In the article, “Who is the true enemy of Internet freedom-China, Russia, or the US?” (Morozov, 2015), the author discusses the idea of who poses the bigger threat to a free Internet. I agree with the aithor’s position, that China and Russia pose a danger to the free Internet, but America is also a threat despite of its contributions to the Internet.
The author gives examples namely China, Russia, coming up with measures to achieve technological sovereignty. The moves/policies implemented by them may seem as a threat to the “free” Internet. However, I feel that their actions are justified.
China and Russia wish to have control over their own citizens, and to do so, they have taken measures to ensure such. For example, the Great Firewall of China. It is possibly the largest and most extensive case of Internet censorship today. In a country with a population exceeding 1 billion, the Chinese government does not want external influences acting among their people, which may cause unrest. As a result, by implementing the firewall, it is essentially cutting off foreign, namely American, influence on their people. This gives the Chinese government much more control over its people, achieving sovereignty domestically and technologically.
It is also to stake a claim on the Internet. Yes, it may sound absurd to stake a claim on the World Wide Web, as it is an infinite space. However, the Internet is now being overrun with American control and influence, due to the dominance of American Internet companies like Microsoft and Google. Unknowingly, America’s reach has spread to nearly worldwide, having a large stake in the Internet. All 3 nations – America, China and Russia – are global powerhouses, and they have to stamp their authority on the world. America has done so for many years. Now, China and Russia are trying to catch up
One undeniable thing, is that there is a huge American influence over world, via the Internet. Actions have been taken by nations such as China and Russia, for self-defense from a technological perspective. From the article, Morozov states that “the US wants to access data generated by anybody anywhere as long as American companies handle it.” This implies that there is a possibility of America intruding one’s technological sovereignty and privacy. Hence the reactions by nations such as China and Russia, are in return to America’s aggressive move in the first place.
Russia and China also take such measures, as to protect themselves from the vast reaches of the American government. America has been at the centre of many spying incidents, namely the Edward Snowden incident, where details about global surveillance projects carried out by the US had been leaked. This is an example of a far more serious case.
Coming back to a far more general case, “Google is not just a simple search engine. It’s the biggest spying tool ever created.” (Koutonin, 2013) Much data, both sensitive and insensitive is stored on its servers. By pushing the right buttons, all that information may be made available to the American government. This poses as a threat for many nations, especially large nations such as China and Russia. Therefore, measures have to be taken by them, to protect themselves from such activities.
In short, the measures taken by nations such as China and Russia, is to protect themselves, and achieve sovereignty in today’s world. It is to assert dominance and power in a heavily American influenced world. As quoted from Morozov, “the concept of technological sovereignty is poised to emerge as one of the most important and contentious doctrines of 2015.”
Evgeny Morozov (2015, January 4) Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom – China, Russia, or the US?
Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/04/internet-freedom-china-russia-us-google-microsoft-digital-sovereignty
Mawuna Remarquw Koutonin (2013, June 20) Why China and Russia banned Google from their country?
Retrieved from: http://www.siliconafrica.com/why-china-and-russia-banned-google-from-their-country/
cheeehoues1102 