Spreading Literacy, Spreading Internet - Phil Nichols - The Atlantic
►http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/spreading-literacy-spreading-internet/279007
While in the past many have read this mission as a vague but harmless ideal, in the aftermath of the NSA revelations, it is easier to see just how ideologically charged it is. By not sharing a larger purpose for which “openness” and “connectedness” might be marshaled, the statement implies that these are ends in themselves. It suggests an inherent link between “connectedness” and “progress,” all while avoiding any clear explication of what exactly this “progress” is advancing toward.
Alexis Madrigal, in an excellent analysis of the one-minute Internet.org promotional video, rightly points out that in a post-Snowden world, any claims about “openness” and “connectedness” leading inexorably toward peace or progress have a ring of absurdity.
