Evgeny Morozov
TED Global 2009

Praise for Belarus...
“Last outpost of tyranny
in Europe!”
Condoleezza Rice
“Not free!”
Photo: Antonis/Flickr CC
Freedom House
"A model social state like
the one we're
beginning to create!"
Hugo Chavez
Photo: Lhoon/Flickr CC

Information Revolution Marches On
Photo by oceandesetoiles/Flickr CC

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

“Blogs are the new faxes”
Photo: Marcin Wichary/Flickr CC

Welcome to Cyber-Utopia!
Connectivity X Devices = Democracy
Photo: Gadl/Flickr CC
Photo: Jeremy Visser/Flickr CC

iPod Liberalism
Photo: Slff/Flickr CC
Photo by myuibe/Flickr CC

“Drop iPods, not Bombs”
Photo: Mager Leagues/Flickr CC Photo: United States Army

Intended vs Actual
Photo: Anitacanita/Flickr CC source: CrookedBrains

Spin + Internet = Spinternet
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Spining vs Censoring
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China: “Elude the Cat”

Authoritarian Deliberation
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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 fhashemi/Flickr CC Photo by linlin/Flickr

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
Category China US
% of teenagers addicted 42 18
to the Web
% of teenagers with 61 13
“parallel life” online
% of teenagers not 25 12
feeling OK going w/t
Internet for a day
% of teenagers who 32 11
said Internet broadens
their sex life
Young Digital Mavens”, JWT/IAC, Fall 2007

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!