Cyber Poisoning

This completes the trilogy of  " Cyber Scenario"

There were a lot of celebrations when the 'draconian' 66A was repealed. While freedom of expression is enshrined in the constitution, the fact often missed is - It comes with its own share of responsibilities as well. In cyberworld, everybody is a reporter and journalist. Not that the professionals (journalist or reporters) were doing a great job either. But this new medium has taken things beyond limits. It just takes one click or a share or retweet and you are a reporter! There is no legal way to prevent this and moral etiquettes have so far failed to prevent spread of malicious information.

The other scary thing is - You may still have ways to legal recourse if the source or target is an influential person or an entity. But what about those unclaimed posts that make their way on our timelines which target a section of our society albeit indirectly or use them as means to drive an agenda? There are lots of 'unofficial' handlers which enable plausible deniability.  There are many out there which target groups (religions, castes or professions) in general. Nobody is answerable for the authenticity of the information.  Unfortunately people fall prey to the propaganda.  Devious means are often used to make the information look authentic. So a synonymous account to a known entity, color of the profile picture (e.g. saffron) easily trick people into believing that the source is authentic.

Also, at times the protagonist of the information (individual or group) is nowhere to be heard or seen. It’s the self-proclaimed cyber lawyers who play the plaintiff, the lawyer and the judge! All in the name of “Freedom of speech “! And we cry about MSM! If MSM were a bullet that kills people, this is arsenic dissolved in air and water-Far more deadly and poisonous.

An argument often presented is, well you don’t read it or ‘like’ it if you don’t want to. If this were true, the same argument should apply for pornography. Why do we ban online pornography when we allow the unabashed rape of our social fabric to be openly exhibited and at times even glorified?

If a survey were to be conducted in future about causes leading to deterioration of humans as a ‘society’ , I would say this ‘cyber poisoning’ would score much above other reasons like religion, politics  and materialism – essentially because all these and other vices combined  tend to use cyber poisoning!.

Having said that, I have an undeterred belief in the intrinsic goodness of humanity as a race. Trust that would win over these momentary aberrations .It always has…….

Act Responsibly 

Boring - Understanding of Cyber political scenario in India II - Political classification of Cybers

In the last chapter we discussed the various layers of political cybers and the food chain. In this chapter we will discuss the political classification in cyber India. While all the political sects follow the same food chain, they are divided in their ideology and political orientation, often aligned with the political entities that exist in the real world. Needless to say that the creators and second order are the strongest proponents of the respective political ideologies, followed by the transporters and passives respectively. Let us look at the various classifications and their traits

Nationalists- Also known as ‘Bhakts’, ‘Chelas’ and other derogatory names by their political detractors. This is currently the largest and most dominant cyber group among political cybers. Aided by knowledge (as the world knows it) and economic stability, this group has found it easier to migrate –partially or wholly to the cyber world. This group undoubtedly enjoys numerical (if not any other) superiority in the cyber world. 

Some of the characteristics/principles of this group are

1. Undivided loyalty to Modi, Government, BJP, RSS (and affiliated groups), Hindutva and to an extent India( as they perceive)  in the order of precedence. These elements of loyalty are known as the core.
2. Everything that is supposedly said or done against the core is definitely anti-national and is either a domestic or international conspiracy
3. The country as they understand, ceased to exist somewhere around 11th century AD and was re-born again in May 2014. Consequently, even a new born smiling is due to the present government’s achievements.
4. Every single problem of the country India is because of Muslim and British invasion and rule of India. If not for these invasions, Bharat would have been one huge country. Rather there would have been fewer countries in the world since their version of Bharat would have encompassed at least 25-30 of these countries!
5. Counter every argument possible. If it cannot be countered by data in the land, go to Somalia, Yemen, wherever possible and provide examples all to showcase how the current situation (of whosoever concerned) is better in current rule.
6. A group of paradox wherein professionals and intellectuals who display unparalleled rationality in their professions, exhibit utter lack of it when it comes to political wisdom.
7. A strong belief that all other groups in the cyber world are dishonest, strategically inferior, anti-national or all of these.

As mentioned above, this is one of the largest and powerful groups in cyber world and a significant amount of cyber traffic (and money) is attributed to this group.

Liberals – Also known as ‘Sick’ulars and many other names (latest being Adarsh Liberals)

Though, this group is not a numerical match to the nationalists, they have very strong backing from the institutions in physical world which are a legacy of past 67 or more years. 

Some characteristics are

1. They believe that they are the only intelligent beings on the planet.  
2. Everything that starts with Or(ange) or Sa (ffron)  or Hi (ndu) is communal. This group is color blind. It can recognize only these 2 colors.So red, green, blue or any other color is viewed as black or white. 
3. Even fart of a Hindu child is communal in nature and he or she needs to be banned.
4. Year 2002 is an integral part of any discussion, no matter what the topic is. India faced communal tensions and riots only once in its entire history. That is in year 2002.
5. This group has the special jurisdiction to decide on cases. Consequently, Modi has been declared as a criminal.To hell with the official courts and their rulings.
6. Everything is politically fair and justified under the banner of ‘defeating communal forces’.
7. This group has a significant presence and backing of the real world media (MSM as they call it). 

The ‘Mr Clean’ – Also known lovingly as the ‘Aapstards’. 

This is a relatively new cult but shot into prominence since its growth in physical world coincided with the expansion of cyber India. This group may have quite a few similarities with the Liberals. But maintains a separate cyber political identity. It has seen a lot of ups and downs in the real world. But Aapstards as they have called, have mastered the art of cyber political battles and are a strong entity in cyber world. Much to the disdain of the nationalists. 

Some of the characteristics are

1. Everything in AAP is clean. The rest of the political world is dirty.So horse trading becomes ‘meaningful negotiations’ when it comes to AAP.
2. There is only one non corrupt part in India – AAP and Mr AK is its chief. Everything else is un-true.
3. Every single problem in this world (but outside AAP) has to be solved through agitation. That is the only path for truth.
4. Corruption is the only problem being faced by the country and AAP is the only party (rather a Lokpal) that can get rid of corruption.
5. Oppose every government at the centre (any party), state, local bodies. Oppose anything and everything. ( This strategy had to be revisited in Delhi )
6. Welcome anybody and everybody to the fold. The only criteria is that the person should exhibit anarchist tendencies. 
7. Go to people for judgments when it is politically convenient. Ignore them when it causes inconvenience to AAP(rather its political leadership).

These three are the main players when it comes to cyber India. There are many other fringe groups that operate in liaison or independent of these. To name a few

Aborigines – They claim themselves as the original inhabitants of the land.  ‘Original’ to whom and since when is not answered so far. This cyber group has been known to politically side with all the above as per convenience. However, contrary to the other big groups, there is a vast difference between the actions of political groups in real world and cyber aborigines. 

Traits of Cyber aborigines-

1. Everything is foreign
2. Oppose everything
3. Follow 1 and 2.

The Media – Main Stream Media (MSM) as they are fondly called. 

This is a parasite group which derives its fodder from the dirt arising from other groups. In recent times this group has been known to manufacture dirt to stay alive. This group mostly lives in a different world more aligned with the physical world and not a significant entity in the cyber world. However it does wield some degree of influence.

Traits –

1. Basic premise–People are inherently stupid and it’s our sacred duty to keep them so.
2. Create news (everything bad is breaking).
3. The more stupid the news, the better.
4. Distort news and rule.
5. If given a choice between good and bad news, go for the worst.
6. ‘Be hated’. Hate thrives interest (and business)

The ‘Invisibles’-

This group, rightfully called the invisibles, is made of some of the richest businessmen and individuals in the real world. It doesn't have a significant cyber presence i.e politically but is known to influence all the other political entities in real and cyber worlds. It is still being debated whether the Invisibles control the other entities in entirety or partially.

Traits –

1. Don’t be known or seen.
2. Anything that doesn't suit us, change.
3. Money is a positive and only tool for change.

We have covered most of the political groups that play a role in the day to day business of political India in cyber world. Apart from these, there used to be a group called the ‘Rationalists’ or ‘Logicals’ that , spanning across their political orientations was known to think and act in the overall interests of society and the nation. This group is now declared as an endangered spices. Some say that it has become extinct. However, we believe that there may be traces of DNA remaining which would enable resurrection of the group in future. 

 

The hunt is still on……

Boring - Understanding of Cyber political scenario in India Part I

Evolution of planet internet resulted in creation of a new species known as the ‘cybers’ or the internet people,fondly known as 'netizens'. In the evolutionary stage, this species was known to co-exist in both the physical (earth) world as well as the cyber world. Gradually, with the advancement in technology, the environment on planet internet became more and more conducive for habitation. Consequently, more and more humans mutated and transformed as cybers. While a majority of cybers still continue to co-exist in both the worlds, the trend is heavily towards getting acknowledged as cyber citizens. With this mass exodus, cyber world started witnessing creation of colonies and eventually kingdoms which loosely resembled the physical worlds, the mutants subscribed to. Today there are thousands of kingdoms and colonies all across. The interesting factor being, the activism and power in cyber world does not bear a direct correlation to the physical manifest. One of the most affluent, active and powerful cyber kingdoms is the kingdom of cyber republic of India, also known as Cyber India.

Cyber India is abuzz with activities as never before. With more and more cybers added to the count every day, it has become one of the most dominant and active cyber kingdoms. This kingdom is physically scattered over the entire globe, but centered in and around India in a ‘Cyber’ sense. The political animals in particular are the most active ones. Especially in the election season in the geography, which is almost a perennial feature.  The food chain among the political animals is a top down feature with the ones on the top responsible for gathering, dissecting, analyzing the events in real world and (mis) representing them in the cyber world. Occasionally the top order is also responsible for creating new events. Since many in the first order co-exist in the physical and cyber worlds and there are no laws that span across both the universes, it gives an opportunity for the top order to act as miscreants with plausible deniability. The first order actively utilizes this shortcoming to derive food and power from the lower rungs.

The second order feeds on this information and is actively engaged in dissemination of the same while forcefully advocating the rationale. Second order typically seems to have physical correlation to the first order in the real world. Quite a few in the second order aspire to move up to the top. Others have strong ‘cyber genetic’ links to the top layers. This layer increases gradually and is not known to exhibit cross genetic tendencies.  These two combined are the core layers with the second order exhibiting a strong and faithful cohesion to the creators.

The third layer is the transporter layer. These species can be found all around in vast numbers. They act as messengers for almost everything in the cyber world. However, in political sense, they act as political messengers. Although they exhibit affiliation to the second layer, they are at times known to change affiliations or act independently. But in either case this layer is politically ‘cyber active’. The core layers rely on the transporters to disseminate information and fetch cyber food in large numbers. The success of the core layer depends on the continued loyalty of the transporters. Although there is no incentive in the cyber world for the messengers, because it is assumed that passing information is their cyber genetic trait, studies have shown that an incentive based structure may soon be evolved as a means of cohesion between the transporters and the core layers.

The fourth is known as the ‘quasi passive’ layer. This is numerically the largest layer in the kingdom. Animals in this layer are largely passive on the internet. In the cyber world, they are primarily responsible for ‘consuming’ the cyber information generated and passing back acknowledgements which are a key means of survival for the layers on the top. However, this layer has important functions to perform. This layer transcends both the world in two ways. For one, this layer is required to and responsible for transformation of the ‘cyber food’ generated by top layers onto the physical world, particularly in times of elections. Secondly this layer is also responsible for conversion of the cyber food into a state that ‘non cybers’ can consume in real world. ‘Cybers’ in this layer may belong to different strata of society in the real manifest. While a significantly large number are non-affluent actors, some of them can be big players in the real world. Although, belonging to the lowest realm in the cyber world, this is by far the most important and volatile layer that connects and correlates both the worlds. As a result, they are extremely important in the cyber food chain. In a way this layer is the cyber manifest of bacteria, consuming the cyber food, translating it into physical world which in turn feeds the top orders in the physical world who in turn provide energy to the creators in cyber world. So quasi passives actually complete the cyber food chain.  However, as mentioned above, this layer is highly volatile and has been known to switch sides frequently. This layer has also shown disturbing signs of transgressing across different layers in the cyber food chain at times, before returning to the quasi passive state.

To be continued …

Next – Study of political classifications among cybers.