Summary: The Internet: Foe of Democracy?
To the public, the Internet, as well as many other technologies that promote communication, is thought to be building up a democratic atmosphere. However, as Sunstein pointed out, the Internet is actually polarizing the democracies. Sunstein argued that while exposing the readers to “diverse topic and points of view”, technologies provided a space for people’s opinions to be shared and even converged thus building up cabals and parties of like-minded people, which, according to the founders, are destructive of self-government. According to Sunstein’s study on people’s reaction before and after being told the source of information, diversity of opinions “evaporates” as the information is announced. The result supported Sunstein’s observation on netizens. To protect democracy, “the protection of free speech”, “unchosen serendipity” and “shared experience” are all important, as Sunstein addressed. People will find a way to maintain individuality meanwhile holding a certain level of similarity. “Recover our constitutional aspirations as citizens and as providers of information” as Suntein conclude, “there remains more opportunity than threat”.
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