altered the way we view reality? Speaking about the evolution of cyberspace, Dyson says, “Formerly a playground for computer nerds and techies, cyberspace now embraces every conceivable constituency” (508). New information is spread through cyberspace quicker than any other method, and online video games allow users to escape from the real world and live in a virtual one where they can be the hero or villain they wish they truly were. Shopping can be done online; socialization can be done online. All of this has shaped society as more and more of the world is encompassed in cyberspace. The real world is becoming obsolete.
If cyberspace continues to change the way we live, then power hungry governments will attempt to gain control of it. In order to keep cyberspace as consequence free as possible, citizens need to moderate the amount of time they spend online versus the amount of time they spend in the real world. This will hopefully keep a stable balance between the real world and the virtual world. Thus, the government can continue to control the real world while the users govern the virtual world themselves.
Works Cited
Rheingold, Howard. “The Virtual Community” 75 Arguments an Anthology.. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 46-52.
Turkle, Sherry. “Cyberspace and Identity” 75 Arguments an Anthology. Ed. Alan Ainsworth New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 46-52.
Dyson, Esther. “Cyberspace: If You Don't Love It, Leave It” 75 Arguments an Anthology. Ed. Alan Ainsworth. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill 2008, 46-52.
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