This document discusses the relationship between the internet and authoritarian governments. It summarizes three main tenets of cyber-utopianism: 1) the internet provides access to information that can enable dissent, 2) it raises awareness of crackdowns, and 3) it empowers activists. However, the document argues that authoritarian governments have also benefited from the internet by using it for propaganda ("spinternet"), generating discussions to legitimize policies ("authoritarian deliberation"), and monitoring dissent early through data mining. It provides examples of how countries like China, Russia, and Iran have adopted these strategies to maintain control online despite increased connectivity.
1. The Internet, Free Expression,
and Authoritarianism
Evgeny Morozov
NOV 16/2009
2. US Presidents ♥ the Internets
"The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought
down by the David of the microchip"
Ronald Reagan, 1989
Photo: National Archives
“Trying to control the Internet is like trying to nail
Jell-o to the wall”
Bill Clinton, 2000
Photo: White House
“Imagine if the Internet took hold in China.
Imagine how freedom would spread"
Photo: White House John Lennon George Bush, 1999
3. Main tenets of cyber-utopianism...
1. Internet provides unfettered access to info, making
dissent/revolt more likely
2. Internet helps to raise awareness of
crackdowns/injustices, putting new pressures on
regimes
3. Internet empowers dissidents & activists, making them
more effective/louder than before
4. Internet provides new ways for Western govts (and
their citizens) to influence developments in
authoritarian states
5. Main tenets of cyber-utopianism...
1. Internet provides unfettered access to info, making
dissent/revolt more likely
2. Internet helps to raise awareness of
crackdowns/injustices, putting new pressures on
regimes
3. Internet empowers dissidents & activists, making them
more effective/louder than before
4. Internet provides new ways for Western govts (and
their citizens) to influence developments in
authoritarian states
6. Does technology erode state power?
“The role of the nation state will change
dramatically and there will be no more
room for nationalism than there is for
smallpox...”
Being Digital (1996), Nicolas Negroponte
7. How Authoritarian Governments Benefit from
WWW
1. Spread propaganda/advance their own
agenda (“spinternet”)
2. Generate useful info & add legitimacy
(“authoritarian deliberation”)
3. Monitor/identify dissent early on (“gulag
2.0”)
12. “Researching the basic ways of promoting
state interests with the help of specialized
social networks”
13. Kremlin: generou$ propaganda
• In 2010 Russia will spend more on
propaganda than on fighting unemployment
• Budgets of online-only state media up by 75%
despite the crisis
• Huge increase in international outreach
14. Iran: Spinning Religious Discourse
“Bureau for the Development of Religious Web
Logs” established at the Religious School of
Qom in 2006
350 teachers and clergy in Qom were trained,
with at least 800 students
Particular concern: blogging women
35. Russia: Bloggers' Chamber
“Instead [of becoming a base for the civil society], RuNet has
become home to various antisocial and criminal
elements...these people must feel the hand of the
government Internet censorship. Censorship efforts
should be very selective, very responsible, and very
careful. And they should follow the deliberations of the
national consultative body that would be comprised
of the leading Internet personalities and bloggers.
This new consultative body should develop a set of rules
guiding "tolerant online behavior" that would help to
extirpate all virtual confrontation”
Sergey Mironov, Sept 30/2009
36. “We pay great attention to
suggestions and advice from our
netizens. The web is an important
channel for us to understand the
concerns of the public and assemble
the wisdom of the public”.
Hu Jintao, 2008
37.
38. Often more critical than official media
Ashley Esarey, based on 2006 data/500 blogs
40. 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
41. Authoritarian Deliberation in China
“CCP gains the ability to legitimate policies by
reference to a relatively inclusive deliberation
process rather than to an official ideology... This
increases the political capacities of the CCP while
furthering the careers of party officials”
He Baogang and Mark Warren, ““The Deliberative Turn in Chinese Political Development””
43. Pavlovsky on Liberty.ru
“Liberty.ru will help political parties tap into
collective wisdom, see what people are really
concerned about; the parties would even be
able to borrow some major policy points from
these online discussions”
Gleb Pavlovsky, 2009
48. Do we lose more than we gain?
"The myth of personal empowerment takes
root amidst a massive loss of personal
control."
Joshua-Michele Ross
49.
50.
51.
52.
53. China: TRS Technologies
“Currently [the police force] still does surveillance via
keyword searches on search engines, with every
Marketing managera certain number of keywords to
officer being given of the 200-people-strong TRS
Technologies
cover...We equipped eight police stations in
Shanghai with our data-mining equipment...Now
the work of 10 internet cops can be done by just
one”
• Marketing Manager, TRS Technologies (200+ staff)
