Spalpeen

For a short period last summer I blogged about Nuclear weapons over at a site called Nucular vs. Nuclear. I got several visitors from institutions directly associated with the military, including one by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Ministry of Defense, and one visit from Raytheon’s Executive Office.

Raytheon Visit log
IAEA Visit log
MoD Visit log

It’s interesting to me how easy it was for me to track these visitors, and how simple it was to draw them to the site.

It’s also an interesting metaphor for how the internet enables us to watch the watchers, to a limited extent of course. No other generation has had the ability to see which authorities were reading their flyers or newsletters. At least with a blog, you might be able to predict when the FBI/CIA/MI6 would be knocking down your door!

“Mr Blair says he has not kept a diary of his time in Downing Street, but hints that once he leaves he will try to understand the world of the iPod and text messaging which, he acknowledges, is also changing the medium of political debate.”

Wow, just wow. Is there really hope for any kind of integration of a democracy that utilises the web when dinosaurs like these are still in power? If he can’t grasp the concept of text messaging or iPods (this quote is from the middle of a podcast, no less) then the prospect of concepts like blogging becoming integrated into the political process don’t look too great!

Read - The Guardian