how the net aids dictatorships

Evgeny Morozov

TED Global 2009

Praise for Belarus...

“Last outpost of tyranny in Europe!”

Condoleezza Rice

“Not free!” Freedom House

"A model social state like the one we're beginning to create!"

Hugo ChavezPhoto: Lhoon/Flickr CC

Photo: Antonis/Flickr CC

Information Revolution Marches On

Photo by oceandesetoiles/Flickr CC

US Presidents ♥ the Internets

Photo: National Archives

Photo: White House

Photo: White House

"The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip"

Ronald Reagan, 1989

“Trying to control the Internet is like trying to nail Jell-o to the wall”

Bill Clinton, 2000

“Imagine if the Internet took hold in China. Imagine how freedom would spread"

John Lennon George Bush, 1999

“Blogs are the new faxes”

Photo: Marcin Wichary/Flickr CC

Welcome to Cyber-Utopia!

Connectivity Connectivity X X DevicesDevices = = DemocracyDemocracy

Photo: Jeremy Visser/Flickr CC Photo: Gadl/Flickr CC

iPod Liberalism

Photo: Slff/Flickr CC

Photo by myuibe/Flickr CC

“Drop iPods, not Bombs”

Photo: United States Army\Photo: Mager Leagues/Flickr CC

Intended vs Actual

Photo: Anitacanita/Flickr CC source: CrookedBrains

Spin + Internet = Spinternet

Photo by ajax/Flickr CC

Spining vs Censoring

Photo by Mr.Enjoy/Flickr CC

China: “Elude the Cat”

Authoritarian Deliberation

Photo by dunechaser/Flickr CC

Uses of “authoritarian deliberation”

1. Generate information useful to government: wikis

2. Share the blame for failed policies with the public: spin

3. Increase legitimacy (both at home and abroad): scale

Iran: Twitter counter-revolution?

Photo by nomaan/Flickr CC

But what about “digital natives”?

Photo by Trynes/Flickr CC

Cyber-Activism vs Cyber-Hedonism

Photo by linlin/FlickrPhoto by fhashemi/Flickr CC

Catalyst of change vs opium for the masses

HKmPUA

Photo by HKmPUA/Flickr CC

Digital Renegades vs Digital Captives

Photo by murplejane/Flickr CC Photo by seandreilinger/Flickr CC

Brave New World of Cyber-Hedonism

Young Digital Mavens”, JWT/IAC, Fall 2007

Category China US % of teenagers addicted

to the Web42 18

% of teenagers with “parallel life” online

61 13

% of teenagers not feeling OK going w/t

Internet for a day25 12

% of teenagers who said Internet broadens

their sex life32 11

Hierarchy of Cyber-Needs

CAMPAIGN:Amnesty, HRW

LEARN: Wikipedia, TED

SHARE: Facebook, Twitter

TALK: Email, instant messaging, blogs

HAVE FUN: pornography, BitTorrent, YouTube

Some Right Reserved, Evgeny Morozov

Which way freedom?

Photo by abhijeetrane/Flickr CC

Thank you!