Facebook and Twitter are just places revolutionaries go | Evgeny Morozov
Cyber-utopians who believe the Arab spring has been driven by social networks ignore the real-world activism underpinning themTweets were sent. Dictators were toppled. Internet = democracy. QED.Sadly,...
View ArticleFree Ride by Robert Levine – review
Is online piracy and ubiquitous free content killing our culture? Robert Levine's polemic is entertaining but doesn't quite convince Evgeny MorozovWhen Andrew Keen's The Cult of the Amateur: How...
View ArticleTuring's Cathedral by George Dyson – review
This study of cold war academic John von Neumann and his early computer is engrossing and well-researchedThe foundation myth of the internet invariably involves an iconoclastic and romantic technology...
View ArticleWhy the internet of things could destroy the welfare state
Tech pioneers in the US are advocating a new data-based approach to governance – 'algorithmic regulation'. But if technology provides the answers to society's problems, what happens to governments?On...
View ArticleEvgeny Morozov | Don't believe the hype, the 'sharing economy' masks a...
In the first of a series of monthly columns, the leading critic of the politics of the internet argues that the benefits of the latest innovations are overstated and often risibleEarly this month,...
View ArticleWhen Wall Street and Silicon Valley come together – a cautionary tale
Increasingly, to oppose tech innovation is akin to defaulting on Enlightenment values. But there is a dark side to this gospel of digitalisation when it is closely aligned with financial motivesFor...
View ArticleWho pays for us to browse the web? Be wary of Google’s latest answer
Internet giants are exploring new ways to raise cash from their users, but harvesting our data remains key to their strategyGoogle has quietly launched a new service, Google Contributor, and it’s based...
View ArticleWho’s the true enemy of internet freedom - China, Russia, or the US?
Beijing and Moscow are rightly chastised for restricting their citizens’ online access – but it’s the US that is now even more aggressive in asserting its digital sovereigntyRecent reports that China...
View ArticleWhy cities need to fight Uber and give people a real transport choice |...
The outcome of key battles about developing smart cities will depend on who owns the data. There is no reason why it has to be private companiesAs regulators from India to France continue to crack down...
View ArticleSilicon Valley likes to promise ‘digital socialism’ – but it is selling a...
The tech industry says it can tackle inequality, and governments are keen to let it try. The choice that citizens now face is not between the market and the state, but between politics and...
View ArticleWhen apps are driven by the market, there’s only one winner. It’s not you …
They govern more and more of our lives and the information they accumulate is supposed to empower us. But it’s the market that is the ultimate beneficiaryAmerica’s three obsessions – technology,...
View ArticleFacebook isn’t a charity. The poor will pay by surrendering their data
Silicon Valley holds out the promise of connectivity for all. But there’s a price to payLuxury is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed. Such, at any rate, is the provocative argument...
View ArticleWhere Uber and Amazon rule: welcome to the world of the platform
Powerful tech firms are altering not just the way we buy things, but could sweep away an entire economic modelHardly a day goes by without some tech company proclaiming that it wants to reinvent itself...
View ArticleWhat happens when policy is made by corporations? Your privacy is seen as a...
The latest trade deal to be passed by the EU will see us sacrifice our commitment to data protectionWith all eyes on Greece, the European parliament has quietly passed a non-binding resolution on the...
View ArticleGoogle may have changed its name but the game remains the same
Its nifty restructuring has impressed Wall Street analysts but the company still has to pander to the short-term needs of investorsGoogle’s bombshell announcement that it’s going to fold itself into a...
View ArticleDoes Silicon Valley’s reign herald the end of social democracy?
The economic changes being driven by tech firms like Uber could mean the end of employment law as we know itSilicon Valley might have the world’s biggest reserves of chutzpah and arrogance, but could...
View ArticleWhy growing old the Silicon Valley way is a prescription for loneliness
Across the world, tech companies are engineering a future of robot helpers and smart healthcare for the elderly. But this new vision of the welfare state lacks one crucial element: dignitySingapore’s...
View ArticleSilicon Valley exploits time and space to extend frontiers of capitalism |...
Satellites, drones and balloons can make global connectivity a reality – but this space race is about profits not altruismThe US Congress quietly passed an important piece of legislation this month....
View ArticleBeware: Silicon Valley’s cultists want to turn you into a disruptive deviant
High-tech giants are becoming more like the radical right as they launch populist crusade to block government regulation – and they have the technology to recruit believersBack in August 2014, Mike...
View ArticleCheap cab ride? You must have missed Uber’s true cost | Evgeny Morozov
When tech giants such as Google and Uber hide their wealth from taxation, they make it harder for us to use technology to improve servicesTo understand why we see so few genuine alternatives to US...
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