What is a freedom of information? Is it a place where information lives, like a fiefdom, or a kingdom? Is freedom a collective noun for information, like a pride of lions or a parliament of crows? A freedom of information.
Can information ever be truly free? Can it roam the Serengeti of the mind or wander across the vast steppes of the digital age? Can it soar like the condor over high cognitive peaks on thermal currents?
Can information ever be free from its constructs, its syntax, its data and its knowledge? Can it ever be liberated from its confinement and physical constraints, its files and folders? Will information ever be given the opportunity to break away from external interference and regulation? Will it ever break the chains of bondage that enslave it to its purpose?
Is it like ether, which can’t be seen but in which all knowledge is contained? Information has its own systems, its own technology and its own management and governance. It even has its own age.
If information is to be free, does it have no value? What about a commercial or a spiritual value? Is free a four letter word, that feels good on your tongue as you vent your frustrations? If information is encrypted does it become incomprehensible?
If information leads to knowledge and knowledge is power, can we get a freedom of knowledge or a freedom of power?
Who knows?
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 