1. The Internet, Free Expression, and Authoritarianism Evgeny MorozovNOV 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 ArchivesTrying to control the Internet is like trying to nailJell-o to the wall Bill Clinton, 2000 Photo: White HouseImagine if the Internet took hold in China. Imagine how freedom would spread" Photo: White HouseJohn 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 ofcrackdowns/injustices, putting new pressures on regimes 3. Internet empowers dissidents & activists, making themmore effective/louder than before4. Internet provides new ways for Western govts (andtheir citizens) to influence developments in authoritarian states 4. Therefore...=> The Internet erodes the power of the (authoritarian) state 5. Main tenets of cyber-utopianism... 1. Internet provides unfettered access to info, making dissent/revolt more likely 2. Internet helps to raise awareness ofcrackdowns/injustices, putting new pressures on regimes 3. Internet empowers dissidents & activists, making themmore effective/louder than before4. Internet provides new ways for Western govts (andtheir citizens) to influence developments in authoritarian states 6. Does technology erode state power? The role of the nation state will changedramatically and there will be no moreroom for nationalism than there is forsmallpox...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) 8. I. The Rise of the Spinternet 9. China's 50 Cent Party (wumaodang) ~280,000 members Regular National/Local Trainings Priority Sites Required to Cooperate 10. Russia: New Media Stars start-up 11. Researching the basic ways of promoting state interests with the help of specialized social networks 12. 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 crisisHuge increase in international outreach 13. Iran: Spinning Religious DiscourseBureau for the Development of Religious Web Logs established at the Religious School ofQom in 2006350 teachers and clergy in Qom were trained,with at least 800 studentsParticular concern: blogging women 14. Iranian blogosphere: 2008 15. Iranian blogosphere: 2009 16. Iranian efforts pay off 17. Nigeria's Anti-Blogging Project 18. Who'll lead Egypt's Facebook revolution? 19. Is message control viaDigg and Wikipediamore difficult/less effective than viaPravda? 20. Subvert and Profit 21. Gameabiliy and astroturfing 22. Facebook friends at 20 cents/friend 23. Aggressive Search Engine Optimization 24. Also: the UK 25. Knowledge transfer 26. Spinning vs CensoringPhoto by Mr.Enjoy/Flickr CC 27. Streisand effect to blame 28. II. Authoritarian Deliberation Photo by dunechaser/Flickr CC 29. Russia: Bloggers' Chamber Instead [of becoming a base for the civil society], RuNet hasbecome home to various antisocial and criminalelements...these people must feel the hand of thegovernment Internet censorship. Censorship effortsshould be very selective, very responsible, and verycareful. And they should follow the deliberations of thenational consultative body that would be comprisedof the leading Internet personalities and bloggers.This new consultative body should develop a set of rulesguiding "tolerant online behavior" that would help toextirpate all virtual confrontationSergey Mironov, Sept 30/2009 30. We pay great attention tosuggestions and advice from ournetizens. The web is an importantchannel for us to understand theconcerns of the public and assemblethe wisdom of the public. Hu Jintao, 2008 31. Often more critical than official media Ashley Esarey, based on 2006 data/500 blogs 32. China: Elude the Cat 33. 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 34. Authoritarian Deliberation in China CCP gains the ability to legitimate policies byreference to a relatively inclusive deliberationprocess rather than to an official ideology... Thisincreases the political capacities of the CCP whilefurthering the careers of party officialsHe Baogang and Mark Warren, The Deliberative Turn in Chinese Political Development 35. Kremlin's new project: Liberty.ru 36. Pavlovsky on Liberty.ruLiberty.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 discussionsGleb Pavlovsky, 2009 37. Thailand: Crowdsourcing Censorship 38. Saudi Arabia's flagging campaign 39. III. Monitoring & Identifying Dissent Early On 40. Do we lose more than we gain?"The myth of personal empowerment takes root amidst a massive loss of personal control." Joshua-Michele Ross 41. China: TRS Technologies Currently [the police force] still does surveillance viakeyword searches on search engines, with everyMarketing managera certain number of keywords toofficer being given of the 200-people-strong TRSTechnologiescover...We equipped eight police stations inShanghai with our data-mining equipment...Nowthe work of 10 internet cops can be done by justone Marketing Manager, TRS Technologies (200+ staff) 42. Thank you!Blog: neteffect.foreignpolicy.com Twitter: evgenymorozov