網路商業化與網路民主：資訊政治經濟學觀點下的討論

Commercialization of Digital Technologies and CyberDemocracy: A Perspective of Information Political Economy

電腦與網路系統逐次興盛之後，對社會各個面向都產生了或多或少的衝擊和影響。在電腦化社會下，民主社會的政治面向與活動，也因網路這一新通訊科技的加入，而產生了一些變化。電腦網路科技所傳遞的是數位資訊，數位資訊不能只和投票制度產生關係，而自外於其他社會領域所產生的影響。資訊社會的本質與文化、資訊商業化的影響、電子形式的溝通模式與意義等等都是要被討論的範圍。本文將以數位資訊商業化，做為討論的核心。

The recent social change is associated with the development of computing and the Net technologies. On the Internet, it is said that the new technologies would enhance a better operation of democratic systems and bring about new consciousness of citizenship in term of CyberDemocracy. However, it would be incomplete to consider the relationship between the Net and democracy as a direct 'cause and consequence'. Other social aspects such as the nature of information society, the commercialization of digital technologies, and the new forms of digital communication should be discussed for further understanding of the influence of the Net on the political activities. This paper focuses on the topic of commercialization of the digital technologies and content.