Open windows. (Democracy).

The Internet gives every desktop the potential to be a printing press, a broadcasting station, or a place of assembly. This opens up channels to democracy and freedom that never existed before.

In 1991, the old Soviet Union was in its death throes. A bunch of hardline communists made a desperate attempt to overthrow the government and return the country to their totalitarian control. Information about the coup attempt was very hard to come by; phone lines were shut down and no newspapers were published. However, there was a tiny Internet provider called RELCOM that had a link to Finland. Through this path reliable information was passed out to the rest of the world.

This is hailed as one of the great democratic achievements of the Internet. The wall around a totalitarian state was pierced and the light of democracy shone through. But, had they known about it, the coup leaders could easily have shut down RELCOM and nobody would be celebrating this cyberspace triumph. However, as the Internet has grown it has become more and more difficult for repressive governments to isolate themselves from the free speech of the World Wide Web.

The dictatorship that runs China has managed to keep most of its citizens in the dark.

China has erected what might be called the Great Firewall of China. Software blocks all lines crossing the border from Websites the government doesn't want the masses to see. Such wild-eyed revolutionary organizations as The New York Times, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and CNN can't get past the Great Firewall. Determined surfers can tunnel under the firewall, but the majority is kept from stumbling on sites that promote civil rights, freedom, and democracy. Most Chinese have access to the Internet only through their work or a public place anyway. These are relatively easy for the government to control because what users do can be tracked. China has also required Internet companies to apply for a licence. The government then holds them responsible for illegal content carried on their systems.

Even more repressive regimes use even more repressive measures. In Myanmar, access to the Web is banned. Anyone caught using an unauthorized modern faces as much as 15 years in jail.

However, when the government of Slobodan Milosevic shut down Serbia's opposition radio station, B92, its staff started broadcasting over the Internet. The Zapatistas fighting against the government of Mexico for greater respect of their rights turned to the Internet. Through communications over the Web, the Zapatistas influenced world opinion in their favour. World opinion, in turn, worked on the Mexican government to soften its hard line.

In the Philippines, activists used the Internet to collect 150,000 signatures on a petition and to co-ordinate a letter-writing campaign. The goal was to communicate with the country's senators in the 2001 impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada.

In the free world, many people are working to penetrate the firewalls erected by dictatorships. A group of hackers known collectively as The Cult of the Dead Cow, has been working on an anti-censorship package called "Peekabooty." However, that group was beaten to the punch by a company in Oakland, California that is reported to be partly funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. SafeWeb released "Triangle Boy" in May 2001. The company says the technology prevents anyone, including corporations, governments, or schools, from blocking access to banned sites.

The involvement of the American spy agency, if it is involved, is clearly an attempt to undermine repressive governments by encouraging the free distribution of democratic messages.

At the same time, people are using the Internet to undermine corruption in democratic countries. Governments everywhere are being opened up to scrutiny as never before, and this worries some power structures. The Pentagon in the United States asked the Rand Institute to examine how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are making use of the Internet. The Rand Institute reported that the "information revolution" is shifting power away from nation states toward new NGO alliances and networks in civil society. This movement was described as a "threat" to established regimes. The authors of the study describe netwar as an information-based conflict, which uses the Internet to "disrupt or damage what a target population knows, or thinks it knows, about itself and the world around it."

Even the most democratic governments have secrets and put out disinformation to disguise some of their activities. The Internet makes it much easier for activists to expose these deceptions.

Minnesota's "e-democracy" project, the California Voter Foundation, and Mother Jones' online databases have linked the voting records of U.S. Congressional representatives with their personal stock market transactions. In this way, politicians who vote on legislation that might favour a company whose stock they hold will be found out instantly.

In March 2001, an online magazine in India, tehelka.com, exposed a bribery scandal among politicians. As a result, a cabinet minister and three other senior elected representatives had to resign. In Malaysia, the only objective reporting to be found comes from malaysiakini. com. Similarly, in Singapore, sintercom. org is taking a close look at government censorship of the press.

In Chile, a vigorous argument took place over whether or not the country's former dictator; General Augusto Pinochet, should be put on trial. As the issue unfolded during 2000 and 2001, Chileans got their best and most unbiased reporting from elmostrador.cl.

The curious can also access millions of original documents on the Web. They don't have to decode someone else's spin on a government report; they can read the actual report themselves. This has never been possible before on such a scale and at such low cost as is available through the Internet.

FACT FILE

During the provincial election of 1998 Nova Scotia Electronic Democracy Forum stimulated discussion of many of the issues raised during the campaign.

Websites

The Center for Democracy and Technology (U.S.) - http://www.cdt.org/

Citizens for Local Democracy - http:// www.geocities.com/c41d/

Citizens Online Democracy (UK) - http:// www.democracy.org.uk/

Democracies Online - http://www.e-democracy.org/do

Malaysia.Net: http://www.malaysia.net

RELATED ARTICLE: Government online.

PARLIAMENTS, LEGISLATURES, city councils, and even neighbourhood councils are making available, on the Internet, lots of laws and proposed laws, meeting agendas and minutes, elected-official contact information, and other reports. This is making democratic information available like never before. Most of this activity is making government information available to a wider audience, but the communication is usually one way, from government to citizen. However, there are a few interesting exceptions to the one-way model. The Moira Shire Council, in the state of Victoria in Australia, uses a public Web board to allow citizens to submit questions for the council to address during its official question time. The council then summarizes the meeting discussion for release online. In Murphysboro, Illinois, a local Internet service provider has partnered with the city council to make live audio available, with a corresponding online chat for citizen-to-citizen interaction during council meetings. The government of Canada maintains an index of the online interactive consultations from a number of its agencies.