A really interesting talk by Evgeny Morozov at the RSA yesterday, which provided an important challenge to the glib assumption that the internet is inevitably a force for peaceful, democratic change. Many politicians and political commentators appear to be of the view that, given enough connectivity and devices, democracy is inevitable - creating what Morozov describes as a ‘cyber utopia’.
Bringing a much needed dose of realism to the subject, Morozov highlighted the different ways in which authoritarian regimes are using the internet to control political debate and crack down on protest He spent the early part of his career advising political activists in the former Soviet block, so is well place to comment on the behaviour of the political elite in places such as Russia, China and Iran.
Not only are authoritarian regimes censoring their critics – removing links to negative comments on popular search engines – but they are also indulging in more subtle tactics: what he describes as ‘gaming Google’. In essence this involves enlisting their (often paid) supporters to flood chat rooms with positive comments and links to pro government sites. He claims that the Chinese government is able to call on over 300,000 supporters to counter any critics. In a similar way, supporters of the Saudi government are encouraged to identify videos on YouTube that might ‘offend Saudi sensibilities’ and in Thailand supporters of the monarchy are encouraged to identify web users guilty of lese majeste, as part of a Protect the King campaign. The Russian government has even created the Kremlin School of Bloggers to train its supporters on how to succeed in the blogosphere.
The situation in Iran is particularly alarming. The government is posting photographs of activists online and inviting supporters to identify these ‘enemies of the state’. It is also using data mining techniques to identify online dissidents.
Morozov also cautions against the assumption that a new generation of ‘digital natives’ – the teenagers and twenty-somethings brought up in a digital world – are more likely to become political activists. He argues that younger web users, especially in developing markets such as China, are more interested in cyber hedonism than cyber activism. In this way, the web can been seen as another opium for the masses, rather than an engine of political change.
Morozov has a book on this subject coming out next year. It sounds like it would be well worth checking out. The video of his RSA talk will also be available in the RSA website within the next few days.