One of the most striking of his points is with respect to the uses the youth will have for the growing internet. Despite the potential for learning, activism, and awareness, I completely agree with Morozov that today’s youth will primarily use it for fun and communicating with friends. If we look to the example of YouTube, there is tremendous potential for informative videos and knowledge sharing. While videos of this nature do exist on the site, the vast majority and certainly the most popular ones are those with fun or humor as it’s main purpose.
Another of his points that really strikes me, is the availability of information on the internet. I know we have discussed this in class but with cyberhacking only increasing in sophistication and so much of our internet usage being tracked and stored, this is certainly one of his concerns that resonated most with me.
But could Morozov’s fears regarding the internet be expanded to other areas of technology as well? While the majority of the world still remains without the internet, the pervasiveness of mobile phones in place of computers and the internet carries its own risks as well. With 500 million Africans owning a mobile phone, new industries are cropping up to tap these vast markets and along with them come threats. One area in particular that I feel Morozov would see great negative potential with is mobile banking.
Jennica: I totally agree with your Morozov-esque skepticism of mobile banking, particularly within the developing world. On the subject of mobile banking, I keep thinking of our Social Entrepreneurship class and how our professor uses M-Pesa in Kenya as an example of a service that really revolutionized how primarily poor, previously-marginalized populations now have access to banking and money transfer services. At the same time, Morozov attacks the same M-Pesa service, stating that it is complicit in facilitating police corruption. He writes: “Who could have predicted that, learning of multiple money transfer opportunities offered by mobile banking, corrupt Kenyan police officers would demand that drivers now pay their bribes with much-easier-to-conceal transfers of air time rather than cash?” (325). So while mobile banking has allowed poorer people to access banking services, it hasn’t offset problems associated with widespread corruption among police officers.
ReplyDeleteI think Morozov is correct in saying that we too often develop technologies or applications for technologies to address problems that cannot be addressed by technology alone, and then we are confused or disappointed when we don’t achieve the outcomes we were expecting in a given timeframe. I think a prime example of this is democracy, 21st Century Statecraft, and the internet.
Autocracies do not exist simply because countries ruled by autocratic regimes do not have access to internet (in fact, most do, but they use sophisticated censorship mechanisms to monitor and block it). It is possible to make the argument that autocracies persist in part due to a lack of free flowing information, people, and goods, and that the internet assists in promoting the flow of information, people, and goods. However, it is difficult to prove that providing unlimited internet access to people living under autocratic regimes will help the people create more democratic circumstances for themselves.