The Web Won't Topple Tyranny

An anonymous reader writes "Joshua Kurlantzick of the New Republic online writes that the internet--once heralded as a revolutionary force in politics--has turned out to be surprisingly nonthreatening to dictators and tyrannies. Reminds me of Howard Dean, and the trend to see technological change as a politically progressive force. Maybe this is not such a good idea?"

Comments

Some historical perspective

[OneInEveryCrowd]

In the early days of radio some people actually believed that putting radios in police cars would end crime and that radio was a force for world peace. When television was new it was assumed that it would be educational and raise the level of literacy.

I don't see much difference between these earlier beliefs and current superstitious ramblings on by baby boomer journalists about the power of the internet.

The internet eventually will make a difference in politics because it's how people communicate. It just won't be as magical or quick as some of these writers assume

the new media

[corporatewhore]

One of the more interesting points that I think is being overlooked is that the digital media makes the past mutable - look at the Time magazine article that was not just pulled but the entire online edition redone to remove all references to the article (GW1 on the first gulf war), effectively vaporizing the past in a very 1984-esque manner. Were it not for sites like the memory hole we might not even have been aware it was de-existed. Also, the new graphics technology makes it possible to produce almost any photo you would like to have (there was a thread on idymedia about CNN using a doctored photograph just today, for instance, though they aren't sure who specifically doctored the shot). History has become mutable (changable), and unless you were there and saw it you no longer can be sure of anything you read or see online. With this in mind, the internet has the capability to become quite the Orwellian tool for mass manipulation.

While studying CS in school, our graphics teacher said the holy grail of computer graphics was to produce an image that was indistinguishable from a real photo. I asked him if he considered the social implications of such technology...he said "no"...that chilled me then, and still does.