Nobody, (I suspect, I haven't asked them all), would deny that the internet has changed the way society works. For a start it has speeded it up beyond all recognition. In the early days of the Raj it took weeks for news to reach the UK. Even with the invention of the telegraph, though news could travel faster it still took a significant time to disseminate it. Then came the radio and with it a massive leap forward. Now you could sit in your plush armchair in Pinner and listen to what was going on on the other side of the world. The television added pictures, albeit fuzzy ones.
The problem with all this technology, if indeed it was a problem, was that it was one way. You could shout as loud as you liked at the radio, but nobody except your neighbours could hear you. If you disagreed with something you had to write a letter, usually beginning with the words: 'Why, oh why, oh why?' post it and hope that somebody would actually read it. Even the telephone, which allowed two way conversations was limited by whether you both possessed a telephone or failing that lived near a phone box. I have an old telephone here on my desk. It has been restored and works as perfectly as it did in 1955 when it was made. It does not have a # key. I can't use it for anything other than talking to other people. It is the antithesis of the smartphone, but boy is it well built. It would probably survive a nuclear attack, so the cockroaches will have something to talk to each other on.
On the other hand, the machine on which I am typing this is frighteningly sophisticated. It is not a new model. It is mid 2012, which worryingly is eight years ago. Where did the time go? I have upgraded it a bit but basically in computer terms it is an old clunker, and yet I have not even begun to scratch the surface of its possibilities.
I mostly use it to access the internet, and here we return to my opening remarks. With the help of this device and a fibre network (I always think that sounds like an organic pan-scrub), I have access to information and goods I could only dream of twenty five years ago. Then, mobile phones were status symbols and not particularly smart, and the web was the domain of academics. Now I can shop in the USA without even getting out of my chair, I can research my family history from the kitchen table, I can watch films and listen to music on demand, I can talk to friends and family almost anywhere in the world with or without pictures. But of course you know all this. It's the way life is. And in our current situation it's a damned good thing it is. We are locked down but not locked out, in fact we have greater access than before. We now know what Mary Beard's study looks like and what Matt Lucas's staircase is like (and what picture he has on the landing). Life has become like one long episode of 'Through the Keyhole' only mercifully without Keith Lemon's grubby commentary.
The problem with all this is that we all too often forget that the internet is a two way thing. Nowadays if you shout at your computer there is a real possibility that somebody is listening and will hear you. It might just be Siri or Alexa and they may be confused by your ranting, but it might just be someone less harmless.
And in this instance I am not really talking about the dangers of a Big Brother state. At least not our Big Brother state, corrupt and venal though it might be. I am referring to the interference of foreign states in the political life of our country.
It seems to me a tad ironic that we are (presumably) leaving the EU in order to 'take back control.' Those damn Germans are too big for their boots, too successful, too powerful for us to want to be their friends any more. So instead brave little Britain heads off into he unknown to once again become a leading world power. Except for better or worse we already are a world power. We are permanent members of the UN Security Council; we are a member of the G7.
Sadly what we also are or will be is vulnerable. The Government has conveniently forgotten to publish the report into Russian interference in our elections. I'm sure Vladimir is in no hurry to see it on the bookshelves, but even if it is published and it shows that he and his regime did interfere in our democratic processes he will not be too upset. He seems to want to sow discord and then sit back and watch the fun. What else explains the Skripal case? His plan seems a touch ineffable.
And then there is China. China is a big country. China is a powerful country. China has its finger in many pies. Who knows what China is up to? I wouldn't even like to begin to guess. We shall have to wait and see.
And finally there is Israel. The state whose name nobody dare mention. Israel is a rogue state. This has nothing to do with its existence. It exists, simple as that. It also flouts international law and convention with impunity. It has nuclear weapons in direct contravention of the UN treaty banning them. It denies it has them and refuses to sign the treaty. Draw your own conclusions. Daily it violates the human rights of the many Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank. It wields an influence far greater than it should and there is plenty of evidence to show it has interfered with the internal politics of the UK Labour Party, when it became clear that Corbyn had sympathy with the Palestinians.
And what has this got to do with the internet? Well everything really. With the internet these malign forces have access to millions of people. They can affect opinion, they can change the result of elections, and most of us don't even know it is happening.
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