Too Long; Didn't Read
<span>T</span>he internet has promised a lot. It has the ability to give voice to the voiceless and provide a conduit for free expression. It’s been billed as the great hero of free speech, and it is precisely for this reason that the Internet continues to be so heavily censored in countries with authoritarian regimes. From the dictator’s point of view, unfettered access to the Internet can seem tremendously threatening, and in all likelihood, is. Unfettered communication may spread viral contagions such as the concepts of freedom of speech, representative government, freedom of religion, human rights, and democracy. Honestly, how could any respectable dictator NOT direct what ideas might “infect” their population?