Privacy and Politics

With news of Gordon Brown "going digital" in the news this week I found myself wondering how politics has had to change over the years to accommodate the ever increasing use of the Internet. I for one, read most of my news online, flipping back and fourth between the broadsheets from the comfort of my own bedroom. Now it seems, the government wants to show how trendy it can be, and in tune with us 'normal' folk by using websites such as Twitter and Google Earth to promote themselves and stay in touch with the public. One Twitter from Number 10 was "No 10 admin in the US is tired, but surviving on strong coffee and muffins" which is just one of many examples of twitter from the PM and his admin.

Muffins aside it is understandable why the PM would want to get online and create a feeling of being more in touch with the public. This is because on the Internet, there is a voice and many many places to make that voice heard. From message boards, to comment trails on you tube, to chat rooms, facebook and twitter. Outside the realm of politics the influence of the internet and its capacity to influence decisions off line cannot be ignored. A rather amusing example of this is the New York Mets (the American Baseball team) being the victims of a massive online prank when the song "Never gonna give you up" was voted online to be the teams anthem. Apparently over 5 million people were in on the joke. Another example is online communities having influence over productions such as Lord of the Rings. Apparently Peter Jackson who directed the much anticipated trilogy kept an eye on the forums of many Lord of the Rings websites to make sure directional decisions he was making were being taken well. So these examples are not political but they are proof that even multi million dollar films still look to online communities for approval, knowing how influential their opinion can inevitably be.

So can the internet be influential in political decisions? Well the government seems to think so. Not only does it want to keep to keep the community it happy, it wants to keep its online communities happy, which are indeed more likely to be made up of international and well as national people increasing the range of opinion and delivery the news further around the world.

Politics must prepare to become less formally seated in one place, and prepare to become more technological, so politicians themselves must also become comfortable with the technology that they will have to use in order to reach into the online world, as well as the off line to which they are probably more familiar. The seats in the houses of parliament should be exchanged for swivel desk chairs amongst a network of politicians and the politics of online communities.