The Huffington Post is an online newspaper that is a part of a greater network of bloggers, journalists, and free lance writers.  The Post recently published an exclusive excerpt from Micah L. Sifry’s new book “WikiLeaks and the Age of Transparency”.  The excerpt can be found here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/09/wikileaks-assange-transparency_n_820348.html.

Sifry, who is the cofounder and editor of the Personal Democracy Forum as well as a consultant on “how political organizations, campaigns, non-profits and media entities can adapt to and thrive in a networked world”, wrote his book in order to examine the pertinent question of how the internet should/could be used to hold governments accountable for their actions.  He explores this notion through the lens of WikiLeaks, the online network that was and is being used to bring about what Sifry terms, an “Age of Transparency” in regards to open information sharing and whistle blowing; in essence, holding our own governments accountable for their actions.

Sifry makes an intriguing argument that regardless of if WikiLeaks continues to exist or not, the internet has allowed there to be a closer proximity in regards to information sharing between people than ever before.  This proximity suggests that transparency is the new norm and that governments attempting hide and conceal pertinent information from their public will no longer be allowed to do so.

I understand that this “Age of Transparency” has numerous cons, however I believe that the overall affect of this on governments, specifically on the policy and actions taken by those entities, will be beneficial in moving our society toward a more pure form of democracy.