July 18, 2001

4:59 AM

Loosening the noose...but still leaving the rope around the neck. "Far from hastening its own demise by allowing the Internet to penetrate its borders, an authoritarian state can actually utilize the Internet to its own benefit and increase its stability by engaging with the technology." An interesting - if not entirely expected - report on Internet access in Cuba and the People's Republic of China.
posted by m.polo (2 comments total)

Note that the original article's summary page specifies the short and medium term for this effect, saying the long term is still up in the air. They're not saying the Internet will never spark liberalization, it just won't do it soon -- probably a less controversial position. Yahoo didn't pick up on this nicety.
posted by anewc2 at 5:58 AM on July 18, 2001

An interesting take, if a depressing one. Just yesterday, though, I saw this in NewsScan.

(Reuters/San Jose Mercury News 17 Jul 2001)
A hacker group called Hactivismo has developed anti-censorship software called "Peekabooty" to circumvent attempts to deny citizens of any country access to political information, pornography, or other restricted material. The group cited censorship activities conducted by the United Arab Emirates, Saudia Arabia, Myanmar, China, and North Korea. Oxblood Ruffin, a leader of the group, said: "We believe that access to information is a basic human right guaranteed by law. It is going to be an arms race." Hactivismo will use a distributed privacy network to go around sites that use software filters to block access."

So maybe there's hope. After all, it's undeniable that the Internet has provided one of the few sources of reliable information in China, for example. No matter how hard China tries to block access, the Chinese people seem to keep finding a way around it. So I guess my personal opinion is that the internet isn't going to get rid of dictators, but it's also not going to be a non-event... it WILL increase the flow of information, and that will result in political changes.
posted by gd779 at 8:50 AM on July 18, 2001