Morozov-why the Intrenet and democracy don't go hand in hand

Over at Polis,Evgeny Morozov has been dispelling the myth that the Internet and democracy go hand in hand.

As Charlie Beckett says,

the current wishful thinking is that the Internet works like the monkey and the typewriter. Leave it alone to bash away and probability theory says that eventually it will write out the complete works of Shakespeare.

adding that

places like Russia often have less Net censorship than the UK. Yet it hasn’t lead to a thriving plural political system or blossoming civil society. Many regimes are happy to provide loads of free online entertainment as a way of pacifying or distracting populations. But his main point is that politics is driven by material circumstances not Internet discussion groups.