The Internet has been one of the more major stepping stones towards globalization. Before the Internet existed, reliable and affordable methods of long distance communications were scarce. While international phone calls have existed for a very long time, the added costs and the general unreliability of the service left it underused and not fully exploited. However, in this day and age near-instant communication from around the globe is now available. This has allowed globalization to expand and made it far easier to spread information, no matter how insignificant it may be, instantly around the world. Due to these new circumstances, the once thought implausible idea of a true modern democracy is now well within our grasp. The Internet has bestowed upon us the ability to hear the opinions of billions of people, something that could never be achieved in years could now be achieved in mere seconds. The problem is, is the Internet ready for such a responsibility? How much responsibility would politicians or even the world be willing to give to the masses?
The idea of allowing Internet users have a say in how the country is run has been tried before. While it wasn't to the extreme of say, replacing politicians' representational abilities with individuals representing themselves and their own opinions in one gigantic forum, it was a simple test by the New Zealand government. A Wiki was created by the New Zealand police in 2007 with the idea in mind to allow people around the world to have their say on a new policing act. While the Wiki was completed and was used to create the new policing act (the final product being here) the site was overly vandalised and for a good period of time the site itself was down due to the amount of public attention it was getting. The idea is quite unique in the regard it has never been done before and while it had a few hiccups, was proclaimed a success by the New Zealand Police. Yet it has failed to be repeated by any other countries.
There are other ways the Internet can be used to aid in the democratic process. The idea of online voting has been around for awhile, but was never fully used nationwide by any country in the world until Estonia unwrapped their iVote project in 2005. The project was declared a success and led to a fully Internet based national election in 2007. The idea of Internet based voting has been ridiculed on the grounds that the technology is far too unreliable and easy to cheat or exploit allowing for easy rigging of elections. While Mr. Climenhaga's fears are quite genuine, it seems to stem from the idea that no matter how improved security is, the Internet is entirely unsafe and to leave any sort of detail whatsoever is a potential risk. While this is true to some degree, the same could be said about walking outside your house. Electoral rigging is more a case of how determined the rigger is rather than how secure the system is. Regardless of the medium used, rigging will always be a possibility. Analogue systems are more prone to human error while poorly maintained electronics are more prone to straight up malfunction. It's not a case of the machine being wrong, and more the case of untrustworthy individuals allowing for rigging to even be possible.
The fact that the majority of the world simply cannot be trusted is one of the major problems when it comes to developing an e-democracy. While there will be people who will genuinely wish to contribute their ideas or problems, for each one of them there will be another hundred who only wish to vandalise and ruin the others chances of being heard. It's not a case of maturity either, the anonymity of the Internet is often used as a license to act like an idiot and cause trouble, this isn't reserved to teenagers or children either, grown men and women often take part in such activities. Order can reign in such a chaotic playground if effort is put into doing so. Highly organised and moderated discussion forums exist throughout the Internet. While each have the occasional problem from Spammers or 'Trolls' (someone making antagonising statements in order to start an argument), they continue to thrive, with some communities being around since the early days of the Internet.
The Internet has been described as a giant sandbox. It can be molded, changed or morphed to suit the needs of those in it. This is the strength the Internet possesses, unlike other technology it can never be deemed obsolete. It can be upgraded, this is true, but the general principal will remain the same. The idea of a perfectly unified communication system that allows for near instant communication from any place in the world has built the foundations for a new Information Age of mankind. We have the ability to manage or create anything we like and live our lives how we see fit. Through e-democracy the idea of a true democracy in the modern age is something that not only is possible but easily within our grasp. It can range from simple things like having a say in significant legislation, moving referendums or national votes to internet based voting systems or even the 'mad scientist' approach of removing representative government altogether and replacing it with a continuous internet based parliament. I don't think we're ready for that just yet.
References:
Anthony G. Willhelm, 2000. Democracy in the Digital Age: challenges to political life in cyberspace, New York: Routledge.
Barry N. Hague & Brian Loader, 1999. Digital democracy: discourse and decision making in the Information Age, London: Routledge.
Jens Hoff, Ivan Horrocks & P. W. Tops, 2000. Democratic Governance and New Technology: Technologically Mediated innovations in political practice in Western Europe, London: Routledge.
Joanne Jacobs, 1998. Internet and Democracy. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/interdemoc/democ.htm [Accessed October 22, 2009].
Mark Poster, 2001. Cyberdemocracy: The Internet and the Public Sphere. In Reading Digital culture. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 259-271.
Peter Ferdinand, 2004. The Internet, democracy, and democratization, Abingdon: Routledge.
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