How The Internet Can Stop Absolute Corruption

from the watching-the-watchers dept

Bruce Sterling's latest piece for Wired Magazine talks about how we can use the internet to stop corruption. It reads a bit like the idealistic articles about the internet from Wired's early days. The idea is sound, though. The problem with corrupt government officials is that there aren't many ways to fight back. Sterling suggests that by getting the information out there, on the internet, people can make more informed choices, and boycott corruption. He uses Chile as an example, saying that all government contracts can be bid for online, and now everyone knows who is supplying what - making the process more open, and less likely to be corrupt. Of course, corrupt governments aren't likely to change that, and (if anything) are much more likely to block off any site that calls them corrupt.

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