Well you have a valid point that the internet is responsible for the downfall of some dictators. But what some might not realize is that internet is simply a tool. And like any other tool it can be used in a good and in a bad way. For instance the good way you are pointing out is that through the internet you can take down or prevent dictatorships. But the bad side to it is that a technologically evolved dictator can use that very same tool to rise himself to the position he wants to have. By using the internet to overflow it with information in their favor instead of against it. I believe that governments and high power profile people have understood the vast potential of this and want to restrict certain ways of uses for the internet so only they can have it in order to serve their purpose. Like exercising a law stating that they want to monitor certain keywords for potential threats, it could be helpful, but it can also open the doors for them to look for whatever they want and edit what they want with the excuse of "suspicion for a threat". Or "Your website has inappropriate content that becomes a security threat for other". But what if your site is just reflecting a personal opinion? is it a threat? who decides that it is without speaking to the author first about it? seems to me that every day we are loosing the freedom of internet use as it was once imagined from its creator. And that is a form of dictatorship, to tell what u can and cannot post or upload to your own sites. it doesn't have to be a single person anymore, it can be an entity, a group, a higher power. All thanks to that same tool that once helped do good. The internet. Well thats my opinion, cant say its a fact...yet

Interesting discussion. I am more pessimistic than our host here, simply because internet is a technology. As such it will not change anything, ever, in human nature. It facilitates the exchange of information as long as you want the information. As long as the citizens of China just want more fridges, TVs and cars, without giving a dam about democracy and about the fact that the best people there (including one or two Nobel prizes) usually spend their life in prison, nothing is going to change. Democracy is up to us as critical thinking individuals. Moreover, another form of dictatorship is the soft one we have here through the power of money. If something is in the way of corporatocracy, it is doomed. Think of what happened the the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Internet has not been of much use to fight against this and find more positive solutions than fraking.

Yeah, good point

You've got some good points Louis. The internet has also connected the world and made it a smaller more manageable place to be. Sometimes the internet can be abused by those in power to spread misinformation. All I know is that I'm glad we have it and as with anything, there are always two sides to it. You just have to keep an open mind. Thank you for this thought provoking blog!

Good point.

Well, I do not know. Internet does not work like the sea when it is at high tide; dictatorships have the human and technical resources to tame its flow. Look at China and Iran, for instance. Their people don't have a clue what the home page of the New York Times might look like. In China, the very first word to be looked after by the censorship is "democracy".

I agree!!

I agree with you for 90 percent. Because there are technical possibilities to close internet. My daughter was in a country where she could not use internet. Northern Korea is also such a country and in China is it also not possible to use internet 100 percent Do you know Avaaz?An international internetmovent of millions. But in the western(!!!) countries there are powers (amongst others America !) who try to stop this! Till now they did not succeed. But -as I wrote at the beginning- I agree for nearly 90% with you. In the long run no power in the world can stop this. Today I read that there are plans for free WiFi for the whole world by satelites. If that become reality I agree with you for the full 100 percent.
Interesting topic!

Freedom of speech baby! Let's try and keep it that way!