Issue
: Internet Democracy
This
house believes that the internet is not inherently a force for democracy.
Pin-Point
SUMMARY
Prop.
.
**Liberal
democracy does not champion absolute freedom to access or publish whatever
information we like, let alone form any civic associations we like. On the
contrary, democracies have laws regulating libel and hate speech; their
state institutions try to guard sensitive information that citizens disclose to
them, from social security numbers to their health history; their governments
rightfully ban groups promoting terrorism or child pornography.**
1. Democracy
is not just about granting freedoms; it is also about accepting responsibilities
and erecting barriers.
A. More
often than not, the internet allows us to skirt these responsibilities and
ignore the barriers all too easily.
B. Anyone
can shout fire in our crowded digital theatre without fearing the consequences.
And many do: hate speech has flourished on the internet
C. Sensitive
personal information is stolen and traded over the counter; and all sorts of
extremist groups have found a comfortable home online.
2. Of
course, it is just as easy to cite examples of how the internet has
strengthened democratic institutions, making it easier for citizens to monitor
their elected representatives or acquire more information about a given
political or social issue.
A. Luckily,
there has been no shortage of researchers and pundits studying the internet's
brighter side: we already know that it can do wonders. But, alas, this does not
automatically cancel out its darker side.
3. Clearly,
the internet unleashes processes that strengthen and weaken democracy
simultaneously
A. To
believe that the internet is an inherent force for democracy would be to assume
that the web's pro-democracy side would prevail in all possible cases.
4. To
argue that the internet is not an inherently democratic force IS :
A. Simply
to point out that while it has the potential to both oppress and liberate,
which of these two sides dominates depends on the social and political context
in which it is used.
B. For
example, a strong authoritarian government that enjoys fast economic growth and
domestic legitimacy would not be affected by the prospects of internet-enabled
civic mobilisation to the same extent as a government that is weak and beset by
unemployment. Likewise, a strong authoritarian government would be in a much
better position to profit from online surveillance and propaganda than a weak
one.
5. It is
only by always doubting the inherently liberating nature of the internet that
we will be able to subject those who prevent it from reaching its full
democratic potential to the scrutiny they so rightly deserve.
Opp.
1. Uprisings
in Egypt, Tunisia and across the Middle East and North Africa this month offer
the most recent manifestation of the power of the use of internet.
2. The
clearest evidence in favour of this premise is that :
A. the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, faced
with protesters in the streets of Cairo who were actively using social media to
co-ordinate and project their efforts on the ground, decided he would shut down
the network altogether.
B. As the
story goes, Mr Mubarak placed six phone calls to the big internet service
providers and mobile telecommunications companies and told them to shut down
the network.
C. Researchers
have shown that his shutdown was largely effective as a technical matter:
network traffic dropped 90% or more. But Mr Mubarak's gambit failed.
3. The
key facts are not those related to the ultimate outcome of the story.
A. The
crucial fact is that, when decision-time came, Mr Mubarak did not seek to use
the network to his advantage.
B. He
decided that it was better for him, as he sought to cling to power, to take the
tools away from the protesters.
C. If the
internet fundamentally somehow favours autocrats over dissidents, Mr Mubarak
would have made a different decision in his moment of crisis.
4. The
most distinctive feature of the use of the internet and digital media in the
past few months is the regional nature of the protests.
A. One of
the most important ways in which the internet favours those who seek to advance
democracy is the effect of people in one geographic location seeing clearly
what is happening elsewhere in their region.
B. After
dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt, people are in the streets in Libya and
Bahrain.
C. Smaller,
sympathetic protests are taking place throughout the region and in social
spaces online. This debate is not as clear-cut as recent events make it seem,
though. Those who believe that the internet is primarily a tool for tyrants
have powerful arguments on their side. The most sophisticated non-democratic
regimes have become extraordinarily proficient in their use of the internet to
preserve their power and to clamp down on free speech. The tools in their
toolkit include technical internet filtering, network-based surveillance, the
spread of fear, strategic releases of malware and the propagation of false
information online.
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