Democracy Online: Can the Internet Bring Change?
Early last month, Google brought together experts, advocates and bloggers for a thoughtful - and timely - discussion of democracy online.
The panelists discussed how new technology is being used by opponents of repressive regimes and how this freedom of expression has the potential to bring about great democratic changes. Others, however, outlined a less optimistic future, noting that governments are manipulating Internet activists and that the activity amounts to little more than taking offline techniques and moving them online.
The debate sought to answer the questions:- Is the Internet stoking democratic change or is its impact hyped?
- Are repressive regimes conditioning people not to expect free expression on the Internet?
- Is online organizing little more than a game of Whac-a-Mole with one form of repression being replaced by another?
- What are the implications for political organizing of the recent discovery that the email accounts of dozens of Chinese human rights advocates appear to have been hacked?
Moderator: Pablo Chavez, Managing Policy Counsel
Panelists: Larry Diamond, Professor & Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University Daniel Calingaert, Deputy Director of Programs, Freedom House Omid Memarian, Iranian Dissident Blogger
For more on the debate check out Google's Public Policy blog.
