malinowy's review
4.0
If it were possible, I'd go for 4 and a half stars for this book. It's a very interesting read about the state of internet all around the world but especially in authoritarian countries. While some things are already a bit outdated, it offers a lot food for thought, brings up issues I never even stopped to think about and in general discusses the way we use and talk about internet in a fascinating way. It draws parallels between historical and current events and is a must read for anyone who is interested in politics, current events and/or the internet and its power. It's thoroughly researched and covers the pros and cons of every issue. The only negative thing I have to say is that some of the chapters were a bit too long and might worked better if some things were left out, especially since not all of those things seemed to be fully relevant to what was discussed in the chapter.
ethicsofseeing's review
4.0
The Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo said “Internet is God’s gift to the Chinese people.” But Evgeny Morozov isn’t easily cajoled by that statement. He draws as far as Huxley and Orwell’s views towards authoritarian governments in their works Brave New World (1932) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948) to prove that evangalists’s discourse on the Internet is wrong. He’s critical towards the hypocritical US Government’s Internet policies, the profit-sucker Silicon Valley companies, and the generation of couch potatoes who think they could change the world with a twist of fingers on their iPads.
People with oppressed freedom tend to utilize Internet for trivial things and cheap entertainment consumptions. Give them porno, games, and even pirated music and films, then they would shut up. In The Net Delusion, Morozov concludes that technological determinism is dangerous, but thinking that technology is neutral is equally irresponsible. He points out that the days when we blindly praise the Internet and new technologies are gone. Now it’s time to think realistic – that is by being cyber-realists, with emphasis toward political awareness and careful use of technologies.
People with oppressed freedom tend to utilize Internet for trivial things and cheap entertainment consumptions. Give them porno, games, and even pirated music and films, then they would shut up. In The Net Delusion, Morozov concludes that technological determinism is dangerous, but thinking that technology is neutral is equally irresponsible. He points out that the days when we blindly praise the Internet and new technologies are gone. Now it’s time to think realistic – that is by being cyber-realists, with emphasis toward political awareness and careful use of technologies.
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