Freedom on the net!

(deutsche Version)

In times like ours, when the world order has become dysfunctional, [1] , we may notice an increased longing for a place where everything is better, clearer and more just. As a consequence of the dysfunction and dramatic changes as they are taking place, people increasingly turn to mythical and religious systems as well as develop and express visions of virtual realities. Such yearnings date far back in history, an example of which is Dante Alighieri who in medieval times described a parallel world, sub- divided according to well defined rules into several levels from heaven to hell. In our times the creation of virtual networks of human social co- existence resulted not only in the fancies of cyberspace and virtual 3D- realities, but also always in the design of specified rules, laws and regulations to be followed. In the realisation of this virtual reality a vision of "the net of all nets"- the internet was established and although its fragmentation in smaller nets including their specific sets of policies still exists, the functions of the internet are today based on global consent.

The promised unlimited freedom increasingly turned out to be a world of complex rules and regulations, determined by the main internet operators (global consent). While in early days of the internet it were the technicians who wanted to guarantee a net free from defect, the idealists later on paid close attention to correct ethical conduct on the net. Today the commercial stakeholders and service providers representing our Western capitalistic system are trying to legally lobby their interests with the help of politics. And all this at the cost of liberty on the net! It is not only about power of information, the power of the media alone (print goes online and "occupies" our space), but also about the preservation of the political system and about the control of democracy.

A legal framework was set up to ensure that the life on the net would follow the same laws and rules as the life in the analogue world: copyright, software patents, privacy, security, rights, etc. and many of them contrary to basic creative possibilities such as "the possibility of copying digital data".

The network of mur.at was formed in 1998 out of the need for creating possibilities for free access to new communication technologies with a strong focus on innovative artistic expression. mur.at has become an established and renowned institution recognized by other cultural institutions and initiatives.

Everywhere organisations are controlling the communication, privacy is being corrupted and every user is involuntarily being unmasked ("Goodbye privacy"). No! Not everywhere entirely! One small net of indomitable mur.at members still holds out against those invasions of privacy and does not stand alone in its struggle. The tendency towards decentralising communities (autonomy and self- determination) in closed areas and thus resulting affiliations of interested parties in private networks with access to the internet is happening not only in corporate networks but also in wireless networks where hardly any regulating restrictions are physically possible. Does this tendency lead to isolation? How does it relate to the big social nets such as You Tube or MySpace? Is it a perception and use of the net from an urban and/ or a regional perspective?

How it works, what it can be used for and who is behind it are topics to be discussed in the NCC07. Is it past recovery or does it simply take a reload of net art? With those questions in mind the artistic practice in network controlled technology will be at the centre of discussion during the NCC07.

In order to avoid the event to act top- down, participants are invited to showcase and present what they are engaged with: hands-on. The NCC07 wishes to be as heterogenic as the community and welcomes formal as much as content- related diversity.

We therefore would like to invite the community to actively take part in the NCC07. Come and participate, enjoy the online parlour, feel free to join the workshops, taste the food, chill out listening to good music, to the presentations or to the big words in the plenary assembly room or get involved in further still unforeseeable wild and crazy activities.

For the NCC07:team,

Yours,

Winfried Ritsch

(President mur.at)