Foreword

Abstract

Marshall McLuhan thought that Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of movable type created the modern world. What kind of society will the Internet create? Will it be a democracy or a surveillance state, like Eastern Germany under the Stasi? We cannot have both! The Internet was developed by the U.S. Government during the Cold War to spy on foreign governments and to identify potential dissidents at home. It was explicitly designed as an instrument of espionage and control. But that was not what its early-stage originators intended, before the government took over. The original inventors were romantic peaceniks who believed that they were creating a good thing for humankind. The powerful in every age have tried to control access to information. Can the new generation of electronic technology experts devise ways to realign the Internet so that it can serve democracy?