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Evgeny Morozov

The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom Paperback – February 28, 2012

by Evgeny Morozov (Author)

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"The revolution will be Twittered!" declared journalist Andrew Sullivan after protests erupted in Iran in June 2009. Yet for all the talk about the democratizing power of the Internet, regimes in Iran and China are as stable and repressive as ever. In fact, authoritarian governments are effectively using the Internet to suppress free speech, hone their surveillance techniques, disseminate cutting-edge propaganda, and pacify their populations with digital entertainment. Could the recent Western obsession with promoting democracy by digital means backfire? In this spirited book, journalist and social commentator Evgeny Morozov shows that by falling for the supposedly democratizing nature of the Internet, Western do-gooders may have missed how it also entrenches dictators, threatens dissidents, and makes it harder -- not easier -- to promote democracy. Buzzwords like "21st-century statecraft" sound good in PowerPoint presentations, but the reality is that "digital diplomacy" requires just as much oversight and consideration as any other kind of diplomacy. Marshaling compelling evidence, Morozov shows why we must stop thinking of the Internet and social media as inherently liberating and why ambitious and seemingly noble initiatives like the promotion of "Internet freedom" might have disastrous implications for the future of democracy as a whole.

Print length

448 pages
Language

English
Publisher

PublicAffairs
Publication date

February 28, 2012
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

1610391063
ISBN-13

978-1610391061
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Evgeny Morozov has produced a rich survey of recent history that reminds us that everybody wants connectivity but also varying degrees of control over content, and that connectivity on its own is a very poor predictor of political pluralism…. By doing so, he's gored any number of sacred cows, but he's likewise given us a far more realistic sense of what's possible in cyberspace—both good and bad—in the years ahead. Morozov excels at this sort of counter-intuitive analysis, and he instantly recasts a number of foreign policy debates with this timely book.” Stephen M. Walt, Belfer Professor of International Affairs, Harvard University
“Net Delusion is a brilliant book and a great read. Politicians and pundits have hailed the Internet as a revolutionary force that will empower the masses and consign authoritarian governments to the ash-heap of history, but Morozov explains why such naïve hopes are sadly misplaced. With a keen eye for detail and a probing, skeptical intelligence, he shows that the Web is as likely to distract as to empower, and that both dictators and dissidents can exploit its novel features. If you thought that Facebook, Twitter, and the World Wide Web would trigger a new wave of democratic transformations, read this book and think again.”
Malcolm Gladwell

Winner of the 2012 Goldsmith Book Prize A New York Times Notable Book of 2011 Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
“Evgeny Morozov is wonderfully knowledgeable about the Internet—he seems to have studied every use of it, or every political use, in every country in the world (and to have read all the posts). And he is wonderfully sophisticated and tough-minded about politics. This is a rare combination, and it makes for a powerful argument against the latest versions of technological romanticism. His book should be required reading for every political activist who hopes to change the world on the Internet.” Thomas P.M. Barnett, author, The Pentagon's New Map, and senior managing director, Enterra Solutions LLC

About the Author

Evgeny Morozov (@evgenymorozov) is the author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, a New York Times Notable Book of 2011 and winner of Harvard's Kennedy School's 2012 Goldsmith Book Prize. He is a senior editor to the New Republic. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, the London Review of Books, and many other publications. His monthly column comes out in Slate, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), El Pais (Spain), Corriere della Sera (Italy), and several other newspapers. He was born in Belarus.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ PublicAffairs; Reprint edition (February 28, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1610391063
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1610391061
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #938,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #111 in User Generated Content (Books)
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- #686 in Non-US Legal Systems (Books)

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Phillip Skaga

Becoming Entangled in the Net

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2015

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A favorite subject of my reading is modern technology and how it is rapidly changing everything about human society. Not least among our tech products is the net in the book title. There is much about contemporary technology tending to delude us with views of a future more optimistic than may be warranted. Contrariwise it is clear is the net is not 'the' solution so much as a very complex tool for human interaction. I hope that is not entirely true because I can know, in detail, how it affects my life and how I am planning on such help in future. Nonetheless in the long term technologists seem unwilling to consider all effects and affects of tech. (My first encounter with 'webs' was the 1950's. At that time experience was with 'webs' created for, and restricted to specific objectives (i.e. SAGE and Arpanet both rudimentary webs by comparison). Nothing better illustrates absence of tech forethought than intensity with which we use and are seduced by web convenience. Now a very general tool. Morozov brilliantly looks at both sides of web use - the productive and the destructive as well as a source of pointless distraction, maybe its worse feature. So far we have clearly learned how it can put all of us in touch with each other for all benefits that provides. But this positive has disadvantages Morosov discusses in detail. For example, that the web enabled popular criticism of Iran government policy also created a government tool for tracking sources of criticism to be dealt with severely, and apparently was. Making everyone's thoughts and personal data readily available leaves each of us open to contact without our consent let alone easily personally devastating. Personal security is a largest loss coming with web tech through social media. There is no security of personal identity information if a 'keylogger' happens to be lurking in web space awaiting a chance to be mischievous or malicious. Potential magnitude of impact from this sort of use is extremely large. Everyone has read about how MILLIONS of credit cards, with their personal information, have been stolen from Target, Home Depot, etc. Petty web theft? Morozov makes the point we should not, as we are, correct tech problems with more tech. Solutions used to government censorship are to create a tech correction circumventing it. The author uses North Korea as an example. In this case the solution chosen was to circumvent that government's attacks through the WWW without pursuing diplomatic or political leverage, i.e. tendency to use tech instead of human interaction. Using the web we may find interest or pleasure in having hundreds, in some cases millions, on our Twitter or Facebook account without the burden of knowing them 'personally'. This book makes a nice complementary use with his second book published in 2013 - "To Save Everything Click Here". The amount of detail in these two books beggars a summary. They were a surprise to me since the author is an accomplished communicator through writing but no so much through speaking.

2 people found this helpful

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Jeremy Mates

Pointed Critisism of Techo-Optimism

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2014

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Prone to pithy codas—"It's as if the Mad Men have set up an office in Beijing"—as well as name and theory dropping (presumably those who still have 24x7 Internet access will run off to look them up) but otherwise a scathing review of misplaced optimism for the Internet, and how somewhat not democratic systems can run circles around the now cold warriors of an bygone era (firewalls! in cyberspace!) by co-opting technology, embracing counterspin, and even the use of modern Western marketing techniques to better control their populace. I am reminded of the old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon in which Calvin offers a tepid bowl of tapioca to the television. America does no better, banning software and services to certain countries, while the other hand feeds the dissidents of said countries, who cannot use the necessary software or services because they are banned—a computer would segfault at this point; humans must make do with the facepalm. But I must run; there is a cute cat photo I really have to see. No, actually, yet more security updates to apply. Sigh.

Jeremy
Internet Plumber

2 people found this helpful

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Birdlandbill

The Internet. Menschliches, allzumenschliches

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2014

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This book will open your eyes to the fatuous marketing of Twitter_Facebook_Google and other internet tools as primary political drivers toward liberal democracy. It was written before the Snowden revelations, but the governmental use of the internet is well delineated in this book and includes the NSA internet uses as a a subset of a much broader phenomenon. There are many specific instances and anecdotes provided supporting the author's thesis and reading of a broader literature re: technological innovation enthusiastically considered in vacuo and disconnected from pre-existing power_institutional_economic_cultural structures. That the internet in all its manifestations is co-opted by these structures will come as no surprise to students of history. Mr. Morozov provides a voice of cogent, historically grounded balance to the webthusiasts, who decontextualize this technology and propose uses that, on the face of it, are admirable, but, which, in fact, are to varying degrees antithetical to their stated goals (liberal democracy via internet-provided information topple totalitarian autocracies). If you find yourself somewhat breathless with joy at how well-friended you are, if you find yourself devoting more time to social media than to understanding the world around you, read this book and reflect upon it.

The book could have benefited from in text connections to the excellent bibliography. I spent a good bit of time going back to the bibliography and reading the articles or learning more about the authors cited, which enriched the reading greatly. I expect this might have been a publisher's decision to keep things uncluttered, an important feature in a book meant to sell in large numbers. The depth of the author's scholarship is impressive and the fact that he looks at things from the perspective of someone who has experienced or observed the dark side of social media and governmental internet uses (he is from Belarus) provides a much broader scope to his analysis.
Bravo Mr. Morozov. Keep it coming!

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James Sibley

It takes a hard look at the net

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2013

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Morozov explores the dark side of the net that the futurists gloss over. The picture of the net is not as rosy as some want us to believe. It really only had a small part to play in the downfall of communism (caused by economic decay), it is easy to compromise, and can be easily manipulated for illegal gain. For propaganda purposes it is just as easy for a dictator to reach a mass audience (perhaps easier) than a protest can. Viral posts can be just as dangerous in creating a lynch mob mentality as they can be effective for good. It can create an Urban myth of enormous proportions that continues to crop even after it is debunked. The net spreads rumors and myths as quickly as the truth and few spend the time to verify the validity of the information they receive. A must read.

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JohnT

Good idea, book not so good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 1, 2014

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I got bored with this book and gave up after a few chapters.

It has good objectives, the overall thrust is fine, but in the end it goes round and round in circles.

Review Buddy

Good Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2014

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Good book, interesting subject, most enjoyable.

Christopher Parsons

In defence of political realism online

Reviewed in Canada on December 20, 2011

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This book deserves its 'must read' status amongst Internet governance scholars and policy makers. In The Internet Delusion, Morozov argues that we have to recognize and reject Internet-centrist and utopian approaches to Internet policy. Whereas 'net-utopianism argues for what should be done, centralists argue that problems should be framed through the lens of the Internet rather than according to the specific question or problem at hand. Both centrist and utopian approaches, Morozov argues, should be rejected because they handicap thinking about Internet policies. Instead, a realist approach should be adopted. Throughout the text we read about the consequences of centrist-thinking: the implications the U.S. State Department faces from influencing American Web 2.0 companies; problems associated with unthinking policy choices concerning freedom of speech and Internet access; logical shortfalls of applying Cold War language to web censorship; the dangers of ignoring long lasting political advocacy groups that lack web savvy. Critically, he rejects a neutralist position concerning Internet services and insists that all networks require ethical investigation and critical evaluation to uncover the services' negative applications. Morozov is a welcome, highly critical, participant in the governance debate and a must read for anyone interested in critiques of contemporary American Internet-related policy making.

Fortnum

Interessante Einblicke

Reviewed in Germany on February 5, 2018

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Morozov bietet eine sehr pessimistische Sichtweise auf die zunehmende Vernetzung und Technologisierung unserer Gesellschaften. Man muss nicht mit allem übereinstimmen, was er schreibt, doch wer sich einmal mit der Rolle von sozialen Medien in unserem Leben und auch in der Gesellschaft und Politik allgemein auseinandergesetzt hat, sollte dieses Buch auf jeden Fall lesen, denn Morozov bietet interessante Denkanstöße, die für jeden verständlich sind.

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Jonas

Surprising perspectives on political implications of communication technology

Reviewed in Germany on June 6, 2012

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Despite its length, this book offers an entertaining read, introducing much more topics than I would have expected of the subject web and politics:
- illusionary expectations and explanations without real clues how to deal with the new possibilites
- transfer of old communication metaphors on new media that might lead to erroneous decisions
- political education vs entertainment that rather sidetracks citicens of totalitarian states
- censorship & control
- propaganda through the new media
- observation of citicens' online behaviour
- online activism instead of real help
- treatment of freedom of mind in the US vs expectations from foreign (less developed) countries
- development of communication channels in the past

The author manages to convey lots of knowledge of theory and practice at the moment and in the past.
One point of criticism refers to the chapter headings that sound nice but do not give a clue on what to expect.

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