Evegeny Morozov's Disscusion With TED

The TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) was founded in 1984. At first TED focused on technology but later broadened the focus of the conference to a myriad of topics. In 2009 Evegeny Morozov spoke at the TED conference about the relationship between the Internet and dictators. A recording of his discussion can be found below.

Morozov want to voice his concerns over the popular idea that the Internet alone can liberate oppressed nations. Technology alone doesn't liberate. A driving voice behind this technology is needed to sway public opinion. “But even beyond that, coming back to the Internet, what you can actually see is that certain governments have mastered the use of cyberspace for propaganda purposes. Right? And they are building what I call the Spinternet. The combination of spin, on the one hand, and the Internet on the other. So governments from Russia to China to Iran are actually hiring, training and paying bloggers in order to leave ideological comments and create a lot of ideological blog posts to comment on sensitive political issues.”( Morzov). Morozov fears that the government can harness the power of the Internet to create uncertainty over certain political issues. A free and open Internet can used as a haven for free flowing ideas. it can be used by human rights activist to exchange ideas. Without the Internet they would not be able to communicate. So the Internet can only be used as a liberation tool if it is free from governmental control. More articles from Evegeny Morozov can be found here.