Feudalism is thought of as being a medieval concept, however in this digitalised era filled with social networks and walled gardens, feudalism is now making a comeback.
Feudalism provides security. In terms of medieval feudalism, the vassals would pledge their allegiance to a lord, and in return the lord would protect them from harm, so to speak.
In terms of today, the main concept of feudalism is being implemented online, in social platforms like Facebook and even in terms of Google and Apple. These ‘feudal lords’ allows us to use their software and devices, we trust in their security measures that protect us from viruses and ‘the big bad web,’ and yet what do they receive in return?
The answer to that question is that we provide value to them, the more we use their software and devices, these companies eventually mine our data in order to sell more advertising and make money (Schneier, 2012).
The Internet used to be a conceptualised place where any person could share information with anyone else, anywhere (Holmes, 2013) however this no longer seems to be the case.
References
Schneier, B 2012, ‘When it comes to security, we’re back to feudalism,’ Wired, 26 November, viewed 28 August 2018, https://www.wired.com/2012/11/feudal-security/
tanaearmstrong.wordpress.com 
Hey, your post was very similar to mine in the ways we both compared feudalism in the middle ages to what it can be seen as today. You are certainly right – us as users both have and add value to the ‘owners’ that make up the walled garden such as Facebook and Apple as they have to us. This prezi I found simply summarises just that: https://prezi.com/w0tgu-0ijwdk/digital-feudalism/
Although, it’s scary to think what type of control and power technology (the lords) will have over us as their feudal serfs. With how dependent we are as a whole on these platforms, to what extent and willpower will we have in the future?
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Hey Emily,
Great minds think alike!
This topic made me a little fearful in the sense of our very limited autonomy in terms of using these services and apps etc. so I definitely agree with you in that aspect. Also thanks for the prezi recommendation, I’ll have to check it out.
Thanks for your feedback.
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Hey Tanae,
Admittedly, at the beginning of the lecture I had no idea what vassals and lords had to do with our own use of social networks and digital media. Your explanation of how feudalism is still relevant in our society was eloquent and informative. We do trust today’s feudal lords to protect us, however many times we have been let down by their lack of security or neglect, such as the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal.
It may be impossible to guarantee full security, but do you think there should be compensation or legal repercussions if our feudal lords let us down in this way?
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Hey Abby,
Thanks for your feedback and overall comment, in terms of the repercussions of our ‘feudal lords’ letting us down, I think that it would be ideal considering we place a lot of trust in them however I’m not sure if that’s the case.
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I find it scary how platforms such as Facebook hold so much power, and hold digital information about us that not many of our friends or even our family wouldn’t know about us. Yet I am still an active Facebook member. In my own post I investigated how the concept of ‘walled gardens’ which is easily identified in Facebook can also be identified in our days at high school, where certain sites could not be accessed on their servers. That is yet another walled garden to protect us from the dark web!
I loved your blog post as it was a great, informative read. And the meme you created is A+, as individuals we feel as if we post freely, but the domain on which we post on ultimately has the power.
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Hey Caitlin,
Definitely agree with you! Super scary to think that there’s a bunch of information available about you online. The school blocking unsafe sites is definitely a universal thing, and I guess that makes schools in general a walled garden?? Not too sure but glad you raised it for discussion.
Thanks for your comment and feedback I appreciate it!
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