The Net Delusion

Resumen del libro

In this challenging and important book, Evgeny Morozov argues that 'internet freedom' is an illusion, a concept that obscures more than it reveals. In particular, Morozov shows it is a dangerous, deluded goal for foreign policy. By focusing on Internet freedom, we run the risk of missing encroachments on real freedom and democracy: we are trying to cure for the wrong disease. Since the successful end to the Cold War, we have become blind to both the negative externalities of the internet and 'freedom to connect' and, crucially, the ways in which authoritarian governments themselves are profiting from it . We in the West are clinging to assumptions which are essentially ahistorical, apolitical, and asocial - and it's only getting worse. it has huge costs: in addition to authoritarian governments that are using the Web to strengthen their grip on power, we risk mis-allocating resources to more important means of promoting democracy and development abroad. This book is a wake-up call. Morozov seeks to rectify some of our most unfounded assumptions by offering a more enlightened perspective on the Internet's real impact on authoritarian societies and forcing us - and especially policy-makers - to recognise what is really at stake. It is all our freedoms that matter